The 30-year-old Tivani Mkhombo, popularly known as Citizen Deep, has been producing music for 15 years, and believes in impact over hype.
He started experimenting with sound at a very young age and used to love banging to the beat on his primary school classroom windows. This is where he would practice and hone his beat-thumping skills.
Speaking to Sunday World this week, Citizen Deep said all these years he has tried to keep the consistency by seeing a gap where there is growth.
“What has kept me going is having to discover new things. New crowds, getting booked in various countries, and experiences,” said Citizen Deep.
Has a musical background
His love for music has always been there. He comes from a musical family and used to sing in the choir.
“Music has always been in my space. And because I always used to have a curfew and I could not go out, I made music for my brother and cousins. They are both DJs, so I gave them music to play it out there. My family literally drove me to what I am doing now.”
Coming from Soweto, he does not believe that the youth are giving each other chances in the music industry. He believes that the youth in his home town are ill-informed about the industry. They don’t realise the wrong that they are doing.
“We all want to shine, we want our place to do whatever that we do with our own time. But understanding this whole music industry thing, we don’t know how to support each other. We choose to consume whatever content that is relevant to us. All we care about is having the next hot song.”
Aspiring artists need to understand the industry
He urges young aspiring artists to understand the industry that they want to get into or are already in. To avoid accusing people of exploitation in the future.
“The South African music industry is a niche market. You can easily tell the outcome of how people are going to receive your music. We need to learn that all music genres can co-exist and we can support each other.”
The renowned music producer and DJ is back with a new single, Ubala, featuring Maline Aura and Dr Thulz. This release follows the success of his latest single, Don’t Wake Up, featuring Amapiano hits producer Sir Trill.
