I'm going to bless you with something and just take it to California.’ So, he did the ‘California Love’ melody. Zoocci was like, ‘I’m going to do an addition to the song.

So, it only made sense to do a song that had a West Coast feel to it. “We always refer to Pretoria as ‘the west side’. And it sounded like my current state of mind at the time, in terms of how I felt the industry is going, my accomplishments and people having me misunderstood because of being on so many features. And that's how we came up with the 'Pheli Makaveli' chant after those raps. I did the verse in one take, and just where the verse ended off that's where, I had wrote my final lines and that's where the drums totally shut down. I finished writing the verse while we were there and we went back to the studio. I still had the melody stuck in my head as we played. Then we took a break and went to play FIFA with Zoo’s homie. “As Zoocci was making the beat in studio, the melody hit me, and then I just took out my phone and I wrote three or four lines. Here, 25K takes us through the album, track by track. The pair’s chemistry is undeniable, and the project’s coherence sonically and lyrically points to their rigorous craftsmanship. Referring to his music as “kasi (township) trap”, 25K (born Lehlohonolo Molefe) captivatingly tells his story in both Sepitori (Pretoria slang) and English over a bass-heavy trap soundscape crafted by Zoocci Coke Dope, one of the South Africa’s most notable hip-hop producers. Pheli Makaveli made sense because Pheli is the slang name for Atteridgeville, which is where I come from.” Zoocci picked up on that influence as we were working on the project. “But the inspiration behind it comes from me growing up, listening to a lot of West Coast hip-hop-2Pac, Dre, Snoop, NWA.

“The title Pheli Makaveli was suggested by Zoocci Coke Dope,” 25K explains. Though not overtly socially conscious, Pheli Makaveli does paint a picture bearing political undertones: feeling neglected and let down by the politicians they vote for, the people resort to unlawful means of survival. The story of 25K is also the story of Atteridgeville, a township west of Pretoria. “It sums up a bit of everything about me from back when I was in the streets, hustling, when I used to stand on the corner, hoping to make a little sale.” “The project is about my upbringing, my story and my journey before the music and when I fell in love with the music,” he tells Apple Music. From the onset, 25K’s debut album Pheli Makaveli tells the gripping story of a young hustler on the come-up.

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