STORY OF PURP: FROM RAPPER TO FABRIC ART
By Thandeka Khoza

Mbabane— A career in the arts is a scary endeavour in the context of our beautiful country, Eswatini. Only a few are brave enough to even bother pursuing it. This is a reality that former Standstill Mafia rapper, Purp, is all too familiar with but is still up for the task of exploring all his creative capabilities through his fabric customization business, ‘Tattooed Clothing’.

Essentially, what Purp does is you give him whatsoever clothing item you have, preferably one made from denim and all he does is paint some beautiful artwork on it. “I want people to be free and to express themselves,” he says, “they shouldn’t be afraid to wear things that are colourful and standout”. In as much as most people would recognize him more for being a rapper deeply involved in the country’s music scene, Purp—born Mkhuleko Mngomezulu—has understood clearly the importance of answering one’s calling in the arts and possibly making a proper living out of that passion. This became more apparent and necessary following his experience during the global pandemic where he lost his job and found himself without a stream of income. Thus he developed this idea of denim customisation. “I started off thrifting clothes for myself and customizing them just for myself until people who would see my designs began complimenting them and started asking me to do some items for them personally”, the rapper said. The inspiration behind even going this route also fed into his rap aspirations since it “did associate with the art ‘cause I wanted to have an image to as a rapper…as to how Purp is gonna look all customized and it was working for me”.

Though Purp has not received any formal training in fine art, his God-given talent has been sharpened over the years through being in friendly competition with the friends in his circle who had a knack for drawing. He perfected it also through practicing on his own by, as he states, “seeing something and copy and pasting in my mind and then replicating it”. The latter would then be the method he would use in coming up with ideas for the type of art to paint onto his customers’ fabrics. Much of the inspiration for his drawings is from the Internet and specific customer requests. This is due to the fact that denim customization has limitations. He mentions “I feel like fabric painting has those limits ‘cause you’re not patching things like uyatfunga, you’re just painting.
So you kinda have to get what the customer wants and then you can work with that”.

Regarding plans for his business, Purp does aim to move into other avenues of creating artwork. “My future plans; I’m definitely starting a tattoo parlour!” he says, “I’m just all about art. From drawing funny comic book things to drawing portraits ebantfu to fabric design to tufting, I’m definitely venturing into all that”.

Check out our feature article, 'The Story of Purp' - From Rapper to Fabric Art
https://jelele.com/posts/1856

PUT THAT MUSIC OUT
By COLLEN -TROHH

Put that music out

I seen a meme recently on facebook, and it stuck with me so much because I can relate with it entirely. It was one of those Tupac and Biggie memes that says "it's 2025 and I still listen to 90s music." It stuck because I still do! On a daily basis lol. But it really made me think about how durable music really is and how important it is to release that music.I can't be the only artist who's been sitting on a whole folder of unreleased music until god knows when, and I can't be the only one who sees the flaw in that. Stay with me for this one.

Not releasing the music leaves the whole world out of just how dope that music actually is. There's a youngen somewhere out the waiting to discover his favorite artist and he can't because you're sitting on the damn product! Let's release that fam. Yes, we may have a plethora of excuses why we haven't done that yet, but honestly, we aren't doing the music consumers any justice if we don't give them any music to consume.

There's also visibility. You're an artist and you do music,right? Where's the damn music then!? It doesn't have to be a whole 17 song mixtape like Drake did or a full body project or nothing like that. It just has to be SOMETHING! Imagine a furniture shop with no furniture. An artist is a brand, and brands without product die out, simple as that. And the truth is there will be hundreds of other musicians putting out good music regularly, and they don't have to be better or want it badder than you do, they just happen to have the product whenever the consumer comes around for some. Do you know the taste of Fish n Chips when you're in the mood for some Pizza? Exactly.

You've got to hit the iron while it's still hot. You know, as much as we say music is timeless, ideas are. And as creators, we're often inspired by the world around us, and the music we make is relative to the situations in the environment we are in. Now, doesn't it best serve the impact of our art to release it while it's still fresh? I mean, imagine if I were to drop a song today lamenting about the lockdown situation and COVID-19. I know right? Then whatchu doing with that love song you did last Thursday? Are you gonna wait till you and Jessie break up and it bugs you everytime you have to perform it? And you can't be releasing that beach vibes joint next winter fam, honestly.

And doesn't it feel good to just grow? We do it every other day, don't we? Think about back then, how we used to dress, how we used to walk and the way I talked to that girl I liked that didn't like me back much. Then why aren't you availing that ever so satisfying nostalgia to your audience? The music you do today is a direct reflection of who you are currently as a creative. So drop that single, that EP, that album or mixtape. We're all hungry for it

Throwing down in the capital...
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COOKIN' UP SOME REAL STUFF.
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