FEATURE ARTIST: AMUJuly 28, 2011
AMU is a major South African HipHop star and producer. He is man with a career spanning over a decade, credits on an Oscar winning film and his own successful television series. This self confessed music-loving son-of-a-preacher-man has achieved more in his short career than many do in a lifetime yet despite this success, one of biggest challenges his career has faced is getting the media to take hip hop music seriously.
The rise to musical success wasn’t always the plan for this ‘principal’ of South African hip hop, “It was really accidental. I got a call from Deon Maas and Derick Lategaan to feature on The Muthaload, and the success of that album made me decide to pursue music as a career”, says Amu.
For AMU his new double album entitled The Principal represents the “same ol’ gate keeper of hip hop”, a double album which he describes as a representation of his growth in sound and lyrical content.
“I went through all my old records for months, especially the motown ones, and got my frame of mind into that old school soul sound. After that I buried myself in old school hip hop music… and tried to find a way of blending my two favourite sounds, thus came the beats on The Principal says AMU, who credits the two main influences as Illmatic by Nas, Roberta Flack and Donny Hatherway.
Spending time on the set of South African soap opera Generations may seem like a great career option. “Working on Generations really sucked! I really enjoy acting but the format and script really has to grab me, and Generation’s didn’t, it actually put me off acting for a while. But if the right part were to ever come by, I would consider it. *hint hint* Spike Lee” laughs AMU.
So when he is not engaging in his guilty pleasure of smoking, working on musicals or listening to his current favourites, Illmatic by Nas, Salvation by Skyzoo and Californication by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Amu is working on his record label Buvground which is reaping the benefits of the digital age.
“I actually came into the music industry with my own label. I’ve always believed in owning my own shit… could never work for anyone, never had, don’t ever plan to. Technology has really helped Buvground especially in terms of budgets. Major record labels are no longer a necessity. Small companies like mine can release and distribute content using the Internet as a tool to reach a bigger audience across the globe.” Describes AMU.
Being a globally respected producer running his own record label. Releasing two critically acclaimed solo albums and even acting in a soap opera one might question what could be left for AMU. The answer would be cinema of course, “I want to go into film; scoring, acting and directing” says AMU.
But even with so many achievements under his belt AMU still maintains his refreshing sense of humour. When posed with the question of which 3 people living or dead he would invite to his show he responded with such confidence, “I’d have Steve Biko, just to have a chat with him backstage after the show, Skyzoo to pursue him to do a collaboration with me and John Wayne, so I can throw a shoe at his racist ass… lol”.
With his new double album out to rave reviews Amu says it’s important for artists to stay true to what you do and never follow trends because when trends fade so will you. A tried and tested philosophy which AMU’s unfading career is clearly a testament to.
Tags: Amu, Deon Maas, Donny Hatherway, Generations, Hip Hop, Lategaan, Nas, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Roberta Flack, Skyzoo, South Africa, Spike Lee
