They recently just finished their double CD entitled “The Projekt”.  Salute To The Dead is the banging single that you need to look out for.  We recently interviewed them so learn more about these Tanzanian emcees based in Johannesburg.

Can you start off by introducing yourselves to the hip hop world out here.

Yo this is Phat Family, whats up South Africa? What’s going on?

You call yourselves Phat Family, how many members do you have in your family?

Phat Family is composed of two crews that came together as one. One family goes by name of Renegadez who reside in California and the other family called the Swahili Nation based out here in South Africa.

You have released an album? Is it a double? What can you tell us about it. Who features on it and is this your first album?

Yes we are releasing an album entitled “The Projekt”. The album will be distributed through Mothermix distributors and fans can get it in stores at a price that they can afford. Not at R150, not at R100, not R80 but at cheaper price than that. Initially the album was supposed to be a double album, featuring the Renegadez and Swahili Nation, but we kinda had some changes to it. It’s now just a single album with 20 banging tracks. The 1st 10 songs introduces the fans to our english version of the album, including the banging track “Salute to the Dead” for all those english speaking hip hop heads, while the other 10 songs shows the fans how Phat Family gets down and rocks the mic in different african languages, still on banging beats,…you gotta love it. On top of that, this is not our first album, actually we have about 5 albums under our belts and soon as people receives us with a bang, we have something on the way called “The Movement” and boy ooh boy….we cant speak on it today.

How would you define your sound?

Universal. Our sounds are more of new school hip hop, with a twist. Although we do pay respect to the old school, we 
stay true to ourselves and try not to sound like everyone else in the game. But at the same time give fans what they wanna hear. You can call us “dons of rhymes and masters of beats”. 

Who does the production for your music? What kind of beats do you feel the most? 

Our production is done in 2 studios, one in California under our most talked producer on the streets, Ma men Ricky 
(Richard Mzuri), and in South Africa under our genius guy producer Mubarak Simba. When it comes to beats, we kinda feel those beats that make fans move they heads, clap their hands and stare with that kind of look, that tells you, “yeeeeh..we feelin that”. You can say nice but appealing beats accompanied with some key boards and Proteus like Rolands and Mophats.

What do you write about in your tracks?

In our tracks, we write about everything that we live, witnessed and dream about. We write about the world. We have tracks that can make you dance, tracks that can make you think deep, tracks that make you cry coz they touch you and tracks that make you wish and wonder and try to make your dreams come true, we are hip hop teachers, we verbally create solutions to your inner thoughts sometimes, you know what I mean.

What emcees/groups are you feeling in this country?

First of all my main man is Snazz that cat from Cashless Society, second one is X-Amount, and these other cats they have got this track as a soundtrack to God is an African (Raise again), oops I jus forgot the name, my bad! 

Besides your own album what other projects have / are you working on?

Besides our own albums we have produced for famous people before. In the past, we have wrote and produced for rapper Rappin 4 Tay, PS of the 40 Thieves (for those that know their hip hop history), have wrote and produced for D-Mac (This is the famous actor in movies like Sunset Park, the Wood and Get on the Bus). We have done a theme song for a movie soundtrack called Street Fury Chrome featuring rapper Redman, Sugar Ray, Mini Me and others. We have also opened shows for R and B sensation singer Ginuwine and have done a mix tape with Snoop Dog’s dj (DJ Jam)

Are you originally from South Africa?

Originally Phat Family members are from East Africa who migrated to South Africa and others to California. But we still keep the family together.

“Salute To the dEad” is an ill track. How has it been recieved on radio so far?

Thanks alot for the love Milk D. Actually it’s doing o.k as of now, although we hope that radio station gives it a little bit more attention coz that’s a song dedicated to our lost souls (of course everybody has lost someone before, either relative or friend), and we hope if it sinks in peoples head, then most of us could relate to it. All in all, the song is doing so well in Silvertab’s Dope Session, currently at number one in votes, you know what I mean, but if fans decide that they wanna hear a different kind of track..believe me we got them tracks in full bucket.

What would you say are your influences?

Old shool raps like Run Dmc, Chuck D, ofcourse Tu Pac, Nas, Dr. Dre and of course my grandma who told me..I can be what I wanna be.

Cashless Society is performing in Cape Town this month, when will we get to see you guys live in Cape Town?

Cashless Society is a society of its own, and we wish them all the good luck. As for us, we are first waiting for a response from the people of South Africa. We wanna see what kind of image we are about to create and what influence we are about to bring. After that, if the vibe is positive, then believe it, we will organise the best show, and we will rock the show not only in Cape Town, but everywhere starting from Soweto to Cape Town, Pretoria, Jo’burg, you name any place in South Africa and we shall be there.

What are you all time favourite albums?

Of course Chronic by Dr.Dre, Illmatic, Stillmatic and Lost Tapes by Nas, every album by infamous Mobb Deep, Talib 
Kweli and those ones by Yvonne ChakaChaka..remember those?…yeeep

What was it like you growing up?

Growing up was hard. So hard that till now it makes me cry when I think about it. We were poor, never knew how it felt to be o.k, but I use my past as my strength and never dwell on it. I made beats still at that tender age on an instrument called Ngoma and Marimba, I still wrote rymes on a paper with a pencil. I knew I had skillz.

