SLIKOUR "STILL HUSTLING TILL HE’S RUSTY”

By Kopano Marumo

Slikour is probably the most successful Skwatta Kamper to date. His lyrics may not blow your mind but he possesses the soul of a hustler. That’s always a plus in this makeshift rap (not necessarily hip hop) industry. Today he is a high flying business man that specialises in youth culture. Who doesn’t like Siya? He is down to earth, ambitious, active and bestowed with plenty street cred. We spoke to him about his upcoming project.

What’s your new project called?
Ventilation Mixtape Volume 2.

What sets it apart from your previous projects both solo and group wise?
I feel I was quite expressive and personal on this album; I also worked with producers from Angola to Germany trying to get a sound that would motivate me. I also never wrote any of the lyrics except for Dreamer and 8, I memorised the rest of the verses. The mind state of the album is really inspirational and there's a lot of passion in the music and the lyrics. I feel that with this album I have proved a point that I'm quite good at putting emotions on a song especially if their mine, which is a blessing.

What are you hoping to achieve with this project?
My hopes are bigger than the project. My hopes are for the receiver or the purchaser of the album. I hope when you get it, it builds you mentally and feeds your soul with music, passion and information of someone that has aspirations like you would have. I really believe I appeal to people that have aspirations and dreams of making something of themselves because that’s the sort of person I am and my music says that in many ways.

Seeing that you’re such an ambitious young man, what’s your long-term objective?
To one day be able to build a profitable platform where young talent can get maximum exposure for their capabilities without going through the politics we go through everyday in the industry. I think they call that a recording company. I just wish everybody could tap into their niche because that's when you become content with who you are and you do things from the heart, not for unnecessary reasons. I hope my music can be the soundtrack to that journey because it complements that.

Many artists just put out a project and that’s that? What’s the point of this?
The point is to be live life to the fullest. This is more than just a project. These are my emotions, fears and dreams on a disc. And the great thing about it, is that someone can listen at home and relate or rather believe something because of my music. I never take the power of music for granted. This is not a project to prove a point but to effect change in an industry. I'm selling a mind state, the album is free.

Who are some of the artists and producers that you’ve worked with on this album? And why these specific artistic choices?
The artists that I worked with include Tumi from the Volume, Teargas, HHP, T'do from Zulu Mobb, Kwesta, MB, TKZ Choir, RJ Benjamin, Zandile, Blaksem, Tumi the singer, Selwyn, Spex.
The producers that worked on the album are Stethoscope (Vosloorus), Leo Large (Germany), Kulax (Bloemfontein), UV Ray (Durban), 37 Mph (East Rand), Neylo (Angola) and Trespass (Voslorus). The ideology of Ventilation is to work with as many young people as we can cause our core objective is to instil that unity as it is the key for any movement to move forward especially where young people are concerned.

You are also a business man, how are you able to find time to still make
music?
My heart is really in the music everything else is a blessing, making up for the money music is not making me.

And what about Skwatta Kamp- can we expect another album soon?
Yeah we dropping 2008 round this season.

Any other projects?
Yeah check out ventilation.co.za for now. It’s really the next level of urban entertainment. We will soon be putting up streaming radio. Ventilation Mixtape Volume 2 will be available nationwide in about two weeks, at about 80 bucks a pop.

For more information on Slik, check out www.myspace.com/slikour.