Shane Eagle liberated a new body of work to succeed 2017’s critically acclaimed Yellow.

Almost two years since the lyricist dropped his last body of work, and since concluded a successful national tour named after his favourite luminous hue, we finally have Never Grow Up.  The 7-track project finds Eagle yet again stretching the limits of his own creative freedom – shunning the commercial seductions of trap bops to deliver yet another impressive offering.

His dissent from the establishment continues.

Like before, he’s not afraid to depart from the mould to carve his own nook on this record, a fact which informs his decision to remain independent. Unlike ever before, however, he invites his audience to explore different layers not only to his metamorphic artistry, but also the personal truth that he delivers with much poetic justice.

It’s a truth distilling his childhood as a biracial kid by parents whose roots span continents. Ronnie Hughes is a beautiful and sombre tale detailing the meanings Shane made of these worlds.

These dynamics would later enrich the lyricist’s repertoire of understanding; he touches on the experience of love that is bigger than the ‘regular story of how Europeans try to feast on Africa’s glory’, and expands the narrative to introduce personal acts of pure love that many of us never think about in this context.

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Ronnie Hughes is the fourth track on the album, but easily amongst the best. Sonically, it’s a smooth continuation of the classical ecosystem that weaves the lush and classic flows that Eagle so triumphantly delivered on Yellow. Consistent with the album’s overall sound, the song layers organic, raw and classic tones to create a lo-fi Hip Hop atmosphere. The classic horn adds a touch of nostalgia that elevates Shane’s recollections, putting them in one hell of a vibey capsule.

It will take his audience less than 20 minutes to consume Never Grow Up. The EP is a piece of work in which Shane Eagle clearly intends to reconcile the chasm between the artist who blew up to add a veritable mark on the South African soundscape in the last few years, and the 22-year-old Shane Patrick Hughes.

Yellow‘s sibling arrives just weeks after Shane’s Yellow Tour ended with an impressive line-up of supporting acts that included contemporaries Nasty C and Shekhinah. The tour itself testified further to Shane’s disruptive game plan. He’d managed to have his debut album reach gold with minimal hype and almost no gimmicks, after all.

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Where the rapper has been successful in creating dialogues and piquing interest has lain solely in the creative expression of his art; which started with a carefully curated visual social media build-up to the release of Yellow. The gap between Yellow and Never Grow Up saw the arrival of a couple of singles – one which included a very random diss to AKA –  and that much talked about galactic visual for YellowVerse.

And while Shane has managed to sustain much of his privacy and the mystery that goes along with it, despite the success of Yellow, this offers his fans access. It’s telling then that he’s used his childhood photographs as visual tools to express this full circle. Homework As$ignment is a textual play that is complemented by the childlike typeface that is part of the album’s artwork.

Ap3x is the album’s promotional single, and it came out just before the album. It’s packed with attitude; Shane is keeping an eye on rappers who are now trying to borrow heavily from his style. It’s the quintessential Hip Hop lexicon strewn over boastful shots of self-aggrandizement that appear in every’ rappers album. It’s part of the culture. The song snaps, no doubt about more.

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Far more interesting, as always, is when Eagle indulges his most musical instincts and delves – both sonically and lyrically – into his elastic ether of abstract thoughts.

Fans will delight on Chocolake Milk:

“I can’t belong I’m growing up this fast, gettin’ rich this quick”.

I’ve discovered there’s nothing quite like driving down Oak Avenue listening to Shane Eagle tackling metaphysical questions, like a metaphysical poet, of the spiritual nature of heaven – the place, the concept, the reality.

His interest in heaven appears severally across the album.

Ride Dolo: What You Wanna Be is that girl on this album.

Shane Eagle ate the hell out of this song. The flow, the tempo, the bars, the 808s… The hook is hella catchy. The whole song has a luxurious vibe with a hushing effect. Listening to this one felt like those moments when you are in a clothing store and that one outfit that exceeds your budget until you buy it over all the other items you could have had.

Rarely have we seen an artist whose creative legitimacy has remained as uncontested as Anatii’s. On the contrary, “I feel like he’s going to buy weed at KFC”, is one of the most popular comments on his Youtube account, a reference to him ‘making the pots happen.’

