Pellau Magazine

               (  Photo was taken by Justyn Mayers Photography , Artwork done by Kai Ramkissoon of

Meet Shumba Mahluli AKA “Dredd” from Morvant. He attended Hokett Baptiste primary school, Woodbrook Secondary and currently attending University of The Southern Caribbean doing a Bachelor in Business Management.

 

Born on November 16^th 1992 Shumba has always loved music, from his early beginnings in Primary school to his current state of mind, he has built a solid career on his passion. He is currently 20 years of age which would mean his love story with music has just begun!

In this interview he has agreed to answer some questions about his life, his new song, and just how did he choose music as his life:

ME

Question 1. As an up and coming artist there is always something motivating you to break into mainstream music, is there anyone who has influenced you towards getting into music?

Dredd

Answer: From Primary school level to now I have loved music, there are artistes I admire to for example Bob Marley, Jah Cure, Taurus Riley, Bunji Garlin, Bruno Mars, Sean Paul, Kanye West, Justin Beiber, Kendrick Lamar and etc that’s just a very short list of artistes I look at as inspiration, don’t just look at the kind of music they sing it’s the creativity I admire creative artistes on the whole motivate me I’m a very creative person and music is all about creativity. There was really nothing in particular that made me decide I wanted to do music it was all just natural my creativity and natural musical ability brought me here.

ME

Question 2. How it all did begin? It’s the five W’s here:

*Who?

*What?

*Where?

*When?

And

*Why?

Dredd

Answer:  I’d say it began in primary school, every year they would have these mini Christmas concerts for students and their family and friends and I would always be a headline act at the concert singing popular Christmas songs, but it was only at secondary school level that I truly decided it was the career path of my choice. Secondary school was when I discovered my writing skills and ventured into them a little more entered a few competitions growing stronger along the way and meeting producers and other artistes upcoming and established. This satisfies my hunger to be creative and is naturally a gift from god to me I didn’t learn this from anywhere else but within I never attended any song writing classes or voice training classes, I do plan to though because it will help me improve my craft. I do also see the business side of music and know that a career must also be able to generate a proper income so that I can support myself and a family of my own later in life and will work hard to be successful and branch off to do bigger things business wise and music wise when I am.

ME

Question 3: How is your new song “Love Struck” differs from your normal reggae song?  What inspired you to make Reggae and not a Soca or Calypso that we “Trinis” love?

Dredd

Answer: I’m all about “vybz” I do what I feel musically we all know that music must be real for the listener to really feel it and that’s me “real” it is partly about giving the people what they want but they must also appreciate your style and like what you have to offer so if giving them what they want is not you then you have to find a way to incorporate both, give them what they like but in your own way. I do soca and calypso music also but ventured into something different this time around and I did pretty well the song is being received very well.

ME

Question 4: What do you hope to achieve with this new song, positive feedback and regional recognition yes, but there’s always more for artists, maybe a deal with a label perhaps? 

Dredd

Answer: Yes I do hope to achieve recognition build my fan base and so on through this, according to how things go I will look as far as record deals but for now the recognition is most important, recognition from the general public, from radio stations from more established artistes and producers and so fought I hope to build a bigger network through this song basically and will push as hard as I can to carry this song all the way.

 ME

Question 5: This new song, having being sent a personal copy from you before it came out had me feeling special “LOL”, to my surprise your voice has grown different and the impact on this song is just amazing but have you even surprised yourself at how far you’ve come since you started?

Dredd

Answer: “lol” yes I am surprising myself with every other production I have grown a lot as an artiste and all those who knew my music from start can testify to that my music continues to get better and I continue to surprise myself with my versatility I haven’t quite settled into any genre in particular and have done various genres of music and surprisingly I just fit right in, as I grow I may find a genre I do my best at and adopt it or maybe I will be known for my versatility and just continue doing my thing the way I do but regardless I am growing considerably and will continue to so just keep on the look out for even better music.

 Me

Question 6: Stage action!!! How did it feel when you went on stage for the 1^st time? What advice do you have for the younger or the other artists who have problems executing their performance?  

Dredd

Answer: The first time “lol” hmmmm I will be honest and say it wasn’t the best it was a supportive crowd but I was frozen on one spot and felt as though any movement would result in my knees buckling and me falling “lol” but it grows on you and you become more and more comfortable. Some silly but true advice until you gain that sky high confidence shades on stage can be your best friend eye contact with the audience can be intimidating and honestly it really does help a little, try it “lol” and try to watch as many experienced artistes perform as you can and watch and learn and develop your own way of interacting with the crowd don’t just run on stage and expect them to accept you interact with them and invite them to “vyb” with you and introduce yourself to them properly.

                                      ( Photo was taken by  Justyn Mayers Photography)

ME

Question 7: Is there a music video in the making, what social media and or radio interviews are you using to manipulate positive feedback on your potential audience?

Dredd

Answer: There may be a music video depending on how it all goes down and as for social media Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reverb nation are the sites I use currently and as for radio I did the launch of the track on Power 102.1FM and I am working on a few other interviews so do keep posted.

 ME

Question 8: What can we expect to see from you this year as in other song releases?

 Dredd

Answer: expect to hear some out of the box music and don’t expect any one genre coming from me expect a world of music I have huge things planned for this year all I can say is stay posted you don’t want to miss this!

ME

Question 9: Are you going to travel to Jamaica to push out this new jam? Or your just gonna wait and see how it goes?

Dredd

Answer: I rather say I’ll see how it goes I haven’t planned to go to Jamaica or anything of the sought to push the song but if the song continues to do as well as it is currently I will do whatever is necessary to take it to that next level.

ME

Question 10: I really would like to thank you for your time for this interview is there anything else you would like our readers to know??

Dredd

Answer:  I just want to encourage readers to support their local artistes and all none locals tune in Trinidad and Tobago has a lot of talent both tapped and untapped and also a lot of people tend to get turned off when they hear the term “New Artiste” and I would say because there are a lot of posers calling themselves artistes and are nowhere close to being artistic and program a lot of people into thinking a new artiste may not be worth a listening ear but do take the time to listen before judging because a lot of talent is usually bypassed. Do check out the new song by me “Love Struck” and stay posted a lot more to come from this talented and humble artiste and I need your support.