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What ever happened to Glitz Gang?

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You had to have been around to fully grasp it all. These guys were even rhyming over trapped-styled beats that far back with a suave but fundamental approach. They could rap. Picture: Supplied
You had to have been around to fully grasp it all. These guys were even rhyming over trapped-styled beats that far back with a suave but fundamental approach. They could rap. Picture: Supplied
BAKAE: Morale, L-Tido, Maggz and Sean Pages had a chokehold on the game unlike any other rap crew. They were poised to become a formidable movement with hot singles, a line of clothing merchandise and the attention of the streets. The Glitz Gang album never happened, and the group eventually disbanded. Phumlani S Langa catches up with Morale and L-Tido 

There was a time when four brothers had the game on notice. They were the closest thing to hybrid rappers we had in that they served the swag raps – basically the space now occupied by trap – but they could also give you that street heat.

Morale, L-Tido, Maggz and Sean Pages made music that was well received by radio and had a distinct Joburg sound. The streets felt a little like their music from 2005 to 2009.

They had a prolific but short-lived run. We were basically treated to the best album roll-out for a record that was never released. 

They had the buzz, they were brand ambassadors for Red Lion caps, which boasted local city initials such as JHB on them. L-Tido was also embroiled in arguably the best rap beef we’ve had – with AKA who was running with the epic IV League.

The two went at it with their tracks, AKA’s untitled and AKA’s Funeral by L-Tido being released on the seminal Full Clip with Sizwe Dlomo and Scoop Makhathini. The controversy this sparked presented the four-man group with the chance to drop a collective album that would’ve lived on forever, but rifts tore the movement apart.

L-Tido had the City of Gold mixtape with hits such as When It Rains and Amaretto in 2009 and Morale had his album Rising Star in the same year, with the street banger Ain’t No Thing, which hasn’t aged so badly.

L-Tido dropped his album titled 16 in 2018. On the track Glitz Gang Forever, the one artist from the Glitterati stable who is perhaps the most successful rapper, recounts what led to the group’s disintegrating. The main reason was Morale hopping on to Vuzu’s V-Entertainment and basically saying he made L-Tido, which of course didn’t sit well with Tido.

Morale

Morale says he will return to rap and not to chase
Morale says he will return to rap and not to chase sales or records but to do as he pleases

I meet the OG in Braamfontein for a coffee and a chat. He walks in after grabbing a bite at the Neighbour Goods, wearing navy skinny jeans and a matching Guess shirt with a yellow trim on the shoulders. On his left wrist he’s brandishing a golden big face bezel of some kind.

For the last five to six years he’s been running his company Mino Music, creating music for adverts or those at times very hard trap beats used in some popular local soapies.

He claims to have access to an abundance of composers and says he is sitting on a library of music – 10 000 tracks deep. This started when he produced the track Lotto, which is used on the National Lottery show.

“I see myself as a library that has to document our culture. I have a lot of amapiano and gqom albums so as to have a history or the chronicle of sound,” he tells me excitedly.

Taking us back to the formation of Glitterati, he says the National School of Arts (NSA) in Braamfontein played a big role because that’s where they all began to dabble in rap and get to know each other.

“I was in a clique called Zodiac Sons and one of the members was L-Tido.”

He also met Maggz and Pages through this group. “Pages and I became really close, like family. We weren’t really family but it was always just easier to say this.

“We hijacked his mom’s computer, got [music programme] Fruity Loops and started making our own beats.”

He’s grateful for this period as the two got to grips with their capabilities and what they would need to ditch.

For a while, they even ran with former child star and rapper Psyfo, who was also at the NSA. He joined them on the production side.

They called themselves The Benjamins, but the collaboration came to a sour end with a Windows [computer system] update that wiped off all their work.

“I told Pages I was giving up producing and that I wanted him to be my producer. And so we started working on a mixtape. 

“All the while Maggz was doing his thing with Pro and he was a star. I wanted that.”

