Interview with Adoniz, a Christian Hip-hop Artist

Ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all members of MJ Bulletins. It has been a while since I posted, today I am going to give you an interview with one of Lesotho’s hip-hop artists. But this one sings a special kind of hip-hop; Christian hip-hop.

Interview with Adoniz, a Christian Hip-hop Artist

1.    Tell me about yourself, who is Adonis? Where were you born? How old are you?

Adoniz A.K.A Tjobolo Nonyane. I was born in 1989 at Ha-Mosoeunyane, Teyateyaneng in Berea Lesotho. I am a husband and a father of a son.

2.    What inspired you to be a singer?

Well, it grew up with me but mostly inspired by the late “sotho (Sesotho music that is played by an accordion)” genre artist; Famole, he is from Matelile Mafeteng district in Lesotho. That’s for those who don’t know where he is from.

3.    When did you discover your talent in music?

You are not going to believe what I’m about to say, I used to go to church. Then one Sunday my pastor prophesied “when are you releasing a music album?” I froze and became jubilant at the same time. After some time I realized the real ‘me’ in myself; my talent started to show off.

4.    From what I discovered, you are a Christian rap artist, why did you go for this type of genre in hip-hop?

Christian hip-hop is my story, life and testimony too.  Hey bro, in hip-hop industry many live a lie so I learnt that being real gives you revelation of being unique. Thus giving a living message to the youths and folks, this more crucial than destructing them. I think that’s the reason why I chose to go for a Christian hip-hop

5.    The lyrics for your songs are touching, are you the one who write them or somebody does it for you? If you do write them yourself, what forces you to write them? Give a meaning behind one of your songs.

If you still remember a song “Ts’oarelo (meaning forgiveness in English),” I wrote it as a result of growing up with those relatives who had hatred that affected us with boring fruits. I think this is one example of meaning behind my songs. “11 hour” – As a Christian I have been affected or let me say…. I felt pain and joy as life progressed. By so saying I imply that I am not perfect but I am a man who is trying as well as do things in Jesus name!

6.    How many songs have you written this far?

I wrote tons of them and it is a pity that some of my lyrics got lost but I am still jotting down some more lyrics. Every time I keep the ball rolling!

7.    Which artist have you worked with so far?

I worked with various artists bro locally and one artist from Swaziland; Samu. I also worked with Clockwise records, worked with Mr. T. and Genius works.

8.    Let me get this straight, you said you once collaborated with a Swazi artist, is he/she a hip-hop artist? Where did you too meet? Was it in your songs where you worked together?

Samu (female) is a gospel singer. We met in Kwazulu Natal while busy promoting my album. We exchanged contacts and spared details with each other. I saw an opportunity to do collaboration with her and that is how everything went down. We collaborated in a song called “Uthando luka Krest” in Ts’oarelo album.

9.    The music industry is volatile, there are so many challenges, and could you please tell what challenges have you faced? How did you overcome them?

People who I thought were going to buy my art just stole it. I use money to record hoping to get more; in fact, I do give a best delivery so that I can make something from my music. I mean it wouldn’t hurt earning something from my hard work. But instead of that, I get robbed! Another challenge is that of ‘convincing a customer that I’m the one who is behind that mixed tape or recording.’ People be like “haibo…ska bapalla ho rona (quit playing),” this means it is not easy to make people believe in you as a person.

10. How does it feel like to be doing something you like?

I feel like oh yeah…maybe it is a paradise but restrictions don’t allow me to live in it. I spend most of the time doing what I must to keep doing what I love.

11. How the community does treat you out there?

The community especially the youths in church realized their brother in the Lord. Even our local radio station in Teyateyaneng invited me twice to their broadcast. All in all, I can say people do love my art!

12. Let’s talk about the relationship part, is there any special lady in your life at the moment? I’m sure ladies are all over you?

In this case my prayer has been answered; I am blessed. Anyways, I am not sure about those girls who may thought of trying….laughs (ahahahah…) oh I am bluffing!

13. So far how have you been promoting your music? Do you do live performances or what? Where do you record your music, who is your producer?

In our country performances are very rare, even attendance to some who actually make it through is scarce. As a result of this, I promote my art via radios and local TV even though the time slot is too limited.

14. Name one or two artists you would like to be like them.

Adoniz and Adoniz…ahahaha…. Let me say Bizzle the owner of God Over Money label.

15. Anyway, besides music what do you do?

I go dirty to hustle for my family. Meaning I am hustling, nothing more.

16. What is an overall message behind your album?

Bought By Blood (the name of my album) is giving us freedom from slavery. Chains have been broken in the name of Jesus Christ circled by the realest!

17. What is the message to the want-be artists out there? Give them an inspiration please.

Love God, love yourself and people. Hustle and have faith along or within you through out!

