Reason’s Outstanding ‘Monthly Freestyles’ Series From 2013/2014 Now Available For Streaming

Leading up to the release of his third studio album, ‘Audio High Definition’, Reason (now Sizwe Alakine) treated fans to a year of nothing but lyrical excellence. 

Every month, he would release a new freestyle that gave you on update on what one of the hottest lyricists of that era was up to, what his headspace was like… an audio blog if one may. 

He opined on everything from Khuli Chana getting shot to Mandela dying and responded to Steve Hofmeyr’s ramblings (‘Red October Freestyle’). He reflected on performing at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in the same city where apartheid incarcerated his father on the ‘March Freestyle’ where a mellow beat with a bouncy rhythm that acted a vehicle for his emotive reflections and impressive flow-switching. He dealt with death and responded to Nelson Mandela’s passing on the ‘December Freestyle’. ‘January Freestyle’ was a reflection on the precarious nature of the music industry. He was navigating his newly-found celebrity and he was determined to do it differently to those who came before him. 

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The freestyle series kicked off in August 2013 and in it, Reason was explaining why he hadn’t bought the 325i which he rapped he was copping “by next August” in his breakout single ‘Do It Like I Can’. He explained that he could afford it to buy it but not keep it. This was Reason breaking down how his life changed since blowing up a year before.

From then on, Reason dropped a freestyle almost every month until May the following year (2014), skipping a few months to drop singles like ‘No Ordinary Being’ and ’Bump The Cheese Up’ or stealing the show on CyHi The Prince’s ‘Mandela Remix’ with a vicious verse (“I feel like David Motsamai, my original self is tryna hide”).

‘January Freestyle’ was one of the most loved of the series and it made its way to Reason’s live sets with its playfully catchy “I’m the illest madabeesh” hook. 

Reason has lived many lives as an artist, and this series is a time capsule from the fiercely competitive mid-2010s era. Reason, then signed to Stogie T and Bradley Williams’ Motif Records, was an outlier. While everyone was doing New Age Kwaito, he was tearing up the club with that lyrical content and pure Hip-Hop beats. 

Stream Reason’s ‘Monthly Freestyles’ below: