The beat is infectious. The flow is on point. The hook is catchy. All signs point to a winner. Plus, the video is hilarious:

@WatSeCrew

New audio from the South African collective Driemanskap. The track iZulu Lelam is expected to appear on their upcoming album Hlala Nam dropping later this year. I may not understand all the lyrics but that amazing chorus & the strings on production transcend all language barriers. The Pioneer Unit signed collective definitively have a banger on their hands here !

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Download iZulu Lelam HERE

Follow @Driemanskap on Twitter

New audio from Cape Town based artist Fonzo titled theRapy featuring Kim Kline. Fonzo drops some real insightful bars about the racism & discrimination he has experienced in modern day South Africa, definitely worth a listen.

Download theRAPy via Cheka.co.za or Rapbuzz.co.za HERE

Follow @OfficialFonZo on Twitter

Gabonese born, France based rapper Don Nakess just popped up on my radar. Recently releasing a video for his track Aubameyang and closely following that with remixes. Punchlines galore to be found if you’re familiar with the language.

Aubameyang Youtube Link

Twitter: @donnakess

Catch the remix right below featuring “La Legion Etrangere” (translates to “The Foreign Legion”).

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Youtube Link

Bonus: Aubameyang Recording Session Video Footage and yet another remix.

Owoninho Remix:

Greedy is a Motskwako rapper from Botswana who is part of the @MakePampiri family. At only 19, he shows plenty of potential with his new single Selemela (prod. by South African producer @hiperdelic).

The song is off his upcoming album MOTSWAISO and is already making waves on Botswana radio as well as amassing upwards of 1500 downloads in just a week. The numbers, much like the song, are not bad at all. See what all the fuss is about below:

04 Selemela

DOWNLOAD MP3: Greedy – Selemela ft. Snowey Fanrasha (prod. Hipe)

If you a Tswana rap/Motswako fan make sure you follow @MakePampiri and @Snowey_Fanrasha on twitter.

Its that time of the month where the team here at @25tolyf digs into its email inbox & social network time lines to try find quality music releases that we somehow may have missed for reasons unknown even to us. This edition of Mixed Bag Mondays has a lot of great music so lets get right into it

MI Abaga – The Illegal Music Two

Nigerian emcee MI Abaga dropped off the the sequel to his breakout mixtape Illegal Music  a few months back. The release caught us here at the blog all off guard & we were left scratching our heads wondering how we managed to miss something as big as this. As expected Mr. Abaga delivers another stellar project that doesn’t disappoint.

Download @MI_Abaga – Illegal Music Two HERE

Green Face Presents Money Over Murder Mixtape

The Ghanaian born duo of Midknight & Treasure better known as Green Face recently released their Money Over Murder mixtape. The duo are currently based in Atlanta & this mixtape is set to be their breakout project, with features from Dirty Money’s Kalenna the project will certainly grab a lot of people’s attention. Hit the links below to download the mixtape & click here to see an exclusive video of the pair in the studio with the Bad Boy Records songstress 

Download Money Over Murder  DatPiff Link : Mediafire Link

Batabazi - Binsobedde

We featured Ugandan group Batabazi in our last edition of Mixed Bag Mondays & soon after that they got hold of us with their new single Binsobedde which they just dropped a video for as I was writing up this post. To download the audio hit up the groups Reverb Nation page here. Follow @Batabazi on Twitter.

Young Nations & Sean Price

While I was browsing my stream on Soundcloud the other day I came came across a song on Young Nation’s profile; a collaboration with Sean Price. This immediately got my attention considering I grew up listening to Bootcamp Clique, Heltah Skeltah & Random Axe has been a recent favorite. Props to @youngnations for managing to get @SeanMandela on a track

AKA & Reason – Benylin (Way Too Cold Remix )

South African artists AKA & Reason recently remixed the Kanye West single Theraflu/Way too Cold & put their own Southern African twist by renaming the track to a cough syrup we could all identify with here , Benylin. Now I know what you are thinking, I was thinking it too. How come Wood’s & Solphyllin never get any love? Preview the track below or hit the link to download the joint. You might also want to check out @akaworldwide‘s The Exclusives mixtape , which contains this song & more

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Download AKA & Reason – Benylin (Way Too Cold Remix ) HERE

DJ Mikey – Proverb & Chris Brown Mashup

As the last submission for this post I would like to share something different with you. South African DJ Mikey recently mixed Chris Brown’s She Ain’t You & Proverb’s The Beginning . It may seem like an odd pairing but I assure you the finished product is amazing. Preview & Download the track below & follow @DJMikeyRSA on twitter

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Download DJ Mikey – Proverb & Chris Brown Mashup HERE

Two weeks ago the Harare International Festival of the Arts kicked off here in Zimbabwe. HIFA is an annual arts festival held in Zimbabwe’s capital which features music, dance, poetry, drama & visual art & is usually held over 6 days featuring live stage & street performances . This year Zimbabwean & South African hip-hop legends Zubz & Tumi with his band The Volume were invited to perfom. Sadly, we here @25toLyf were not able to make to the event but the good people at @ZimboJam were kind enough to offer their help to cover the performance & also get an exclusive interview with the band, which you can view below

  Check out the ZimboJam site & follow their team  on Twitter: @fungaijames @tnash3006 & @Kim_Rudo who we’d like to thank for their support

Hit up @zubzlastletta & @TumiVolume & Download their latest project Where Were You HERE

You can also view more footage of Tumi & The Volume with Zubz at HIFA 2012 here

Jozi artist Don Dada releases the first single off his upcoming album ‘Avant Garde’. Kinda reminds me of Max B (Free Max B!) and thats definitely not a bad thing. Wavy:

I_want_you_back-Don_Dada[TweetMySong]

DOWNLOAD MP3: Don Dada – I Want You Back

Follow @dondadamusic on twitter for more.

O-Nerve initially dropped off the opening track from his mixtape back in late february and after a couple of months under the radar he returns with the final product, courtesy of Audible Braile Entertainment.

As with previous Audible Braile releases, this project has the same distinctive sound thanks to the sample-laden, jazzy boom-bap production provided by the likes of SAN the Instru-Monumentalist, Phil The KRITIK & Carnyiso to name a few. Perhaps surprisingly then, that O-Nerve spends the first half of the tape talking to the opposite sex on tracks like She Was Giving It Up:

04 04. O-NERVE – She was giving it up Produced by SAN, the InstruMonumentalist

The tape changes direction around the halfway mark and the second half is more what you would expect from the Eastern Cape emcee, highlighted by tracks such as Infinity 2.0 which is simply a barrage of bars, and the The One which you can sample below:

08 08. O-NERVE – The One Produced by Phil, The KRITIK

I don’t like labels or terms like ‘underground hip hop’ as I feel all they do is divide (and that is never good), but if South Africa has an underground scene then Audible Braile are surely at the forefront. Grab your free download of the mixtape below.

DOWNLOAD: O-Nerve – 2012eXplosion [Mixtape]

Follow @O_Nerve @iamSANhedrin @AudibleBraile on twitter

TRK , who we first featured on Mixed Bag Monday 2 weeks ago drops this absolute club thumper titled W.O.R.K. just in time for your Friday night pre party playlist. He produced the song as well & I have to say I was blown away by this beat. I’m Thoroughly impressed with the recent work TRK is dropping & looking forward to more music of this calibre.

Follow @TRKmusik_  on Twitter

Bump W.O.R.K. via Soundcloud below:

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]