SA singer styling with Beyoncé
2007-10-09 09:42
Pretoria - An Afrikaans singer from Pretoria is rubbing shoulders these days with world-renowned international stars Beyoncé Knowles and Akon.
The hip-hop lyrics of Weez, who matriculated at Affies (Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool) as Wessel Swart, recently caught the eye of the world-famous singing stars.
"It's cool to open your inbox in the morning and get an e-mail from Beyoncé."
The singer wrote to Weez that she was "very impressed" with his lyrics.
"Akon's people were also in contact. They heard my music on MySpace and approached me to do Verbal massacre on the compilation CD Coast2Coast," Wessel said.
The tune topped 5FM's Hi5@5 Top 20 hit parade last year for two weeks running.
Invitation to perform in the US
It was on the best-selling charts for 11 weeks.
Weez has been invited to appear at various clubs in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2008.
"This sudden spurt is very nice, but unreal," he said. "It's coming along slowly but surely."
In South Africa he performs mainly in Johannesburg, Soweto and Cape Town.
The Affies old boy, who was born on a farm near Lydenburg, said he'd been listening to hip-hop since he was a child.
"My parents' friends on the farm said they couldn't fathom my music, but they liked it," he laughed about the response of the rural folk.
"At school, I hung with the hip-hop crowd. I also played rugby. We'd listen to hip-hop at underground parties," said Weez.
Debut CD
After school he went to work in England and Scotland, and started meeting people in the music industry.
Last year he met Nigerian singer Maye, who convinced him to cut a CD.
His debut CD Get Ready has just been released at the Aardklop Festival.
"I produced the CD myself and wrote all the lyrics."
Weez said his lyrics contain social comment.
"Jungle Justice is my take on crime in our country."
Although he also writes Afrikaans lyrics, his focus is on English.
His ultimate goal is to land an international recording contract and to see his music video on MTV music channel.