 Members | | |
Yunique
Lead McMdakanayza
Hype BackJ Sbu
Hype BackDJ Jai Be
Hip Hop Deejay
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Yunique | | |
City: Newton, Cape Town
Country: South Africa
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Artist Information | | |
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST OVERVIEW:
Yunique is an independent consciousness rap/ hip- hop performing- and recording artist combining a variety of musical genres into his music, e.g., ROCK, JAZZ, FUNK, SOUL, RAGGA, INDEGINOUS INSTRUMENTS, ETC. Yunique was born on the 30th of September 1978, in the Western Cape and pursued his dream to be a performing- and recording artist at the age of 13. He grew up in Paarl, a town 60km from Cape Town. Yunique had his debut as a performing artist at Klein Nederburg High School.
In 1997 he studied Marketing and worked voluntary at a community radio station in various departments. He met Mizchif, rap artist from New York, Bronx in the United States (born in Zimbabwe) in that same year due to his friend playing him a Good Hope FM interview. They became long time friends as well as colleagues in the industry. In 1998 he completed his studies in Sales and Marketing while hosting a radio program at midnight at Radio KC. In this same year he yearned for the stage and decided to begin a rap/ hip- hop crew with Devlin “Miztah Naztaljah” Pietersen.
In 1999 he became technical officer of Radio Tygerberg, a Christian community radio station. In that same year he studied and obtained his national diploma in Sound Engineering. A kwaito group approach him to manage them and he did it as a favour for a few months. He met up with Ismial from EMI Cape Town in 2000 and that was the time when he started an underground independent (indie) label. Ismial, mentored Yunique about the industry and Stone Rekordz Entertainment were born. Yunique and his crew started their debut performances and produced and recorded some songs. The crew wrote their own lyrics about social issues and about the gangster environment in their community.
Yunique managed the crew’s affairs and entered them into a contest hosted by MIDI TRUST in the South African Music week in September 2001. They were busy with an underground project when he got the call that they were selected for the competition. They had an opportunity to record at Tin Pan Alley’s Audio School. Cape Audio College were the crew’s first experience in a top- end studio.
They worked with Gee from the group Blunt, a rock- and hip- hop group. He later introduced them to Ernie (member of Afro Z). Ernie looked after their recording project and Yunique supplied his beats (instrumentals). The rest was history.
In that same year due to Yunique’s friendship with Mizchif he met up with Melanie Ramjee from Eargasm Entertainment. Melanie invited the crew to go for auditions to perform at their Black August concert that was hosted at the Jam in Cape Town in that same year. After several attempts to get in touch with the organiser for the auditions, were they denied the opportunity to perform alongside Lauryn Hill, Dead Prez, The Roots, etc., because of the area where they were from. Yunique then booked the group to perform at PAARL’S FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS 2001. 30 – 40 000 people attended and that was Yunique’s first step towards a career as a professional performing artist.
In 2002 he organised his crews first showcase and invited Black Noise to attend. Black Noise returned the favour later that year and Yunique performed at SABC’s Beach Road Studios. Black Noise hosted their feedback party at the studio. In 2003 Yunique performed again at the Festival of Lights in Paarl and Saron.
He performed at several hip- hop sessions in Mbekweni, Paarl and performed at Miglats welcoming of 50 United States visitors from California. In 2003 he was busy composing & arranging his beats (instrumentals) for his first solo album entitled Bhind Enah-Me Linez. He made several collaborations with local performing- and recording artists, e.g. Miztah Naztaljah, Mfanekiso a.k.a. Stix, Mona Lisa, Panaikz, Jake- Shun a.k.a. Jaak, Mdakanayza, JoJo, G Max from Slu Dem Crew, Black Soul (Ferdie from the ex- Rockets now known as WATTEVA) and his late friend Sizwe “Bra Bizza/ Bobby” Flepu, just to name a few. His track “Siyeza” hit the airwaves as well as “Spaza”, “M.E.S.S.” and “R u down 4 me” on the local community radio station, Radio KC.
A local and Cape Town Deejay spotted Yunique and decided to manage him. Yunique went around with his manager Keith Carter and performed in a local club called Club Sinatra’s obtaining more fans. Unfortunately did his managers responsibility shifted more to his family and he had to give up managing Yunique. Yunique featured in a documentary that was broadcasted in Belgium and sold a copy to the film crew. He performed at Spoeg, Festival of Lights, Carnivals, Hip Hop Sessions, Clubs, Beauty pageants, etc. showcases. In 2003/ 4 he became a Music compiler and assisted the Production Manager with productions while hosting a lunch programme at the local community radio station.
