Bang! Gae buoyant after bagging three YAMAs
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday December 15, 2015 18:00
The record label, which started in 2009 as a project for tertiary students won Best Producer of the Year award beating local giants like Prez Beatz and Chef Gustos.
Bang! Gae’s artists E.P.I.C, Young Black and Chrome took the Best Collabo award with their hit song Hei Wena. Chrome sealed Bang Gae’s night with the Best Male Single award for the song, Track Ya Summer.
Explaining the significance of the three awards, Bang! Gae spokesperson, Tsaone Sekambo said the awards show that the corporate world can now invest in them.
“Our Best Producer award encompasses a lot and it confirms that we are the guys to come to when you want the best sound,” he said.
Sekambo who is popularly known as Young Black said it was not easy because they were up against talented artists.
“To keep up, now we have to be competitive as ever so we need investment,” he said.
He also explained that the Best Collabo award shows that the label knows how to make good music.
“We were able to fuse different artists together and we made a good team,” he said. Young Black added that the main aim with the collaboration was to help the artists to share the audience.
“It was a smart move and now people know some of our artists,” he said.
Young Black further told Showbiz that Chrome’s Best Male Single award inspires the youth to work hard on their music.
“Chrome won P25,000 at the Presidential awards earlier this year so he is an indicator that Hip-hop has grown,” he said.
Young Black said Bang! Gae intends to diversify the economy and avoid over dependence on the government.
“Diversification is the key, we need to produce quality music in quantities so that we can reach the international level,” he said.
He said Bang! Gae signed artists purely on the belief that their songs were good enough to recoup their investment.
“We have a talented jazz artist like Lorato Rantao who performed at the YAMAs and she is capable of bringing money by winning corporate gigs,” he said.
Young Black was quick to indicate that his record label struggles with funds.
“We also have artists like Idle and Big Duce, they are very good,” he said. Young Black said they also made a smart move by signing DJs.
“People love DJs and investing in them would be fruitful in the near future,” he said.
He clarified that they never had it easy from the beginning.
“We were tertiary students when we started this. We used to save our student allowances to build the studio from scratch,” he said.
“This is the same studio that brought Willz’s song Love Letter and took one of our music videos to Channel O,” he said.
One of the hottest artists currently signed with the label E.P.I.C told Showbiz that the award he won is an approval from the music industry.
“It’s a credit and I just have to work hard and not be too comfortable,” he said.
E.P.I.C further said the label needs to rise and win more awards.
“I have been to four record labels, but Bang! Gae gets me the most and we share the same vision,” he said. He added that Bang! Gae gave him direction and groomed him to get out of his comfort zone. E.P.I.C thanked everyone who voted for him.
“I am grateful, especially for the support my family has given me,” he said.