Your best memories of hip hop?

Best memories of hip hop, I think I have few, one is when we opened a show for Ginuwine, when I hanged out with Eastsiders crew (Snoop Dogs crew), and when we were put on a mix tape with famous people like 50 Cent, Dr.Dre, Eminem among others.

What’s the hip hop scene like in Gauteng? What are it’s strengths and weaknesses?

Down in Gauteng Hip hop jus getting its props, u know, despite the fact that there isn’t the proper channel to spread the word, u know, but much love to YFM Crew Harambee, Bad Boy T, Sanza and Nubian Princess Lee, u know they tryin to hold it down.

What kind of food do you eat?

Ma men, I’m Swahili so I looove Pilau. It’s some special kind made rice. That’s my all time favourite.

What would be the ultimate collaboration track?

Definitely “Rise again” by them cats I jus forgot their name, man! The beats, the flowing is jus out of this world man, 
Oooh! Yeah before I forget there is this other cat goes by the name AMU I jus love his Joint, man!!! Till I met U.

Any memorable battles you could tell us about?

Yep yep, I remember when Cashis, one of our member freestyled for about 20 minutes non stop. (I mean freestyle) kicked rivals asses, dog, they thought the rhymes were written, but believe me they were not. I also remember when he challenged Kurupt from the Dog Pound to a free style battle but Kurupt never showed up. Cashis is so sick that I will bet my mom’s car, for him to battle anybody men.

If people wanna hook up with you or learn more about Phat Family what would they need to do?

Men, if people wanna hook up or contact Phat Family, they can do so through Milk Daddy, in South Africa they can email us at phatboy_record@hotmail.com and in California they can also email us at ppi9070@hotmail.com.  Plus we make beats for anybody interested and we also write rhymes for you and produce for you if you also interested.

If you were paid R1 million Rand to do a track with Leon Schuster and Patricia Lewis would you do it?

If I was paid a million rands to do a track with Leon Schuster and Patricia Lewis, better believe it, I will do it in a second, plus just for the respect I will do more than one track for the same amount or less. Are you kidding me men? Put the offer on the table, yeah as matter of fact subject to negotiations,…believe that! 

What sort of obstacles have you as a group faced in this industry?

We have faced different obstacles ranging from people player hating, people not recognizing their own African talent, people not giving respect where its due, you know what I mean. People will actually embrace someone from out of the continent than they will do someone from Africa and when you listen to the products its always the same men. I also feel that radio station hasn’t given us the love that we really deserve and I hope by listening to this album, people can look back and ahead and say men, Phat Family is taking hip hop in Africa to the next level.

What kind of equipment are you using to make beats?

We make beats on Mpc 2000 XL, a Roland keyboard, Proteus and sound modules like Mophats, Roland and Trident. Without these, I’m not creating any beat men, we wanna be associated with the best and illest sound out there. 

Is this album a local release only?

Yes, this album is local release only.  We wanna give people of Africa a quality music at a fair price.  We want to see how 
the African market will respond to us, by giving them music at a very low price.  Eventually we might go international with it, or just wait till we release the next album “the movement” and then market it worldwide.  As of the “projekt”, I think its just an album, a 20 track joint created to bless my African people.  Once it creates a buzz out here, then international markets will come to South Africa to look for it. 

What’s most important to you, recognition/respect or mad loot?

I think all three men, but in order of respect, recognition then why not mad loot!?  This could change my life from how it is now to better.  Who knows, if I touch so many people in Africa, I might end up being an African mayor to the world of hip hop.

What’s an average day like for Phat Family?

An average day for phat family will be a day full of hard work, full of positive thoughts, full of creations, full of inventions, full of hustling and of course full of helping others all this together with the power of GOD equals achievement.

How long have you been doing this for?

Men, I have been doing this hip hop ish for about 4 1/2 years.  Yep, got quite few belts under my wing brother.

How can the average South African get hold of your music?

Everybody should be able to get our cd.  At the price of about 30% of what a normal cd cost in South Africa.  Mothermix 
will distribute the cds and people, fans can get the cd through stores like Musica, Pick n’ Pay and also by contacting South African family through emails (phatboy_record@hotmail.com) another way is by listening to your radio station and they should be able to tell you where to get it, but we will try as much as possible to make sure that the album reaches you, even if it means driving to your town to drop you one…that’s what hip hop is and that’s how much we are dedicated to our fans and that’s the way of life, coz we do stand 100% behind our music. 

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, any last words and shout outs?

It was a pleasure sir, and thanks for having us, thanks for including our tracks in your upcoming AG compilation.  We just wanna say thanks alot to Yfm radio, Sista Lee and her crew, thanks to Silvertab for the dope session, thanks to Mothermix for giving us distribution deal, thanks to Milkdaddy for all what he does, thanks to all radio stations Yfm, Metro and all those that play our music, thanks to all the fans for calling the radios and asking for our songs, thanks to all that vote for our song in Silvertab, last but not least shout out to Mbuyu Bernard Muya (our accountant), all fans in South Africa, and in the African continent as a whole, mad love to all hip hop groups in Africa, everybody in Africa……..peace out, keep hip hop Africa burning hot.  GOD bless Africagateway and one love to all Phat Family members.

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