After several programs and music compiling he became Production- & Technical Manager. His programme slot changed and he performed a lot in his community. He brought in Mizchif again, this time for management purposes. Mizchif took him around Cape Town and Yunique met with a few celebrities e.g. the late T.K. and Lebo, Tumi from Tumi and the volume, D- Form from Moodphase 5, etc. Yunique is currently busy working on material for his 2nd album and released an E.P. entitled Siyeza, which means, “I will be coming”. His demo entitled “It’s a wonderful world”, a recording project for Rockfyre Productions compilation hit the airwaves last year, 2006 on Radio KC and Good Hope FM and he have been getting positive feedback from fans. Yunique is busy with his project for retail distribution at HQ Recording Studios. The song "It's a wonderful world" will be on his forthcoming album.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Won the “Ek sê mamela! It’s our music.” competition in 2001 hosted by MIDI TRUST;
Received a Medal of appreciation for the performance at 16th of June 2000 hosted by Koinonia Community Centre at New Oleans High School sports field;
Performed at the African Hip Hop Indaba 2002 hosted by Black Noise at Beach Road studios, S.A.B.C.;
Features in a documentary that was broadcasted in Belgium in 2005/ 6;
Performed at the renovation of Dalweide Primary hosted by Koinonia Community Centre and was attended as well as funded by UMSOBOMVU’s C.E.O., managers and delegates in 2002;
Released debut solo album in 2004/ 5 entitled Bhind Enah-Me Linez that sold independently;
Released 2nd project in form of a E.P. which is being sold on the internet;
Shared the stage with well-known performing- and recording artists, e.g. Mizchif, Black Noise, Plain Madness, Mfanekiso, Jake-Shun a.k.a. Jaak, D-Form the lead rapper from Moodphase 5, etc.
Member of the South African Music Rights Organisation (S.A.M.R.O.)
His song “Siyeza” reached number 2 and his latest song “It’z a wonderful world” reached number 3 on Mtaafm’s heavy hitters charts from Philadelphia.
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Influences | | |
MUSICAL INFLUENCESS:
Yunique’s music is influenced by e.g. Life, Nasir Jones a.k.a. Nas, Tupac Amaru Shakur, Ice Cube, Dead Prez, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan, Ludacris, Eazy E, Xzibit, Dr. Dre, Freddo Starr, Sticky Fingers, Linkin Park, Rage against the machine, Run DMC, Common, Jay Z, KRS One, Bone Thugs & Harmony, D.j. Kool Herc, Arrested Development, N.W.A., African Bambataa, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli, Cashless Society, Mizchif, Fort Minor, Method Man, Redman, Qugan, Megan, GOD, my family, people and you.
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Other Information | | |
DISCOGRAPHY:
Bhind Enah-Me Linez Vol1: In the line of Duty (2004/5 – Stone Rekordz Entertainment)
Siyeza (Promo E.P. 2007 – Goodstuff Productions/ Get2Dream Entertainment)
Track “Cum Lubricated” on the Rockfyre productions compilation (2005 – Rockfyre Productions);
Track “My Blok!” on the Concrete Records compilation, but was never released 2006 – Concrete Records)
REVIEWS:
“Paarl Hip Hop is moving…” – Die Paarl Post, Susan Botha
“Straight up fire!! The flow is impeccable and the punch lines are on point...the hook is infectious and the mash up of english and the native tongue is just the icing on the cake. If you have heard of what we call African Hip Hop then the track Siyeza is the complete definition...The beats are raw and you can visualize the elements in the flow even though you may not speak the language or understand parts of the rhymes you get a feel of the story elements...The tone is infectious and leaves you saying Africa is already on the come up!!!!
Large up Yunique!!! This gets a certified 5 Afro pick from mtaafm.com “ – Mtaafm.com, Sim
CONTACT DETAILS:
Fan mail: yunique@slavesnomore.com
Management & Bookings: goodstuffpro@gmail.com
Goodstuff Productions - Mr. Gustav Skippers
+27 (0) 21 868 4972 (office)
+27 (0) 82 947 6141 (mobile)
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