@GlobalRickJade's #DaNewAfrica Is A Brilliant Music Album Debut

Image by David Blaq Motsomotso

Da New Africa (DNA) has arrived and it's as good as Rick Jade promised. Immediately the production value comes across with how crisp the instrumentals and vocals are presented. By the time you get into the musicality of each song, listeners are pleased to find that there are about six new tracks out of the ten. Granted, while they may have shared a few snippets on social media, Rick Jade's DNA sounds new to the ear. 

They applied an afro-pop/rhythm and blues vibe to the album. "Still" for instance is the kind of song you slow dance to house party wherein the music has slowed down but is still going strong. A "wind your waist" type of track, if you understand the phrase well. In songs like "Lerato" and "Bonita," we see Priddy and Bontle as the featuring artists. This was done particularly because they were solo songs. The public already knows Priddy Ugly as a solo artist, but seeing what Bontle can do with her voice through "Lerato" allows for her to explore her range as a soloist. 

 Rick Jade has answered a few questions they believed their fans would raise in a Q&A below! 

What is the song you most enjoyed creating?

We enjoyed making all the music, but ‘Still’ is one of the favourites because it was the 1st song we did for the project. It set the tone for the rest of the music that was to follow. We ended doing 3 songs in that 1st session.

How have you both impacted each other's creative workflow?

Priddy Ugly really impacted my feeling, thinking and approach to music. To explore different variations in tones and delivery, to challenge my vocal range, to find the character for each song and to understand the purpose then give it just what was needed to come alive. Finally, to write and record a song with no guidance or assistance, just creativity and instinct at work, to allow my full artistic expression in isolation manifest, is how "Lerato" came to be - Bontle. 

I became a far better songwriter on this project, learning to write from both a woman and man's perspective, learning to tap deeper into my emotions & even learning to write deeper concepts in different languages. Working together was near seamless and 100% organic. - Priddy Ugly

Why did you call on the features that you did?

The first feature on the project is FRSH CITIZEN - which is another collective that we are part of. The group consists of Wichi 1080, Hercule$, Twnty Four, Tony Lee, Bonafide Billi, Thaiwanda Thai, KLY, DJ SoNice, and Rick Jade. Although not all the members feature on the song, these gentlemen are our close group of friends, they were all with us in the inception of Rick Jade and they are the talented artists/producers who contributed to the creation of a lot of the music. We wanted to work friends so that the project felt and sounded organic. It was only fitting that we have them on track one, “Shandi;” the group’s energy & vibrations are infectious. Track one is meant to put people in a little bit of a trance before the listeners start to listen to the rest of the project. We also featured Focalistic on “Moenie Worry.” He was with us in the studio when we started the song and he contributed to the vibe of the song. The other feature is KLY on "Sumtin New," he was also in studio when we created most of the music.

Why did the music from the EP make it on to the album? 

When we dropped the EP earlier in the year, we already had the album ready. So the music on the EP was meant to be on the album from the onset. However, the idea of Rick Jade was still a new concept to the masses and we didn’t want to oversaturate them with music, so we picked the two songs that were the most suitable for release during the February/Valentines period. "Sumtin New" is our most-streamed song with over 100 000 streams on Apple, we would have been doing our project & fans a disservice had we not included the song on the actual album.