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Rapper Nasty C and singer-songwriter Tellaman are headed to the 25th Essence Music Festival in New Orleans in the US next month, where they will share the spotlight with the likes of Michelle Obama, Mary J Blige, Nas and Missy Elliott at the prestigious music bash.
The artists were at Universal Music in Johannesburg when City Press ran into them on Thursday, and we had an impromptu interview with the pair, who were sporting their trademark dyed and peroxided hairstyles.
The Essence festival is an Afrocentric celebration of creativity that attracts more than 500 000 visitors and is billed as “a party with a purpose”. The pair will be heading to the US to perform on an all-African stage at the festival.
Nasty C explained: “I’m looking forward to it because it’s in New Orleans and that’s where [Lil] Wayne is from, and he’s one of my biggest inspirations. I’m looking forward to introducing myself to them.”
The soft-spoken Tellaman added: “To come back home and knowing that I maybe have one or two new fans who are diehards – that would be cool.”
Nasty C has been quite busy of late, working on some new music: “At first, I didn’t think I would do a project, but then it ended up sounding like one, so I might drop that late this year.”
The prince of the Durban hip-hop scene said that he was also working on a few videos and a coffee table book called The Coolest Kids in Africa. He also has a documentary in the pipeline that will include footage of his studio sessions with No I.D, the legendary American hip-hop producer.
Tellaman said his debut album was doing better than he expected.
Taking in a deep breath almost as if to savour the success, Tellaman said: “People have been showing me love, man. The single, Whipped, is doing really well right now. We’ve partnered with Virgin Records from the UK and they’re also pushing the single that side.”
There might even be a remix or an international feature added to this song or one of his upcoming singles off his debut, God Decides.
The two seem to be friends and have been working a lot with each other.
So when is the joint album coming out?
Nasty C said: “We’ve been saying that. We have so much music together. If we wanted to, we could drop that album today.”
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