Uncle Vinny taps into music
Late rapper Riky Rick’s generosity towards the less fortunate and his open ear for up-and-coming artists who needed mentoring are some of the rare qualities for which the star will always be remembered.
Now one of the artists who benefitted from Riky’s kindness is on a mission to pay it forward because he believes Riky didn’t die; he multiplied.
In January, Uncle Vinny, real name Kabelo Ndlovu, released an EP titled Youth League.
It’s called Youth League because it is music for the youth made by the youth and as a person who believes that Riky Rick multiplied, he involved young people in the project. Riky instilled it in him to always involve younger talents for the industry to grow.
Uncle Vinny was first introduced to the culture of amapiano through the internationally recognised, Balcony Mix Sessions hosted by Major League DJs, and he now taps into music and has released an EP titled Youth League in January.
Ahead of flying out to Ghana to host Afronation 2022, Uncle Vinny dropped two kwaito-inspired singles in December, namely, Noma Yini with Gustavington & Asbonge thee Vocalist as well as PHOLAS featuring Thabsie and the new kid in the block, 24.
He travels to Europe and the remainder of Africa and he was motivated to go into the studio and make his own amapiano hit. He wanted to make a change when he started to create his music, following in the footsteps of the late Riky Rick who has given him a platform as a young creative, he wanted his project to be a vessel to young talent who have been pushing the genre and trying to get into the music industry.
“What convinced me to make music is my love for music and I also wanted to have fun. I am always on the forefront, especially in Amapiano and I have noticed that there is so much to explore in the genre that will always make the genre interesting.”
Uncle Vinny has turned into a compelling voice in the cutting-edge youth culture of Mzansi and as of late Africa. Putting together the project, he wanted to have young people as well as old involved to give amapiano lovers a variety of sounds to choose from and introduce other amapiano sub-genres that are not popular in the mainstream.
“This project is purely amapiano because it is a broad sound that one can explore. The genre has sgija, Mozambique, Harvard, and Private School. This is a gallery of amapiano in one project, I need to use my leverage and voice to engage the world as the genre has already crossed over. I worked with some of the best artists on this project because they deserve a breakthrough. I am doing this to show the children that admire me, that anything is possible.
“As South Africans, we are the people that created the genre, we are the pioneers, and we should be the ones taking the genre to the world.
“When more people get into the genre were are trying to make sure that it doesn’t die out.
“We need to be involved in this evolution; we need to always stand for our things because it is our only chance to grow our urban genre. We see people like Black Coffee winning just by being authentically themselves.”
