There’s lots to be said about consistency. The drive fueled by passion and other varying factors. Reassuring and rewarding it’s a productive poison of God’s making. At six years old a young Lucmoz originally of Maputo, Mozambique left his homeland for Johannesburg with his mother after his parents separated. It was in grade 2 where to his benefit his teacher insisted he enroll in cultural murals to better his English. He’d go on to recite poetry and play some part in the school choir and at the age of eleven he’d recorded his first track alongside his cousin and friends. He was hooked ever since. That’s when King Lucmoz Doremifaso (pronounced LukeMozz Doe Ray Me Far So) was born and without going into much detail he briefly explains he’s since tackled some emotional rollercoasters and amassed a plethora of pain. The 25-year-old Pisces claims to have recorded a wealth of over 30 years worth of music to back it up. Half amazed, half in disbelief Luc gives out an honest insistent laugh seeing my expression and emphasizes his truth.
‘Yeah…I’ve been in it. They always gave me poems and I’d later get my A’s and A+’s. At the end of grade 2 I’d read the most books. I was the top student. At eleven I was writing my own poetry and I’d be listening to Fat Joe, G-Unit and Slim Shady. I was crazy about those guys but started pushing my own music. I got a scholarship for athletics but if I wasn’t going to be an artist, I always thought of investing in the hospitality industry. I love food and wanted to be a chef.’
Athletic or not this rebellious scholar has always kept his feet firmly planted in his music holding his own but keeping all near and dear to him close. He’s recently garnered some much needed attention having two songs featured on one of South Africa’s prominent national radio stations. Luc’s track ‘Lonely Prayer’, the first song off his recent mixtape Demons Boxed In held the number four spot on Metro FM DJ Oskido’s Rapactivity Jam. A later submission ‘Pick a Side’ sat at number 2. He’s performed at Orlando stadium consecutively on South Africa’s Youth Day in 2018 and 2019 in front of SA’s president opening up for artists like Cassper Nyovest, AKA and Kwesta. Also known as BTY Lucmoz he’s been affiliated with New Money Mafia Records BTY Entertainment in Dalla Texas USA, a team in close relations to New Orleans rapper BTY Youngn who’d been killed in 2017 sadly before possibly inking a deal with Birdman’s Cash Money Records.
‘In SA I’m not affiliated to any brand. I’d been signed to BTY on a three year deal. I met one of their promoters on Instagram just tagging. They fucked with my music. They video called me and emailed the contract the next day. They said we gonna do it on the basis of me just pushing my music.’
I ask about hip hop’s almost general if not generous use of autotune. The sound T-Pain made use of and godfathered catapulting the Tallahassee native to stardom during the early years of the millennia, but Luc seems particularly more concerned with one of hip hop’s subgenre’s and offers his view expressing some frustration and discontent in regard to how Trap is being represented. ‘So yeah, I’m using autotune on Trap but that doesn’t mean I have to be talking about lean, bitches and clubs. That’s not hip hop. So yeah, I’m blurring the lines on giving you the best of both, but I’m still finding my sound. There’s still lots to come.’ In regard to Demons Boxed In, Luc admittedly states his decision on withdrawing his more than adequate rapping ability. ‘I think people prefer me as a rapper and I’ve been slowing down on that a little. I can’t be soft when I’m rapping so singing brings out my emotions and when I rap, I find there’s some anger coming out. I feel singing is helping me more on getting my message across because nowadays not everybody is listening to or appreciating real hip hop as they should. I was like yo! I need to find a way to bring that back.’
His autotune rnb hip hop personality possibly comes into question having listened in on a particular local radio interview one evening where Luc seems vaguely interested if at all and responds in a dull dreary fashion. There’s no energy and he’s correcting himself way too often. It seems he’s failing to make proper use of the platform he’d been allotted. I’m tuned in listening amazed into the approximate painstakingly 20 minute segment. It’s in direct contrast to the confident and zestful Lucmoz I’d casually and pleasantly interviewed a week or so prior. Is this the same guy? One might go as far as to say it was as if Luc rolled and smoked too strong a joint just before going live on air. Worse still in this triangle, of the 2 radio presenters, the male figure had more charisma and a certain element of excitement about him though maybe through no fault of his own too much of it on trying to single handedly carry the show. His female counterpart was more skeptical, analytical and calm. I think I may have heard her sarcastically mimicking Luc’s tone at some point but if only to entertain any listeners still tuned in. You could tell 15 minutes in she’d had enough and opted rather to gauge Luc’s behavior pacing herself shooting less questions alongside her co-host. She’d obviously been lulled to death by too many entry level so-called artists trying to break into the music industry and craved to be entertained. The show’s nearing its end and as the curtain draws near, I’m reminded of something someone in close relation to Luc had mentioned in testament to his introverted mannerisms. An unrecognizable voice in my head recalls what was said and comes to me in a whisper: ‘He’s too quiet. You’d never say he’s a rapper.’ A freestyle performance is about to play out and Luc jumps in embracing a 90’s beat in machine gun flare disintegrating any thoughts of a rapper turned singer to take back the spotlight and redeem himself a credit to the arts.
