Who Is Soweto’s MoPhunk?
From the outside looking in, Who is MoPhunk the artist?
MoPhunk is a visual artist at first! From the biggest township in the world, Soweto. Who has an ability/knack for visual arts since the young age of 9 as he could could draw, sculpt, paint mould clay and do more with his tangible ability. While he attended his primary school in Johannesburg he later learned poetry, gumboot dancing (learned at home after school), singing in the choir and that was where he gained his sense of creating music from.
Since he had an undying love and passion for hip-hop, from the fashion, music etc, also was good in creative writing in high school, he learned to use what he had learned to incorporate it into hip-hop, the way of life he loved. Once he mastered that it was effortless for him to contribute to the culture by making music, creating sneaker paintings, portraits and graffiti all over where he could spray it. So when he creates a project you can obviously guess that he damn well created his own album arts that are all designed and hand drawn by him.
His writing skills and rapping are so not the norm of whats popular right now. As his skill of words, metaphors to make you understand and relate to certain situations that he goes through, backed up by some powerful alliteration that actually puts in more energy to the picture that he paints with the words he uses. He purposefully doesn’t dumb down his lyrics but does not make them to complex either, although he has the ability to. He uses ra carefully selected vocabulary and his ability to create a melody is unmatched. Flowing with his smooth voice that intertwines with his beat selection like peanut butter and jam
What was the defining moment that brought you to music?
The defining moment in his life’s making or doing what he loves, or doing it for his parents.
As a teenager. My father and uncle had big dreams for me to be a soccer star, as they both played soccer when they were growing up so they used everything they had to drive me into soccer. I remember there was this day where my uncle had gotten me to train with a proffesional team in the biggest league and right at that moment. I realised that this was not something that I wanted to do with my life or to make a living from, and I told my dad that what I am good art and truly want to do was art, and he couldn’t get it as he was an athlete all his life. After that things came naturally to me that I didn’t force and found myself making music and free styling with my high school friends.
What’s the music scene like in your part of the world?
The music scene has really grown over the years till now. Especially hip-hop! As every huge superstar in different genres dress like rappers in sneakers, drugs etc, so by that alone you can visually tell how much of an influence it is in Gauteng.There are B-Boys who dance for the bigger artists on stadium stages. The graffiti is madly insane from Soweto to Johannesburg as all the abandoned buildings, revamped buildings and creative spaces all contain graffiti on their walls and pretty much anywhere you can find it. Johannesburg is defiantly the biggest hip-hop scene in South Africa but it is also very strong in Cape Town where it started as far as South Africa and there is a strong scene of hip-hop int he North West too. So I can say that Hip-hop is pretty much alive in South Africa and has defiantly had the biggest influence on the youth, and it’s only getting bigger. There are cyphers everywhere I go, also everything is being advertised with hip-hop music in the back round of the advert as well as the local soapies. So it is the genre that has new flavour and style and has a string impact.
Why do you make music?
I make music because it is my way to express myself as an artist and make you feel the things that I go through and I know there are people who can relate to my pain and joy as I am not the only person who goes through these things alone. I went through a “dark” time in my life and I started writing, and when I did that I felt a sense of relief like I had just played down all the baggage I had and laid it down and felt a sense of freedom. I want to inspire people by the things I offload off my chest to let people know that they are not alone in this. We all go through the same things in life.
Tell us about your current project and what it means for you
My current project is Titled Afrobots! And in this project I have highlighted the facts that we are being controlled and we are not even aware of it. See people might think because they press a button on their remote that they chose the channel they are watching but, what they don’t know is that the channels that you choose from were already chosen for you.
We are told how to think, what to eat, what to say as if we can’t think or choose for ourselves, and today we are told how to breath. And thus I named my EP AFROBOTS because we are Afro people acting like robots.
This project means the truth to me and letting the real be in the light right infant of everyones senses to witness.
How has your sound evolved over the years?
My sound has really changed and grown over the years because as an artist and human being I believe in growth and not sounding the same every time you release a project. If you are gonna sound the same then I might as well just buy one album by you because I wouldn’t be missing anything. I used to love boom bap beats. I still mess with them but I out grew them as it doesn’t challenge me as it once did before. From boom bap to soulful, Lo-Fi rap, pop rap I juts don’t want to be put in a box and labelled a certain thing when I know I have the ability to do what I’ve mentioned and more. My sound and style of writing are influenced by feelings and energy and I create from that.
What’s been the funniest WTF moment thus far in your career?
When I realised how dirty the music industry is. There are no manuals to this and people will take advantage of you if you let them.
Where can we find you online?
– Online you can find me on
Twitter @MellowMoPhunk
Instagram @melliflous_mophunk
You tube – https://www.youtube.com/
Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/mophunk
Bandcamp – https://mophunk.bandcamp.com/
About the Author
Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
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