The EP Acts As A Healing Ritual For An Artist Refinding Their Creative Voice
I’m writing a lot about rap music. Interesting turn of events, but I’m really enjoying discovering the outer edges of our local hip-hop underground, where genre gets fluid and the music gets wavy. Take INYANGA, the latest EP from Lungelo Manzi, a five-track trip into the world of loungey neo-soul and slow burning jazz. This is a project about reflecting on growth, and the songs follow suit with Manzi exploring themes of gratitude, personal growth, family, and love. “Full moons, a cue to just rekindle instead of quit” he raps on the EP’s closer and perhaps strongest track, Indela – pretty much putting the thesis statement of INYANGA into perspective. This EP is literally Manzi’s healer, a conduit for his realignment with his point of view as an artist.
Manzi is responsible for writing, arranging, performing, and executive producing these tracks. That’s pretty bloody brilliant. Composed by MetzMusic, these are less beats and more languid symphonies – a gorgeously realised sonic landscape that echoes the deep introspection of Manzi’s lyrics, which often feel like poetry in motion. The mastering on Manzi’s vocals lacks some finesse, which sometimes makes his voice feel phantasmagorical and detached from the music, but this doesn’t detract from the masterful storytelling that Manzi pulls off on INYANGA.
As his first project after a long hiatus, and as the precursor to his upcoming sophomore album, INYANGA is a thought provoking EP that succeeds in reestablishing Lungelo Manzi as one of the country’s most promising emerging voices.
