Sowetan rapper Emtee on the genesis of his hit Roll Up and how the snowball success of the song brought African giants Wizkid and AKA knocking.
On December 11, 2015, AKA took his seat on the podium at the BET Experience Africa press conference. On his left was Diamond Platnumz, a giant on the African music scene, and on his right Emtee, the little known South African rapper with a hit song on the radio.
You’d be forgiven for not recognising this newcomer and expecting him to sit small between two giants; but he didn’t, he held his own.
Later that evening, AKA sent out a series of tweets paying homage to the young emcee, even saying he sees a lot of himself in Emtee. That name drop was an unexpected shift from his typically self-absorbed character. In co-signing Emtee, he’d broken from his unwritten code of conduct and given Emtee a career defining moment. The Supa Mega had given his approval.
‘I was at a point where I felt like this thing’s not gonna work and let me just go find a job.’
But it started a few months earlier when AKA, after first hearing Emtee’s then newly released song, Roll Up, tweeted, ‘EMTEE – ROLL UP. Somebody tag this guy. DORO says ?.’ That was one of Emtee’s realest moments and proved to him that he was on the right track.
‘Just a couple of months ago I was sitting at the crib and I was at a point where I felt like this thing’s not gonna work and let me just go find a job,’ he says, nervously fiddling his hair as he talks.
‘I was sitting at home and watching him (AKA) on TV. In my mind I was like, “Ah I’ll never be like this guy, man. Look at him, he’s light in complexion, he’s got a nice haircut – he’s the complete package.” And I never thought this guy would ever like my stuff because I do trap (music). So I just couldn’t believe it when he sent that tweet out. It really changed my life, just him telling the world about me.’
He tells me this story under a set of bright lights in a restaurant in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. It’s barely noon but the lights are on to compensate for the gloomy mid-January weather that has fallen across the city.
This newly-found success has been long overdue. He’s 24 now, and it’s taken him half a decade to finally break through into the mainstream.
Several months have passed since that first tweet was sent out into an audience eager for refreshing new hip-hop talent. Emtee has since filled that void – he’s gone on to win Song of the Year at the SAHHA (SA Hip-Hop Awards) for Roll Up, dropped his critically-acclaimed debut album Avery and secured his rep as a bonafide rap star. The gold chain around his neck confirms this.
But this newly-found success has been long overdue. He’s 24 now, and it’s taken him half a decade to finally break through into the mainstream. ‘I invested in my own career. I spent the energy, the time, the writing. Immediately after high school I didn’t waste time and people’s money going to varsity; I decided to just stay in the studio.”
This incessant work ethic spawned his biggest hit and breakthrough song, Roll Up.
‘I came in to the studio and found Ruff, my producer, making this beat. I loved it and I was like, “Yo, give me this beat!” and he was like, “Naa, I’m going to sell it to so and so.” Emtee then pleaded with Ruff and made a deal with him.
‘I told him, “Naa tell that guy some story, I’m taking this beat and I’m gonna record on it now. If it sucks, tell me and you can sell it”’
Ruff gave him that chance and an hour later, Emtee had quickly freestyled onto the beat – providing a raw, unique South African flavour of trap music. The concept was all over the place, Emtee concedes, but that’s what made the song what it is. It became an instant hit, drawing interest from the likes of Wizkid.
‘Wizkid called my road manager who he kind of knows and told him he wanted to meet with me and make a song. It wasn’t even about Roll Up, he just wanted to make music with me.
‘So my manager arranged for us to meet and we went to Sandton to the hotel Wiz was staying and we chilled and got to know each other.’
What was initially meant to be work on a separate record ended up leading to Roll Up Re-Up, the remix to Roll Up featuring Wizkid and AKA. Soon after, and seemingly overnight, Emtee released his debut album, Avery.
‘Since people have been saying I’m a one-hit-wonder, I decided let me just drop an album.
Sceptical onlookers who saw him as lacking the substance to make a lasting impact, trolled him on social media (he’s built a reputation of responding to trolls) and diagnosed his album a failure even before it was released.
https://twitter.com/EmteeSA/status/701325540200992768?lang=en-gb
‘Since people have been saying I’m a one-hit-wonder, I decided let me just drop an album. Not even a follow-up single, let’s just take that chance. And it worked. My first ever album, Avery, has been number one on iTunes now for the longest time. I’m very proud of it.’
Avery didn’t come about overnight. The journey started when he decided to leave school after grade 10. One of his biggest breaks since then came on an opportune night out at popular Monte Casino club, Cantare.
‘Last year, I was performing at Monte Casino and then my [soon-to-be-manager] was present, I actually got introduced to him by JR, who was someone who had already known and believed in what I do. From that day on, I and my manager were in contact and we set up a meeting and I got signed. From there things just happened naturally from features to collaborations. That’s what everybody coming up needs, just a day when you meet someone and they give you that break. So that’s how I blew.’
‘I used to hang in the studio and chill and watch how they work, I never bothered anybody like “Yo put me on, lemme jump on a song.” So when I blew up, I was ready.’
Emtee is more reserved than I’d expected. He speaks in a subdued, terse manner, his head slouched across the table – presumably in an attempt to avoid unnecessary interruptions in a city where he’s become somewhat of a household name.
Before he blew up, he was already rocking with the likes of MarazA, who was his mentor, KiD X and Smashis, who he says ‘were like my big brothers’ and taught him the ins and outs of the game.
‘I used to hang in the studio and chill and watch how they work, I never bothered anybody like “Yo put me on, lemme jump on a song.” So when I blew up, I was ready.’
And ready he was. Having just received four nominations at the Metro FM Awards, Emtee is primed for yet more success.
‘These days I’ve been having a lot of déjà vu-type moments. I’ve literally had dreams where I was sitting with K.O and we were talking about which song we can make. And it’s happening now.’
Dream on!
Find Emtee on Twitter @emteeSA