LaCabra: “Dr Peppa was very crucial to The Qwellers’ come-up”

LaCabra’s new mixtape 'iQhawe Emphakathini' is one of the best projects this year so far. 

The Qwellers member dropped the tape as a surprise release without a rollout. 

In the interview below, LaCabra discusses his come-up, the OGs that made the dream possible and ‘Iqhawe Emphakathini’.

Who is LaCabra, where is he from and why does he have so many names?

“LaCabra mfethu, ngumfethu who was born in Durban, grew up in Durban half of his life until grade 7 and then he moved to Dundee to stay with his dad. That’s when I started staying with Lowfeye and Gvnt who are my brothers. From there, that’s when the music thing started getting serious. Why do I have so many names? It’s ‘cause I grew up in so many places. Ngikhule in every situation, ngikhule emakhaya, ngikhule elokshin, nase-middle class uyabo. Eli likaLaQasha I got it from ugogo wam.”

What made you move to Jozi?

“What made me move to Jozi is the opportunities esiwabonayo that there’s gang opportunities. After high school we decided to pull up to this side and push the qoh and make this shit happen. And right now, yeah, it’s happening!”

Did you start as a duo with Lowfeye?

“Nah, I didn’t start as a duo with Lowfeye. I started rapping ngiseThekwini , Lowfeye started rapping eseDundee. So by the time we started staying together, we discovered ukuthi siyarappa sobaw’2 uyabo. So, it was a thing of it just happened. And we started working together obviously cause we stayed under the same roof, the vibes, it’s easy to span. So ya we didn’t start as a duo, but we are a duo.”

How important was Dr Peppa in your come up?

“Yeah Dr Peppa is the OG, he was very crucial to our come-up ‘cause he came through, mfethu, he was the first OG to co-sign us, me and Lowfeye, he peeped us with no motion, he believed in us. He was very crucial to the qoh. Cause he was the first one who posted our video to his feed on his Instagram thats where Sjava discovered us. He was very crucial, he is an important piece to our come-up.”

‘I’lembe LamaQweller’, are you proudly saying uyeyona ntsizwa kwamaQweller?

“Nah nah nah, ilembe mfethu, just means, it’s just me ngiy’hyper up. It’s for the fans not to my broers. I’m not tryna be that broer, nah. It’s for the fans, the fans came with the qoh. We not on the energy of comparing and whatnot.”

Why did you drop your recent mixtape with no rollout? I know you dropped it on your birthday too.

“I feel like, mfethu, I’ve never really had so many people waiting on my music ever in my life, so I didn’t give a fuck uyabo ukuthi izokwenza kanjani iproject cause all I wanted was to give people umculo. So, I didn’t care about entering the charts and all, I just wanted to give abantu umculo. I was surprised uk’bona iproject imove-a , it was a surprise for me cause I didn’t even care if it was gonna move. I knew there was people waiting for the music.”

You sing and rap too, similar to what Sjava does, is he your most influential artist?

“Yeah man, OG Sjava is like one of the biggest inspiration kuthina mfethu especially after he peeped us yabo. I started out tapping in into his music more and realised ukuthi this nigga is our Drake; he does everything yabo, he sings, he raps. So, hhayi nathi masikwenze lokho dawg. I was doing it before when the OG discovered us kodwa now it’s like it’s a thing of ukuthi we doing it for real, for real. Without even thinking twice. So yeah, the OG is one of my biggest inspirations in the game, emhlabeni jikelele.”

Listen to 'iQhawe Emphakathini' below: