YoungSwae (real name Munene Triumph Mbhalati) has been spitting bars up and down the streets of a township called Mkhuhluthe in Mpumalanga since he was 14 years old.
Double time to present day and the young artist has round-housed his first spool of visuals into the hip hop arena for his tight second single, “On Fire”.
The clip was shot in YoungSwae’s hometown of Mkhuhluthe by cinematographer Artist “Dope” Sungura of BlackScene Films – who has used an 80s VHS camcorder aesthetic editing in scratches, vignetting, and an aspect ratio of 4:3 to feed the old-school theme.
My favourite thing about this video is his hype crew. The street style-donning cohort bop their way through the 3-minute edit, peaking in a meme-worthy shot where hype man at 1:37 Fortnite-hypes his way effortlessly across the frame.
“On Fire” is a banger that marries well with its accompanying visual and good-time energy. Rumour has it, YoungSwae has several singles tucked under his steezy fisherman beanie set to drop in the coming months before he lets a fully fledged EP bust out the gates later this year.