They pressed discs and sold them at parties, until one day they bumped into kwaito artist Zola. Morale gave him the tape and eventually he got a call from Ghetto Ruff.

“They started incorporating me in their performances. That’s also how I got my connection with Bongani Fassie who was also there and I’d always see Ishmael around and Da L.E.S. L-Tido was not rapping at this time.”

L-Tido asked if we could put him on and we decided to call this crew Glitterati. I came up with the name, but the idea was Maggz’s.

He wanted a crew to ride with him and the chance presented itself when US rapper Keith Murray came to South Africa in 2007. This was Morale’s first major performance, with his mixtape sitting at number one on the Tbo Touch show on MetroFM. It also featured in Hype Magazine.

“I said ‘yo Page, I need you to be a hype man and back me up’. Then Tido heard I was performing and he wanted to tag along as he wanted to see Keith Murray. I thought actually it would be cool to have him on stage.”

Tido learnt the song and they went on stage and killed it.

“L-Tido asked if we could put him on and we decided to call this crew Glitterati. I came up with the name, but the idea was Maggz’s.”

Morale wanted more members and initially was aiming for AKA, Da L.E.S and Maggz. They approached Maggz first and realised they had all the pieces needed once he agreed. “We started recording, put money together to buy more things for the studio. Maggz gave us some of his equipment as he had a studio too. Our catalogue had more individual songs than crew songs, which I think is what killed us.”

Morale wanted to release a Glitz Gang mixtape that had individual and crew tracks, but various elements all gave way at once and this record never saw the light of day. “If that mixtape was released we would all be living different lives.”

The slightly disgruntled Morale claims he’s trying to mend things with L-Tido and is cool with Maggz but has lost contact with Pages.

L-Tido 

That was the thing in 2009. He has had a slew of p
That was the thing in 2009. He has had a slew of popular songs but he’s now preparing something new

Tido pulls up at his company headquarters in Randburg. He’s rolling in a matt red Audi and matching do-rag. The dreads are gone and he looks slimmer.

L-Tido left Universal Music after the release of his album titled 16. He now runs New Wave Media, which is more than just a traditional record label.

It offers a service that caters to the needs of established and rising artists, including video shoot packages, managerial consultations and photography. 

“I was the last person to join the Glitz Gang. The other guys all went to the NSA, but we were always cool. Maggz was doing that Saudi Western thing and Morale had the song I Am Out. 

“They hit me up. I mean, I’ve known Sean Pages since we were five, we used to live next door to each other in Alex.”

He says the group had to fight to earn their position – unsigned and unapologetic.

“Now we’re more mature. Back then we were reckless and it worked. We thought we were the best thing in the world and nobody could tell us nothing.”

The Morale situation was just a misunderstanding and I guess that added friction.

The group had an assortment of individual hits and, for Tido, their competitive studio sessions were some of the warmest memories he has.

So we need to discuss why things fell apart, right?

After a pause he explains: “We wanted to work on solo projects and then come together [for a joint project]. I think we all got accustomed to doing things ourselves.”

Tido believes the Glitz Gang was more of a movement than a group. They went their sperate ways but Tido remains close to Pages and Maggz. “The Morale situation was just a misunderstanding and I guess that added friction.”

Tido says he remembers very little about the Keith Murray performance. “What happened? I’m surprised but I actually don’t remember. That’s more than 10 years ago. We were all there but I honestly couldn’t remember.”

Tido seems happy with his independence but felt let down by Universal Music.

“I felt like the label limited me in terms of the album. I felt like they let me down with the marketing. But there’s no bad blood, I still have respect for them.”

He’s doing what works for him and so is Morale. Tido is soon dropping a single – Ghetto – from his upcoming album. We hope the other brothers are out there and not too far removed from rap.

Maggz still pops up on the charts, with his most recent notable appearance being on Stogie T’s 2018 album Honey and Pain – on the hit single Pretty Flowers. 

They may not have the connection they once had but both Morale and L-Tido spoke about each other with respect.

They have both positioned themselves to be able to help new talent through their businesses.

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