South African rapper and amapiano star Sizwe Alakine has found a new lease of life upon reincarnating into the piano space after proclaiming death to his allegiance to hip-hop and renouncing his award-winning persona Reason. From landing hits with Kabza De Small and Kelvin Momo to scooping major gongs such as the Metro FM Award for Song of the Year for “Imithandazo”, Alakine has spearheaded the hybrid rapiano movement in the country for the past several years since his reintroduction in the industry with Alakine World in 2022, following Audio3D, AudioHD, and Azania as Reason.
Sizwe has returned with his sophomore album under his new name, adding an amapiano-inspired installment to his Audio series titled Audio 2D: Dear Darkie, which sees Sizwe die to himself as a hip-hop star while embracing his kasi roots in the quest to use his gift as a healing medium.
A 47-minute auditory treat, Audio 2D: Dear Darkie is a 14-track amapiano offering which samples primitive kwaito elements and old-school Mzansi rap seasoning to texture the album with the feel of kasi-centric rap. The time-specific and rather backward-looking sound of Sizwe’s latest project predominantly features gritty orchestra, sobering piano key cycles, and soft bass drums which shun commercial trap and shirk Americanised standards. With production from the minds and fingers of Speeka, 808x, Infektist, Tweezy, PLXYGRND, HopeMasta, Shaun Black and Skary Fellow, the LP is a deliberate step towards what appeals to the Mzansi hood demographic.
Audio 2D, from a thematic standpoint, is an album of existential evolution depicted through musical progression. The album speaks on Sizwe transitioning from Reason (“F.O.M”, “Where’s Reason” and “Sotra Cypher”), poverty and hardship (“Ngahlupheka” and “Be Free”), Afrocentric spirituality (“Deliver Us” and “Baba Ngikhumbule”), kasi life and Blackness (“Elokishini” and “Dear Darkie”), love (“Let’s Go”), and fatherhood (“Tata”).
With Audio 2D, Alakine moves to occupy the lacuna left in kasi rap by the departure of the late Linda Mkhize’s, a sentiment which rears its head every now again in the music such as on “Where’s Reason”, where he takes a sword to repudiate his previous life in the hip-hop circle. Sizwe’s pen game on the album is balanced and isn’t honeycombed with intricate easter eggs as his English-delivered raps used to be. Because of this slight paradigm shift, the lyricism is intelligible, and none of the heavy themes are lost in the haze of pompous songwriting and bar-infested verses which are all shine but little substantial value.
“I just can’t believe they needed piano to see my worth.”
– SIZWE ALAKINE ON “wHERE’S REASON”
Whether he casts himself as a spiritual emissary to alleviate the pains of his people through prayers or narrating a hustler’s struggle in street life, Sizwe Alakine remains consistent throughout the record with engaging kasi worldbuilding and languid rap-styled reporting. The man himself admits, on the tape itself, that switching to Alakine has been pivotal in amplifying his voice and taking up the mantle as an authority. The certainty with which he raps about the subject matters attests to this, as there is not even a single time where Alakine looks a pathetic sight like a fish writhing on land. If anything, it’s his command which makes his subject selection even more compelling and authentic.
Audio 2D is a grownup opus that not only serves to be a mouthpiece through which untold stories find their way out to the world, it’s also a brooding body of work which aspires to expand upon the concept of Blackness being a way of life rather than a condition. One moment Sizwe imagines what life would be as a Black person free from financial straits and economic struggles, the next he’s spinning a tale of hustling and survival – in both cases, he tells a rather non-judgmental story of a people with money on their minds but different mindsets.
Sizwe Alakine | SUPPLIED
Audio 2D: Dear Darkie may not be a collection that aims for versatility and stylistic flair, but its sophistication radiates from its simplicity and the depth of Alakine’s multi-shaded worldview. In this cut, Sizwe isn’t making music for the sake of staying relevant with his skill but saying what’s relevant instead, which sees him don the caps of a street intercessor, a musical activist of Blackness, a blunt-tongued realist, and a braggadocious motor mouth, among other things.
If his other Audio albums were all about dimension and definition, the newest one is all about redefinition and living in it with pride and consummate ownership.
Listen to Audio 2D: Dear Darkie:
