Dizzy Monk Records is a group of young Africans making and releasing music in South Africa. The founder Khoroane Rammots gives some background on the collective:
The inception of the label started with three friends. Myself, Olusegun and a third partner, who eventually left, called Christian Stander. I met Christian in high school and Olusegun and I became good friends while he was studying in South Africa before he moved back to Nigeria.
Christian was studying audio in Cape Town and he asked Olusegun and me to help him with a song for school. We then decided to form this label. YoungNativv and I used to be part of a hip-hop group in high school called HHM so naturally I recruited him as the label formed.
I had briefly studied advertising at Vega and found out Dust, a classmate, was a phenomenal singer and so he joined once we had started. NawtyRyma was studying at ASE which was located in the same building as our studios where he was looking for somewhere to record and ended up at the studio next to ours.
Eventually we ended up kicking it and he joined onto our crew.
V.I.C is childhood friends with Olusegun (Segeezy) and Mo-nique is NawtyRyma’s cousin. Milo was introduced to me by an old acquaintance. Calvin was a friend of a friend and so on while Kyla is a good friend of mine’s better half. Pretty much that’s how it all came together.
Where are you based?
Dizzy Monk Records is based and operates out of the Sabc RBF Towers in Auckland Park Johannesburg, South Africa.
Where are you all from?
The Monks are comprised of artists from various places that all met up in Joburg. TopGogg, NawtyRyma and Mo-Nique are all originally from Joburg, YoungNativv grew up in Pretoria, Dust’s home is Vereeniging while V.I.C. and Segeezy make up our Nigerian chapter.
What type of music do you make?
Primarily hip hop and R’n’B music but also produce house and kwaito music. Our hip-hop music is a fusion of rhythmic bass lines under jazzy and funk-inspired melodies over hip-hop beats.
How did the shoot with Adreinne Waheed come about?
Calvin our visual co-ordinator had told Adreinne about us and she was interested. The two organised the shoot – which was a lot of fun by the way.
What tracks are you listening to now?
As a collective we have been listening to a lot of Future, Drake and Kendrick Lamar as well as local artists such as Kid X, AKA, Nasty C and Burna Boy.
What singles have you got coming up?
We have two new singles coming up. Mami Sugar Cakes by TDK (NawtyRyma and TopGogg) and Funk 2 Feel also by TDK featuring YoungNativv. Other tracks to look out for in the future some more tracks by TDK.
What are your tracks about?
Mami Suger Cakes is addressing girls who are every bit as unique as we are and gives them due praise. Funk 2 Feel is a feel good pledge to always provide you with that dope music as a staple.
Do Right means we always hit and never miss. That feel good though celebrates how we have a different style to our peers and the good feeling that gives us and NKD in da city is a song to get people loose on the dance floor.
Check out more here
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Photography by Adreinne Waheed