18. Who would you like to thank in your life and why is that?

I appreciate all love and support to my one and only, my fiancé. Brothers and sisters who purchased my CDs... I say thanks in abundance!

19. In your free time what is it that you like doing?

In my free mode time I write songs and I want to be an actor sometime.

20. Now that your album has been released, where can we find it to make a purchase? Is it available in the music stores in the country?

I do sell my music to those who need it not those who just want because I learnt that I am still impacting a small portion of music crowd. If you need my CD, just hala (contact me)…me via my contacts which are on my music cover.

I think we all learned the journey of this bright Sotho guy, so…the question is what are we going to do about it? In my opinion, I say let us all give him support by buying his CD. Not only him, but all those people out there, I am referring to those who are busy hustling vocally and instrumentally. These are the talents which the Almighty God gave people, so let’s help people reach their dreams.

From the admin at MJ Bulletins, Cia!

The album is now out grab a CD

Below is a music video clip for one of his songs..Adonis ft King Des .

For The Love of Gospel Music

I never thought I'd ever enjoy R&B gospel..but Zoe Grace does it for me..these two girls are just so awesome, they know what they are doing. In fact, I am so sure that many people out there feel the same way about them. Music just eases the pain one feels. Not only is that, but it can also work in terms of counselling psychologically. Just download music from Zoe Grace, you will be blessed! Below is an article about their biography from their website.

Bio

INTRODUCTIONZoe & Grace Kimvuidi are English artists aged 17, twins born on the 17th Of October 1999. They were born and raised in South West London and they perform as a Pop / Gospel duo under the name ‘Zoe Grace’. Their name ‘Zoe Grace’ which means Life / Grace represents the Life that we get through the Grace of Jesus Christ. Zoe Grace were raised in a Christian home and have ever since embraced & held on to their Christian Faith.MUSICAL JOURNEYTheir musical journey started at age 11, after their first ever public performance at their local church in London, Enfield. In their own words: “We were so scared to sing because we had never sang in front of people but after our first performance, we wanted to do it again and again, That was the start of our musical journey.” Zoe Grace then latter met London Based Artist, Songwriter & Producer Simba, who then started mentoring, producing & writing for the girls after watching them sing at their local church and they have ever since worked on music together. “Simba was friends with our older sister Keena, and she put us in touch with him after he showed interest in working with us.” He also wrote and produced their first E.P ‘I Will Stay’
Zoe Grace have a growing international fanbase that kicked off after they started posting cover videos on social media platforms such as instagram, facebook & twitter. Zoe Grace’s fan base grew tremendously from people reposting and sharing their acapella videos on social media & they’ve also had support from a few big names such as Erica Campbell, Briana Babineaux, Taraji P Henson & John Boyega
At age 16, they later got signed to JS Records / Proudmonkey Entertainment (a London based independent record label) in early 2015. They have ever since released one 5 track E.P in early July 2016 called "I Will Stay". Zoe Grace have also been working on their first debut album for the past two years which is due for release early 2017. “We love the album and we can’t wait to share it with everyone! We’ve worked so hard on it and it will definitely be the best music you’ve ever heard from us.” Zoe Grace are currently in college doing their A-Levels juggling music and school: “It’s difficult doing both but we have an amazing team and we’ve managed to arrange things well with our Label. They have been very supportive and understanding & as for the album, we normally just have to turn up to the studio, maybe chuck a few ideas and sing but otherwise the label already has the songs fully written and produced for us. Due to school, we’re unable able to be as involved as we would want to be during the creative process but we’ll be finishing college soon and we’ll have all the time to focus on music & hopefully we’ll get to start writing and producing our own songs by the time we release our second album.” Zoe Grace are currently studying music in college, amongst other subjectsPURPOSE“Our purpose is to bring people to Christ through the talents and ministry that God gave us. We are grateful to God and to everyone that has helped put us in this position and we do not take the platform that we have for granted. We want to show everyone (especially the young people our age) that it’s fine to be an unashamed Christian and shouldn’t be peer pressured into following what everyone else is doing. We know the pressure young people experience from seeing what the media portrays as “Successful” and we want to prove that you can use your gift to it’s maximum potential within your christian faith & morals. We also wanna take away the margins we’ve set and the general perception of what Christian music should look of sound like. Anyone should be able to praise God regardless of their cultural background and musical taste. Above all, our message to the world is simple; There’s a man called Jesus Christ that died for you, loves you and cares about your wellbeing and he would like to have a personal relationship with you.”

Faith The Pwer of Everything

Today I would like to talk about faith. To all those who have been reading my post, I dedicate this music video to you all. When I first started blogging, I was not even sure if there would be people to read whatever jargon I would write. But all of you, yes each one of you who have been visiting my blog,this video is for you.