13 Mar 2016

For CORE, a four-man rap-kwaito group from Kanye, it is not just about singing but becoming a stronger brand to reckon with and being an extremely talented crew with unique rapping style.

CORE, a new entrant group in the music industry consists of Gofaone Simane, Gopolang Ramokgwana, Mpho Mokhure and Goitseone Moothai. 

Theirs is not just ordinary kwaito that is popular around but  are giving a portion of rap-kwaito. The group started with only two members and rebranded to the now CORE from El Shaddah when the other two joined in the previous year.

In a recent interview with one of the crew members, Gofaone Simane, a University of Botswana student, he said the group has been together for almost a year now and are currently working on their album that should be released soon. 

Their music is mostly targeted to those kasi people with the love of kasi music, of which more have now accepted.  

He revealed that Batswana have acknowledged their music, including the elders who grew up with that passion for kwaito music.

Their six track album is made of singles like phuzwa uzwe and stallion amongst others, all recorded at RuMess Beatz.Last week Thursday, the group released their first ever video shot by Ozzi F-teddy, of which they are very blissful that it is going to show in the local television very soon, stated Simane. 

Asked as to why this kind of music, Simane said as CORE they saw the need to bring back to life kwaito, which is dying because of the strong grasp of hip hop and other music genres. 

“We as CORE are really working on making sure that we bring that back to life and through the courage and motivation we get from the people who used to love, we have hope that in a year or so kwaito will be back with many artistes.”

However, Simane said the challenges that they face as a group are lack of payments after performing at shows. 

He said it is sometimes difficult to get their payment well in time after they have performed at gigs which makes it difficult for them as they are still trying to make a mark in the industry. 

He stated another challenge they face as young upcoming artists as low media coverage. 

He said that it is easier for well known and popular artistes to get the much needed coverage from the media as compared to those that are still coming from the shadows.

The majority of the gigs are for charity because of financial challenges and because they are also looking for exposure so that Batswana can get to know more about them.

“We haven’t done anything at the moment to help others who are also new in this industry, probably because we also are still learning the ropes of how the industry at large works so we can’t say we have the right advise for them,” explained Simane, who was also keen to add that they help where they can as a group.

“It is every artiste’s dream to want to own a record label, clothing label and be a role model to other upcoming artistes,” Simane added. 

He is optimistic that they will work to highlight the strengths and improve the weaknesses so as to bring something that will live long. 

He says their group is trying to tune up the mindsets of the community to the originality of kwaito which started way back in the Kasi’s where many towns and villages started.

Through music, towards celebrating the country’s 50^th anniversary, the group often visits hospitals, particularly the Kanye Seventh Day Adventist hospital to help with necessities, as their way of giving back to the community as young aspiring artistes. 

 

They often buy toiletries and help with anything that is needed at that particular time. BOPA