Music
In Studio: Dee Koala
The Cape Town-based rappers shares the process of her debut mixtape '4 The Khaltsha'
Cape Town-based rapper Dee Koala is getting ready to release her debut mixtape ‘4 The Khaltsha’. The release speaks to her home of Khayelitsha as well as the culture of hip hop. Having played a number of prominent local events, Dee Koala is steadily climbing up the industry ladder and will soon be a force to be reckoned with. Rapping in IsiXhosa, she drops mad bars on a freestyle she has just released, her energy cannot be missed. In studio to record the final tracks for the mixtape, we caught up with her to find out about her journey as an artist and how the mixtape came together.
Did you have a musical home growing up?
My big brother tried to be a rapper with his friends but they didn’t take it seriously, but I had that surrounding for quite a while. I also like music in general. I like to master songs, the lyrics. That’s how I grew up with music.
Dee Koala
© Jonathan Ferreira
When you discovered music for yourself, what were you drawn to?
I was drawn to how you can express yourself through music. How you can create a story or imagination through it. The storytelling though hip hop is what drew me. That is the best way I can tell what I want to tell. That’s why I chose that genre in specific.
When did you start writing and rapping?
At first, I thought I was just going to do poetry and that was in Grade 6 and then I started officially going to studio and making music when I was in Grade 12, so 2016.
Dee Koala
© Jonathan Ferreira
What brought you into studio?
I had a lot of guy friends that were rapping at the time. I used to send them voice notes and ask them if it was dope and if I should actually do it and they were like you should try it out so I immediately went to studio, I never went to cyphers.
Dee Koala
© Jonathan Ferreira
When was Dee Koala the artist born?
That was in high school, in Grade 12, 2016. That’s when everything started.
How did you come up with the name?
The name Dee is nickname for Odwa and the Koala is my spirit animal and besides that, it’s also on the verge of becoming extinct, when they die I will be the only Koala left and will represent the rest of the Koala’s that have lived.
Dee Koala
© Jonathan Ferreira
What were you working on in studio?
It’s a mixtape. On the mixtape, there are songs that I’ve put out before and I was at studio to record the new songs to add on to the tape. The name of the tape is ‘4 the Khaltsha’. Basically, that came from the nickname for Khayelitsha and it also stands for the English word culture. So I was there finishing it off so we can drop it soon.
What is the overall message of the tape?
The whole tape is for the culture. For the hip hop culture, it represents people of culture and it is the culture of hip hop, it’s part of it. Dee Koala will forever be for the culture.
Dee Koala
© Jonathan Ferreira
What are your future plans?
For now, since this is my biggest anticipated project I’m nursing this one and then after this tape, I’m just gonna let it breathe and drop a few singles and get on people’s features, but I’m still going to nurse this one because it’s my biggest baby.
What do you want people to take from your music?
That it’s never boring to be different. It’s never boring to be yourself. People can never predict your next move because you are yourself and you’re representing who you are.
Catch up with Dee Koala on Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud
