This sassy teen rapper says she wants her music to boost the self-confidence of the youth.
Phindile Dlamini, 17, from Simon’s Town is a hip hop artist who released her very first mixtape, called Poppintin, Wednesday.
And if she looks familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen her gesig gie in the windows of Sportscene winkels.
Phindile, aka FleeQy, says her stage name comes from the popular term “on fleek”, saying: “Because to me, my rhymes and beats are always on fleek.
“The music I make boosts self-confidence and makes you want to groove to the rhythm.”
The teen says she fell in love with poetry and realised that rap music is a form of poetry.
The Simon’s Town High School matric pupil started writing music at age 14 when she decided that she wanted to become a musician one day.
“In 2017, I released my very first single, called Throne, and the feedback I received was amazing. Since then, I’ve done numerous collaborations with local artists.”
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A post shared by FleeQy(@fleeqy.dlamini_7505) on Jan 14, 2020 at 9:46pm PST
Poppingtin is available on Soundcloud along with her earlier music.
“The word ‘pop’ means to stand out and that’s exactly what my music does, it’s popping,” she explains.
“The full name Poppingtin sounded more like an era to me, a time for growth, learning and finally making a breakthrough in terms of exposure.”
The lyrics of one of the songs on her mixtape, called Shallow, speaks to bullies and goes: “They shallow, it’s my name that they’re feeding on, remember way back you tried to attack for attention but I snap back, Phindile describes her musical style as “sassy with a dash of class”.
RELEASE: FleeQy’s first mixtape. Picture: Supplied
“What makes me unique is that the music I make can be enjoyed by any age group because of my style and because I don’t use foul language,” she adds.
“I’ve performed at numerous events around Cape Town but the highlight of my performance history was when I shared the stage with Dee Koala, an artist who’s making a name for herself in the industry.
“I’m very inspired by the huge South African rapper, Nasty C, my goal is to one day do a collaboration with him.”
Her music caught Sportscene’s attention, which opened new doors.
MODEL: Teen is in a Sportscene ad. Picture: Supplied
“Before I knew it, I was on every window across the country advertising for Sportscene, which was really unexpected.”