Lolli Native on preaching street gospel in his new album 'Ivangeli'

Lolli Native, real name Luthando Dekeni, has a good head on his shoulders and releasing his debut album six years after being an upcoming artist has proved how much of a storyteller he is. 

He told TshisaLIVE that he poured his all — good and bad — into Ivangeli and he is sure it will take listeners on a journey into the artist he is and the stories he wants to tell through his music.

“The word is directly taken from the word evangelist and that's what I do, I bring gospel to the people through my music. I feel I've been doing this for so long that it was time to take out a body of work, and shout out to Emtee for making it possible for me.”

He dubbed the project ghetto gospel.

“I'm saying it's street gospel because talking about the hood, the struggles that we go through. I was fortunate while working on the album to travel to other African countries and through my travels I realised that the struggles of an upcoming artist, specifically hip-hop artists, are the same. Whether you are in Windhoek, Namibia, in Blantyre, Malawi, in Harare in Zim or in New York. This gave me the idea of ghetto gospel because the message is broad, and I chose the album to be 95% Xhosa ... it had to be a Xhosa project for me.

He said the album was about gratitude and inspiring other people who do what he does.

“My journey has been a journey of patience, it's been a journey of ubuntu, because I can never say I've made it on my own because I've been an upcoming rapper for six years, and I needed people, I needed family to support me, and I'm always grateful for that.”

He is signed under rapper Emtee's record label.

“Working with Emtee was a dream come true.Being signed under him has been amazing and being able to be in studio with him, getting his feel and getting his thoughts on the music I put down, was amazing. I check his inbox sometimes and I see how many people want him to listen to their song, just to listen, and just I feel privileged and I feel I've been having a lot of input of how to move, how to communicate and how to read situations in the game and how to manoeuvre. I'm forever grateful to Emtee for the opportunity.

He said he was intentional about song choices and the message he wanted to share.

“It was very important. The whole project is about a message for me. One of the songs that describe what I'm trying to portray iscalled Iyanga, so Iyanga is where I'm from. I feel like a lot of people support Iyanga, a lot of people look up to me. Not dropping this album the way I wanted to or portray the message I wanted, there was a lot of people I would've let down, so the structure and feel of the album was important.”