Khomotjo “Peace” Sebone has been in studio for the past few months recording his new album.
It is hard to imagine a person in a greater state of elation than an artist who has just released a debut album.
This is probably because, as Seshego’s hottest hip-pop exponent, Khomotjo “Peace” Sebone describes his brand new project as “Struggle of Self.”
“I am talking about the struggle of the individual, the things that trouble me which may seem not to trouble other people but are hard for me” he explained.
Sebone is leaving other youthful genres like Kwaito behind him to explore his Setlokwa genealogy through his 16-track album he has just released.
“I have been in the studio for seven months crafting my masterpiece and when the public get an opportunity to listen to it, they will be blown away…” he says with so, retaining that spirit of ghetto poetry.
No Peace, as Sebone is affectionately called in music circles, has deviated from his hip-hop group he co-founded, Sykos by going solo.
He justifies this by saying, “Everyone in the group has gone solo, but the movement is still intact.”
The album title is identical to earlier projects by his predecessors the great Thandiswa Mazawi and Brother of Peace.
The album distinguishes Sebone from his peers in the movement.
Evoking his ruthless childhood, h explored his Afro-pop pedigree for Struggle of Self and in the process has changed the context within which his work will be judged.
Sebone also explores his `Tlokwa genealogy, using predominantly Setlokwa traditional singing in songs like Dinonyana and others.
The track, according Sebone, seeks to advise the troubled youth of South Africa who have subjected themselves to alcohol and drug abuse as well as crime and other nefarious activities.
He has fused it with contemporary elements of jazz and even a hint of reggae.
Now, instead of associating Sebone with others, one will be moved to think of him in the company of hip-hop greats like Cassper Nyovest and K.O.
Yet there is a synergy with what he did in Sykos, his musical home.
Of the experiments he has tried on this album, African Times asked him which one he finds the boldest.
“The entire album is an experiment” he says.
“I could have just laid on some house beats and started singing, because I can sing,” Sebone says.
But instead he went ahead and produced an intellectual, relevant album that speaks to his peers and Africans at large.
Sebone’s peers, of course, are kids of the kwaito generation.
“Kwaito,” he reckons, “has been the movement of our time but as you can see, some of us are changing the musical game with a variety of genres, hip-hop being one of them. Through my album, I intend to entrench hip-hop and leave an indelible benchmark.”