an article taken from Tonight...
Is it me or does the reporter sound like she didnt even wanna do this piece...
So Fresh and so TeenApparently, Da Les is the hot one in SA's most popular boy band at the moment, Jozi.
The girls swoon for his cheeky good looks and sense of style. He revels in the bling diamond earrings, the Ama Kip Kip clothing label and the ice cream shoes.
He can also rap and dance like no other crunkster and, on June 12, will release his first solo album, called Fresh to Def.
Without a doubt his first single off the album, Tippy Toes, is going to be the biggest thing among teenagers everywhere.
For older music fans, it is
possibly the most irritating and most catchy song since Barbie Girl (I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world). The video is set in a convent and has sexy school girl scenes à la Britney Spears's … Baby One More Time.
Da Les is also hooked up to
http://les.ubyou.co.za, where fans can listen to snippets of the album and see outtakes of the video. They also have access to competitions.
Armed with all this information and having had the
mispleasure of hanging out with Da Les over the last two years, I meet the over-eager 22-year-old in Melville. The plan is to spend a day with him and see exactly how a potential superstar spends his time.
"I watched the Man U vs Chelsea game last night," he says meekly. "I'm hungover and need lots of water."
His plans make for a long day. Aside from the Tonight interview, SABC1's Selimathunzi has booked an interview with him in the afternoon and then, after 6pm, he is on YFM for two hours. All this and he has a girlfriend, too.
"I love you, promise," he smiles on the phone. "I promise. Promise promise."
Damn,
the young can be irritating. I glare at him and he ends the phone call.
"Honestly, you are the scariest journalist ever," he tells me. "But don't worry, when I am famous and E! Entertainment wants to do a True Hollywood Story, I'll tell them to interview you."
Oh yes, the irritation and the confidence of youth …
Selimathunzi calls. They are at the studio, which is in a house in Melville that is rented by Bongani Fa**ie.
Da Les drives a 7 series Beamer,
which happens to be his mom's. He plays a songs from his album, a relaxed R'n B-influenced track.
"This be
gangsta music," he yells over the volume.
Yeah, right dude, it so makes you want to take out the uzi.
On arrival at the house/studio there is the usual crew of hangers- on, some working on computers, others just hanging out talking about the previous night's soccer.
The Selimathunzi crew are there with the show's presenter, Kaos. Bongani appears and offers everyone pizza . The shoot begins.
Kaos is quick off the mark. "We want you to make a new track!" he tells Bongani and Les. "Hey, we could even do a duku duku mixtape."
Les is in his element: "This is what we do every day. You gotta have a party behind the mic."
Bongani supplies the beat and Les the rhymes. It's as easy as A B C.
Within an hour, that is supplemented by much mirth, a song has taken shape, a song that could even be a hit. Les has a flow not many other rappers have. His confidence and understanding of his craft makes him stand out among his peers. Yes, it is kinda juvenile and squeaky, but it is commercial and it works. Straight outta America!
Later on that day, we go back to Melville's 7th street for a heart-to- heart. He answers my questions with careful honesty.
His father was the first black person to work in IT at IBM in the '70s. His parents then relocated to Washington DC, where Les was born. He grew up in Dallas, Texas, and moved to SA in 1993. He went to private schools and hung out with mostly white kids. He listened to Nirvana, rave music and got into rollerblading and skate boarding. Later he hooked up with Bongani at a skatepark and they soon became inseparable.
"They were always stealing at Brenda's (Fa**ie) place," he recalls.
"That first day, when we gave him a lift home, we arrived at her house and the door was open. We realised the house had been broken into again. Brenda was away and my mom said he must crash at our place and we've been friends ever since. I helped him with his skating and he helped me with rapping."
The two would hang out at skateparks and beatbox and rap together. The chemistry between them was electric and they soon became very popular.
"I don't want to be a dick," Da Les says of his success so far. "I want to have a level of cla**. I was raised to be nice and kind and down to earth. Even though I grew up in a house in Bryanston I'd still stay with my friends in Alex or Soweto.
"In my daily life I hang out at the malls. In terms of my clothing, I was always brought up to look good."
We move on to his album, which he says he wants to break internationally. Da Les is of the firm belief that he will be an international rapper one day.
"My album is called Fresh to Def, because it's like the sheeit, the definitive point. It's the absolute ultimate."
Da Les may sound like an American copycat, but the strange thing is he is exactly like his music. He is flash, he is fun, he is bling, he is superficial. And isn't that just what our youth are looking for?
Sounds like this was written with a can of haterade in hand... I had to SMh at the bold parts... explains a lot..
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