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This has been an impressive year for Nkosinathi Maphumulo. His latest album, Pieces of Me, won four 2016 SA Music Awards (Samas) at the ceremony hosted in Durban a few weeks ago. His mother collected his Best Dance Album, Best Engineered Album and Album of the Year awards on his behalf. He was also honoured with the International Achievement Award for his great run on various international stages earlier this year, and took home the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award at the international DJ Awards.
The meaning of accolades
I ask whether awards matter to him, and he gives a very thoughtful answer: “Awards do and don’t matter. And I think awards like the Samas are nothing to snub, and to get recognition for your work is great, because it’s like your community is saying, ‘we see your work and we recognise it, and well done’.”
He pauses, then adds: “But whatever you were doing wasn’t or shouldn’t be for recognition from your community, for awards or for that approval, because you should be doing it anyway. Also, sometimes you might think that you deserve a certain award and you don’t get it because the community, the judges, don’t think you deserved it, and you will be sad because you feel robbed, but you obviously didn’t deserve it, and you should be doing your work anyway.
“Having said all of that, getting recognition for your work is really an amazing feeling…”
Today he will be at the 2016 BET Awards, where he’s up for a Best International Act: Africa award, in his current home city of Los Angeles, California. He’s honest about his preferred kind of award, and says: “I am a little uncomfortable with awards that require people, the fans, to vote, because we already work so hard to put out the work that it just seems like even more work. Also, the fans do their part by requesting the music on radio stations and buying the music, that to ask them to do more work by voting makes me a little uncomfortable,” says the DJ whose smash hit We Dance Again featuring Nakhane Touré was a contender for the Sama Amstel Record of the Year Award.
He continues: “I like awards based and selected by a committee of experts with all the metrics and criteria in front of them, because I think that’s fair, because it means an album [which is good but perhaps wouldn’t get the votes] won’t lose to a not-so-good album that could get lots of votes...”
The home of Dance?
He also collected an international DJ Award for Dance Nation of the Year, a special award given to South Africa at the ceremony hosted at the party island of Ibiza, and offers his insight on the often repeated “South Africa is the House music capital of the world” statement.
“We are the biggest consumers of House music in terms of radio and TV airplay. We love our House music. But ... I was at a festival in Manchester earlier this year and they had 70 000 people there, and we aren’t at those levels.
“As much as we love House, it’s not filling up the [Ticketpro] Dome. We are consuming House music, but are we making money from it? Hell no!”
Earlier this year, the sought-after DJ performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, which has average attendance of more than 90 000 people a day.
When he’s not rocking with his great sets, he’s a highly regarded producer. He says he’s working with various artists as he grows as a producer.
“My producing work is another reason I am in Los Angeles. I got approached to do an Alicia Keys remix and we sent it back and they seem to really like it. I also told my agent that I am very interested in doing film scores, and I have recently just done one. I am really all about growing as a producer outside of House music.”
International fame
It’s no secret that Black Coffee and his music have been shown love by the likes of rap mogul Diddy, superstar producer Swizz Beatz, Nigerian superstar Wizkid and Seal, who, during a recent trip to South Africa, mentioned Black Coffee as a South African artist he enjoys.
“It’s funny you should mention those people because there are plans around them. I am going to be working on something with Wiz ... we were actually talking about it recently in LA,” he says.
“I am good friends with Swizz and there will definitely be something with him as well. With Diddy, there’s something in the works. In fact, this week, there’s a meeting about what is being worked on, in a kind of boot camp. I can’t say too much about that now, but it’s very exciting!”
On Seal shouting him out, he says: “Oh man! I was talking to my manager in Cannes about getting in touch with his [Seal’s] people about working on something together, because I truly adore his work, and it’s really so cool that he mentioned me.”
And when he’s not working and hanging out with some of the most popular names in the music business, what’s playing in Black Coffee’s ear?
“I listen to what everyone else is listening to ... Bryson Tiller ... Drake and Adele ... especially people like Drake and Adele, because when they make music, they are making it for a global audience ... the world is their market, which is what I want for my music. Music that’s not just for South Africans – it obviously includes them, but music that can be listened to there, in Europe, in the US, wherever.”
* Black Coffee won the BET Best International Act: Africa category award. He was nominated with fellow South Africans AKA and Cassper Nyovest
