With the wave of amapiano tapering into an ebbing tide since plateauing post the golden age of the genre between the late 2010s and the early 2020s, the sounds of Bacardi and 3 Step have come to the forefront, with new cohorts of artists and producers washing up ashore along with the movements. It’s a shift that anoints new kings and queens in the game through establishing new territories of music, and record producer Officixl RSA is one such inductee.
The KwaMhlanga native began his journey as a producer at the age of sixteen, his DJing skills honed from the age of fifteen proved to be grist to the mill that served as a foundation for his production attributes. Dropping out of high school to pursue music, Officixl RSA took a gamble that would later elevate him to stardom, the first taste of it coming from his debut single “Drummonades” in 2022.
“I’ve always had love for music, and music has been my life for all these years. With this love for it, I never saw myself ever stopping. But I will admit that I never saw myself getting this far. I’ve been patient, and I’ve worked hard to get to where I am, looking back at where I come from. My journey has given me more and more courage moving forward, and the motivation that I can do this,” he said.
Officixl RSA | SUPPLIED
The belief took him to higher echelons, with the 20-year-old sparking public interest thanks to his singles “Yah Yah Yah” and “Al Francisco”, as he went on to work with the likes of Mellow & Sleazy and Mr. JazziQ, among others.
Officixl RSA was anything but shy about his feelings concerning Barcadi. The producer made it known from the jump that he was – and still is – the genre’s aficionado, even way before he assumed the mantle of the student to learn how to produce the music. With his new project, An Elementary Episode II, already out, he talked about the fine art of braiding his love for Barcadi and his expertise behind the sound desk with his respect for amapiano as a force in the industry to craft a project sure to make heads turn if they don’t bop at the very least.
“Not only am I a Barcadi fan, I have also been in love with it before I started producing it. The love I have for it goes beyond what I feel for amapiano. So, for this album, I decided to mix up both genres by putting certain elements of both sounds into one pot, because as much as I loved Barcadi, I was still inspired by piano and how it sounded and thought it would be cool to combine the two at the same time. That’s why An Elementary Episode II has so many different yet unknown sounds, because I mixed it up so that it feels unique,” he said.
Preview An Elementary Episode II below:
With the fast-growing countywide influence and across-the-border popularity of Bacardi, Officixl RSA confessed that the scene was competitive owing to oversaturation and the diligence of his colleagues within the space. He credited his success to his ability to remain faithful to taking things slow and letting his music undergo slow yet sure organic maturation to ensure that his output remained one-of-a-kind in a deluge of songs churned out.
“I’m not going to lie; it was a challenge coming up with new sounds for the songs because most of them are already known. People are familiar with them since they’ve been used so much by other producers. But this kind of thing teaches you to be patient with the process while you ask yourself how you can take a certain sound and make it cool or special. And me being me, I always want to deliver something fresh and unheard of, and that’s why it takes me time to create a project. I always make sure that my music is different, from the percussions to all the other elements I include in the making,” he said.
Officixl RSA | SUPPLIED
In the work of DIY production and autodidactic ascensions, Officixl RSA revealed that his go-to production tool was the Nexus plugin, stating that the synthesiser gave him access to a library of sounds he relished turning over to find gold.
“I really love weird sounds whenever I get down to making something because they have a way of making a song better. I mean, it also depends on how well you can master the sound, too. And most of these sounds, I find them on Nexus – there are so many amazing sounds in that plugin. Yes, most of the sounds on Nexus have been explored and even overused, but it’s not an issue for me because I believe a lot in searching until I find exactly what I want,” he said.
As much as Officixl RSA valued the essence of slow cooking his music and spending lots of time preparing it, he also spoke about taking time away from it and recruiting new ears as a means of fertilising his creative soil.
“I believe that the mind must always stay refreshed, as a producer. At all times. If you work always, you won’t discover something new because the moment you create a song, it sticks to your mind. So, it helps to step away or to even get features for your next song so you can get something newer for more inspiration,” he said.
