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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”.
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”.
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”.
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