Cursed everlasted birthed as a bastard / Flabagasted between life and a casket / I’m rapping on bactracks of dead emcees / for the worst / I was given this position to spit it and not cuss / Anomaly, meaning I’m ready to split you / matter of fact I got more clips than YouTube…
A few more introspective spurts per second out Luc’s mouth have his radio hosts erupting in goosebumps, acknowledgement and praise. He’d concluded the show fashionably. It’s been made crystal clear: Rap credit intact.
Based in Diepsloot Johannesburg production duo Converse 808 and Killa Kat collectively represent Pitbull Gang Records and are solely responsible for Demons Boxed In.
‘When we come together, they already know I Iike dark sound. They know the melodies to put in and I always start with melodies first. They’d ask: Yo what mood are you in? Are you going through some shit? You wanna talk it out? Are you lit? Let’s Trap it up and go heavy on the 808. Killa Kat’s more low key. A quiet street dude. Converse is like indoors 24/7 in the studio. They know the beats that correlate with me. Other artists would ask how they’d made a certain beat for me, but it won’t come out the way we do it. It’s the chemistry.’
‘I wrote Lonely Prayer and Dead Broke on the same day in Bekkersdal Johannesburg in the West. I wrote those with pen and paper sitting at a pub drinking beer with House music playing. I was broke thinking about dark shit. I later went to Converse and Killa Kat who’d been playing beats they’d already worked on. They played the beat for Lonely Prayer, but it sounded a little bit different. They tweaked it. I’d already had lyrics. I stopped rapping and started singing. The hook was actually a verse. Vida Loca was made on the spot by Killa. It talks about how my music is made. The crazy life I lead. Writing all my wrongs. How I grew up. The beat was organically created while in the studio. Tame Her is specifically about a girl and two guys in this group we formed. I’d cut them off after they did me bad. I was the one who held them down, paying the rent, making sure there’s food. I was the one having the studio making sure things are happening. Pretty much everyone was feeding off me and they were badmouthing me. I don’t hold on to things like that though. God planned better for me so I just let it go. If you watch the music video it shows me in a church manifesting things and then in the graveyard burying it. That’s why I love (Music Video Director) Slim Tip. He knew what he was doing. Sthandwa Sam was written for a girl I have a crush on and it’s actually the theme song for Chantelle Mavimbela, a radio presenter on The HashTagShow. The song plays in the background throughout. She’d won as the BEA (Black Entertainment Awards) online radio’s Black Community Radio Presenter of the Year 2020 and I’m the Co-producer of her podcast. I’m the Sound Engineer and I.T Technician. I compile the songs and everything. We have a platform in the States in New Orleans, Kenya, Egypt, India so yeah.’
Where do you want it known you’re coming from? Where’s your heart?
It’s Africa. It’s the world. I’m not just connecting with Africans, Americans or Asians. I’m telling my story in the best way people can hear me out. If not in English sometimes I go to vernac but at the end of the day, it’s about communicating with everybody. I’m pretty much a war hero. I’m here to say you can fight it out and there’s a lot of people out there committing suicide. There’s depression and anxiety. I’m out here to take them out of that zone. I’ve been there but my music is my asset. I wanna pass that on to my son or daughter.’
Images : Kurt Adonis
New Money Mafia Records / BTY Entertainment : btyrara@gmail.com
Demons Boxed In album Artwork by Eye Origin Digital : eyeorigindigital@gmail.com
Pitbull Gang Records : tsheamisomiltonnakana@gmail.com
ClimaXX Films (Slim Tip) : climaxfilms22@gmail.com
Chantelle Mavimbela The Hashtag Show https://anchor.fm/the-hashtag-show/episodes/TheHashTagShow—Respect-The-Industry-and-craft-enghv8
DSP Demons Boxed In : https://linktr.ee/Lucmoz
Follow Lucmoz : @lucmoz_official
Thank you for the music 