Cape Town-born rapper from Cape Town, Lolli Native, releases his last single Yiz’apha before his highly anticipated album drops. We live in a world that doesn’t value true love connection and this track is a playful narration of how such incidents transpire. “This song is inspired by gentlemen who slide on the DM with no intentions of commitment,” notes Lolli Native.
Cape Town-hailing rapper, Lolli Native’s (real name Luthando Dikeni) debut album could easily pass as his identity card. With an adored Xhosa Folk song, sang by his very own mother, as an interlude, the album is an ode to the women who raised him, his mother and grandmother. Each song is a peek into his world, encompassing his family, his musical journey, as well as his upbringing in Nyanga East, one of the long-standing black townships in South Africa.
The album title, Ivangeli (isiXhosa for ‘Evangelicalism’) is a reference to Lolli Native’s Christian values. All 11 songs in the collection are completely written in his home language, isiXhosa. Lolli Native proudly regards his music as Spaza, an original South African Hip Hop sound, which uses isiXhosa in its lyrics and heavily influenced by township living.
Lolli is the first artist signed to one of SA’s Hip Hop legends Emtee’s Record Label, Emtee Records. Mthembeni ‘Emtee’ Ndevu, discovered Lolli Native in 2018 through his talent-search reality TV show, Rap 4 Me. “If being a crowd favourite and ultimately winning the competition was not enough proof of Lolli Native’s star power, the success of the few tracks that I’ve released with him in the last two years should be an indication of how talented and committed he is to his art. I am very excited for the release of his debut album!” says Emtee.
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