Rabs Vhafuwi On His New Album And Plans To Open Up The Industry For Venda People

In this interview, he explains his sound as well as industry struggles.
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Rabs Vhafuwi.
Rabs/Instagram

If you're a Rabs Vhafuwi fan, stand up, he has news for you -- his new album is here and it everything you have come to expect from him and more.

The "Count Your Blessings" hitmaker says the project took him a year to complete and he is proud to finally bring it to the people.

He says after his previous album failed to take off, he went back to the drawing board and wanted to do better.

"For this project, I worked with artists from each province in South Africa that's why I called it "9 Provinces". I also worked with American star, Portia Monique. I have kept the old Afro/tribal sound that people have come to love and expect from me but I have fused it deep house.

"At the beginning of the album, as you're playing, you'll notice the deep House with a song where I featured Brazo wa Afrika and another one with Malik Zwane. Then I gradually take it up to a sound closer to commercial," he says.

He plans to enter the South African Music Awards (Sama) come next year.

Rabs says in his six-year production career, he has grown.

"I'm noticing that with my sound, there's more soul. I don't plan that I want to do that, it just happens naturally."

Rabs, who has recently been accredited as a distributor through his company, Freeze the Moment Productions, said starting up was not easy as he battled to get support from local fans and industry as a whole.

"Coming was hard. It got to a point whereby I stopped looking locally for support. I managed to get a tour in the U.K. and as soon as I started doing well internationally, the industry at home started to take me seriously.

"And now that I have managed to get to where I am, I want to help bring up fellow artists. When people look at the dance music genre in Durban, they think DJ Tira and when they think Giyani they think DJ Ganyani. So, I want to be 'that guy' for Venda people. I want to be a bridge for my people as well as other upcoming artists who may not necessarily have backing from big companies."

He says come November, he will be gigging in Australia and he's awaiting final details for his upcoming U.K. tour.

"After an album release, I normally go there [to the UK] for a tour."

The hard copies of the album will be available at music stores nationwide from May 23 while the digital version is already out on all digital platforms.