In his own words: One Way To The High Way

Creating One Way

I used to write as a pass time when I was younger. Scribbling words together and then recording them onto my phone as raps. It was never something serious. I got found out though, by my friends Chris and Ray who I used to like to visit at their workplace The Sausage Saloon. As usual, I arrive there and we swap phones because we’re in the habit of exchanging songs with each other. I don’t know where they pressed but they soon discovered the “song” that I had recorded of myself rapping the lyrics that I had written. Stunned, they asked if it was indeed me rapping on there and reluctantly I say yes. Still unsure that it was my writing and also wanting to test me I guess, they ask me to write something else and so I leave to go write. When I come back, they hear my out and are not impressed. The flow, the pattern are the same. Nothing’s changed. So they start to criticise me saying, “Dude…so this is how you rap? No change of pace, no change of pattern. Just one way”? Chris says “Yah…that’s what we’ll call you, One Way”.

Zero to Hero-nyana

Now that I was found out and harshly criticised, I wanted to do better. So I practised and found other ways, switching things up until I was good enough to be picked for a crew that Chris’ younger brother Musa was forming called The Tax Collectors. I went on to be the fifth member of that crew on condition that I seriously improve my writing skills. Wanting to prove a point I played around with my flow and now instead of being dissed, I was being given a pat on the back which grew my ego. I’m just like everyone else that likes being complimented. So I flourished and became tighter with every compliment I received. My love for reading and being heard also played important roles in my early rapping development. I went from being told what to rap to rapping about the information I was getting from reading and thinking and reprocessing what I had read. And because I like to be listened to when I speak, rapping became the perfect platform for that. A place where I could tell stories and share my vision of the world.

F.ace E.verything A.nd R.evolve/R.ise

The first F.E.A.R. mixtape came about as a result of my not working anymore and going through the struggles that anybody goes through when they find themselves in that situation. I could’ve chosen to go work elsewhere but music was calling and so I had to re-evolve. This was the end of the first phase of my life. I had to face my fears and do this music thing not as a hobby anymore, but as a means of living. The RE-EVOLVE in my first mixtape title speaks to what you do after facing something because life is the same thing, you just do it in different ways. I turned to my art as a source of comfort and a means to make money and documented my experiences. This was early 2012. These experiences then got turned into a mixtape which broke me into the scene. This was now going to be how I was going to make my living. F.ace E.verything A.nd Rise was my second mixtape which came out in 2013. It was a double disk because I found that I had too much that I wanted to say. It documented the second phase of my life. I had re-evolved and was going to do the same things, but better, hence the rising. I rose with where I was with life.

R.ap U.ntil S.omething H.appens

I had faced everything and re-evolved and faced everything again and rose, but I didn’t rise high enough. I wanted to rise higher. As much as the acronym was a message, I wanted to document the feeling too. A rush is a hormonal outburst. When you feel that, you want to act on it. So for me, as I was feeling those feelings of disappointment from not rising as high as I had wanted to I fed from the adrenalin my second mixtape gave me and R.U.S.H was the result. This was in December last year. Growth can never be enough and as a result, I’m still rapping until something happens. In the next year I’m hoping to have my outburst. I’m a seasonal person, so I’m hoping in December. I believe in December. My grandmother was born in December and she’s my biggest lucky charm. I wasn’t born in December but for me, it’s always had that good vibe. Every vibe is right in December (laughs). This is the year where I expect my outbreak. I feel I’m in a good place. I know who I am in the rap game. I know what I want to say, I know how I want say it and I have the rest of this year to figure out how to do it. That’s one of the things that I want to learn going forward. I want to be an awesome performer. I believe in my music, but I need to perform as well as I rap. People compliment me on it, but I feel there’s so much room for improvement. My next mixtape will be the acronym of POEM where I’ll be showcasing my neighbourhood and all the environments I grew up in from my perspective. I want to teach people in all senses of the word and I want to be given credit for it. I also see my album dropping in the next two years or so with plans to use the many gifted people around me who are at my disposal, and who somewhat feel neglected by me. I realise that I cannot do this on my own. I’m wiser now. I’m building myself a family within music and those people will get full access to me. Something that has been difficult for me before because as much as I crave the attention, I shy away from it and build barriers when it does come. So I’m working on that too.

Xquizified Movement

Xquisite Kid is a supporter of mine, from 2012. That guy bought my first mixtape. When he bought my mixtape, he told me he’s a dj and he’s making a compilation of some songs of artists that he likes. He came out of nowhere and we clicked. I don’t know how but it happened. He was that one supporter that humbled me and so the barriers I usually put up fell away and now we’re practically family. That kid is amazing. He does everything and he tries everything. I told him I wanted to start making videos and he didn’t know how to, then out of the blue he calls me on some “One, I know how to make videos now, come through”. He’s busy with his second compilation which has become so much more than that. He’s turned it into a clothing line, a YouTube channel and more. Everything I do he touches and everything he does I touch, so I’m busy helping him out with his Xquizified Movement.

Mom I Made You

When this song came about, I was in a bad patch. My mother taught me to be independent. That was one of the first lessons she taught me. Be strong on your own and then you can say that I’m strong enough for you as well. She made me who I am. She made me. My father was in prison for a long time in my life. He wasn’t active and in many ways still isn’t, but with my mom, as much as we sometimes disagree, we’re attached. I can’t leave her. I think that’s why sometimes we don’t get along, we’re so similar. The song describes how we are the same thing in everything that has happened. It paints how I’ve come to understand my mother. The first verse is my perspective of how I feel she sees things and not to be cocky, but I hit the nail on the head. The song was recorded last year and I played it for her this year only. That’s how much I was afraid of her reaction. Like, did I capture her the way she is or did I mess up? When I played it for her, she was like “Wow! You saw the bad things, the things I judged myself for…and you took them and just flipped them around!” I’m so proud that I was able to capture her. I can tell people about who she is and she can vouch for me. This song helped me capture my mother, capture myself and tell my story.

Listen to the song here: Mom I Am You

Catch his latest single: Tell All These Fools

Facebook: Vusumuzi OneWay Langa

Twitter: One_Way_South