First Listen: South African Rapper ByLwansta Has Your New Break-Up Jam
ByLwansta releases his first single since his solid 2016 EP.
Gifted South African rapper ByLwanstareleased a solid EP, Your Absolutely Right, last year, which made our list of the best South African hip-hop releases of 2016.
“Oh Well," his latest song, which we are premiering here, is his first release since the EP. The new single sees the rapper spit theatrical rhymes over flamenco strings and a deep bass line courtesy of Johannesburg-based producer808x.
The smooth song, according to the rapper, can be looked at as a continuation of YAR or a bonus track from the project.
“Oh Well" is a song the emcee wrote after breaking up with his girlfriend, who he wrote about on the song “Grey" from YAR.
“On the song, I take the listener through a tour of my pain and anxiety," says ByLwansta in an email to OkayAfrica. “Like, I'm literally dealing with it at that very moment, then out of the blue you hear my girlfriend's vocal as an ad-lib, and from the listener's perspective, I assume they'll be like, 'wait, what?' But it's there to show how we got through it, and I'm just making art and, it's fucking beautiful."
Being the all-round artist ByLwansta is, the song's artwork, which the rapper designed himself, has a bit of meaning behind it.“It's based off a picture taken nonchalantly by Kayte Grant. The orange background links the release to YAR," he says.
Listen to “Oh Well" below and download it here.