Slikour launches hip-hop incubator

Rapper turned businessman Siya Metane (aka Slikour or Slik) has launched a compilation album – SlikourOnLife Incubator – giving 12 undiscovered artists the springboard to launch their musical careers.

The album, which launched on 10 October, sees Metane using his knowledge and relationships to give 12 young hip-hop artists from cities across South Africa access to the resources necessary to jumpstart their musical journeys.

Metane’s popular SlikourOnLife digital platform, which is currently one of the top 1 000 websites in South Africa, shares information on urban culture and music, and features videos and interviews to give substance to the music and musicians who may not have access to traditional platforms, and provides an accessible place for their videos. “The Incubator album takes SlikourOnLife to the next level. We’ve selected the very best hip-hop songs submitted to SlikourOnLife and compiled them into an album, and I’m taking everything I would do for myself and handing it over to these artists,” says Metane.

With access to resources that would otherwise have taken them years to build up, such as a music video, press conference, streaming, a publicity campaign and a TV distribution channel, Metane’s SlikourOnLife Incubator has the potential to change the course of these young peoples’ lives forever.

Drawn from the four corners of South Africa, the artists range in age from 19 to 27 and represent the future of musical culture. Says Metane, “Whenever I hear great talent I always ask myself ‘what if these kids need that one chance that got me to where I am today?’. I live by the theory that we all have a CSI responsibility, and I have the relationships and resources to bring media, industry and artists together. It’s my responsibility to utilise them.”

He continues, “These 12 kids have a talent, and I’m plugging them into an environment that will allow them to walk the path that I’ve walked.”

Leveraging relationships with key players to accelerate some of the activities that will provide the young artists with the means to launch their careers, Metane has entered into partnerships with a number of significant industry players, one of which is Transit Ads, a division of Provantage Media Group.

By virtue of the partnership, the music videos from the SlikourOnLife Incubator album will be seen by over 13 million people a month on Transit Ads’ digital place based network known as Transit.TV™. Transit.TV™ provides commuters with entertaining and informative content through its digital television channel in taxis, taxi ranks, train stations and bus stations across the country.

Commenting on the partnership, Metane says, “My vision is to create a voice for the youth in culture and we’ve been able to achieve that with slikouronlife.co.za on a digital platform. The opportunity to work with Tranist.TV™ is amplifying that voice to a wider audience that are in transit across the country. This is a monumental win for SlikourOnLife, artists and brands that have already invested in our integrated content strategies online.”

Says Nicole Myburgh, Marketing Manager of Transit Ads, “A core focus of Transit.TV™ is to ensure that there is entertaining and relevant content featured on the channel, we want our audience to enjoy watching and to engage with what they are seeing on our screens. Partnering with SlikourOnLife does exactly that for us. We are both excited and confident that this is going to be a great partnership with an abundance of great opportunities ahead.”

On the streaming front, the songs will be available exclusively on JOOX for a month, and thereafter on all streaming platforms. “JOOX is the only streaming company with a local office and their USP is that they target local music and musicians, which makes the partnership a perfect fit,” says Metane.

Felicity Mdhluli, Content Manager for JOOX, comments, “JOOX loves local music and works together with local artists to promote their music.  JOOX has partnered on the SOL Incubator project to provide a platform to showcase talented new local hip hop talent”.

In addition to the exposure of their music through TTV and JOOX, the album and its young artists will also benefit from a launch to music media and media in the culture, a media plan for radio and interview training.

“I’m passing my insights, learnings, knowledge, resources and relationships to the next generation – that’s the heart of SlikourOnLife Incubator,” says Metane.

Slikour On Life Incubator – artists

• Baasquiat (21), Cape Town
• BlakShuga (27), Johannesburg
• Dala Fam (24), Limpopo
• Flex Van Doom (25),Vaal
• Illrow (22), Cape Town
• Jazzy (19), Johannesburg
• June The Vth (19), East London
• Lungelo Manzi (24), Durban
• Mass The Difference (21), Hammanskraal
• PA Fakaloice (23),Durban
• ThePXSHMagazine (24), Pretoria East
• Tony Black (22), Cape Town