In South Africa’s increasingly cynical – and ever critically discerning – soundscape, the market sometimes goes harder on rappers than they do on politics. Your faves get blasted every other day and you know that.

Yet, apart from the fact that his personal life remains as withheld from the public as much as he shuns the splashy displays that have become hinged to album promotional build ups, its the sheer production virtuosity, talent and compelling storytelling that set him apart.

Perhaps, the 25-year-old rapper feels no pressure.

And why should he? Halfway through his twenties, his catalogue boasts a slew of timeless classics that have shaped the business as much as they disrupted the convention. Things were never quite the same after The Saga, were they? In all honesty, that verse might have introduced Balmain to the better part of our youth. And it’s also here that ‘sexy chubby n****’ became some cool lexicon.

Back to Iyeza. A few songs allude to spiritual callings to which he must heed. That might or might have not influenced a controversial radio presenter to attempt ‘outing’ him as one who has answered a sangoma calling.

Thriving at the periphery of the formulaic tried-and-true, Anatii’s distinct sound and beautiful Xhosa heritage and a strong anchor in contemporary sound continues being a definitive factor in his fascinating journey on his latest album, Iyeza.

Fascinating is the word because, on this album, he departs from playing to mainstream seductions and enters a spiritual realm of unbridled authenticity.

We know that he’s entered a whole new dimension in his career because on this album, he turns to isiXhosa to articulate his most complex, emotional and personal ideas. That’s as true as it is for his song titles – which are mostly in his native language – as much as it is for his beautifully African album artwork and album title. Iyeza means (traditional) medicine.

In many ways, Iyeza is the more refined masterpiece that his previous collaborative project with AKA – Be Careful What You Wish For – aimed to be.

It’s the successor that better showcases Anatii’s multilayered technique, spiritual faith and character. Mind you, that’s not even paying dust to BCWYF, which was a decent contribution to Hip Hop.

This 10 track project finds Anatii straddling the gaps between Trap and traditional African sonic flavours. He’s truly found himself here – bringing nostalgic elements that distil the often understated South African musical footprint to trap 808s in ways that no one else has tackled out here.

There are some subtle electronic synths that enhance African inspired electric guitars and organic traditional sounds on Wena, the album’s opening track. A perfect opener, the song sets the mood and vibe that will become the cohesive thread weaving this album together into an embrace of an authentic African expression of self. The song has the spirit of Jabu Khanyile, Joe Nina, Tshepo Tshole and Caiphus Semenya all over it, without having anything to do with these icons.

One of the album’s best tracks, Ngozi (Danger) follows next. It’s one of the songs in which he makes mention of his ancestors in a spiritual sense, a divine being who is active in his life. Perhaps as a reference to the pressures of heeding a calling, the song explores the conflict between running away, like a fugitive, from what he’s been called to do, or from danger, and the simpler comfort zones. It’s a space that most of us will have to navigate at one point or another.

The end of this song has a beautiful transition into something abstract, spiritual and ethereal. Anatii could be flirting with ululating, or just diving in and out of his African heritage, which contains in it the rich texture of melodic musicality.

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The narrative of risk and foreboding fear of lurking danger continues onto Hlatini, another solid bop on the album. At this point, the album has completely matured in its assumption of a specific identity. The chord progressions and vocals styles are now fully anchored in Africa’s infinite musical universe. Something about the chorus and hook could remind an old soul of the Soul Brothers.

Ndaweni sustains the momentum. With high pitch and spirited vocals which he lays over a song that could have easily charted alongside Mandoza, Trompies and Abashante back in the 90s, Anatii continues making a firm statement about his musical DNA. He’s not here to churn out pointless number ones and produce random beats to make a quick buck. He’s here to shift the landscape. And he cares about a whole lot of things, one of them being the sheer feeling of his productions.

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Ntloni is one of the album’s more commercially palatable bangers. It has all the elements of a bop you’d jam to at Taboo, at Pop Bottles, at the Sands. It has a beautiful summer hit finish to it, which Anatii has already proven to have no problem whipping out.

Vuka is possibly the album’s most beautiful love song. It’s a sing-along, smooth and lush African summer jam. The chorus and hook instantly demand to be kept on a loop. The organic instrumentation allows the hearty harmonies to shine, giving the song a verdant laid-back vibe.