We agreed to collaborate and I sent him a song, but he took a long time to record his verse. So, if they hold it down in the hood for me, I'm a hold it down for them with this music thing. I've now made an oath to the homies that even though I'm doing this music thing, I'll never let them down. The oath that me and the homies have, in terms of them being hustlers on the streets-I understand that they gotta do what they gotta do, but they also understand that I'm a musician now. OmertГ is the initiation ceremony the oath that you say is the omertГ of the mafia. вЂњThe title comes from me watching a lot of gangster movies and shows, especially the Italian ones- The Sopranos, Goodfellas, The Godfather 1, 2, 3. вЂBlaroвЂ™ is another name for Saulsville, the part of Atteridgeville that I come from called Black Rock-shortened to Blaro.вЂќ I'm going to bless you with something and just take it to California.вЂ™ So, he did the вЂCalifornia LoveвЂ™ melody. Zoocci was like, вЂIвЂ™m going to do an addition to the song. So, it only made sense to do a song that had a West Coast feel to it. вЂњWe always refer to Pretoria as вЂthe west sideвЂ™. And it sounded like my current state of mind at the time, in terms of how I felt the industry is going, my accomplishments and people having me misunderstood because of being on so many features. And that's how we came up with the 'Pheli Makaveli' chant after those raps.

I did the verse in one take, and just where the verse ended off that's where, I had wrote my final lines and that's where the drums totally shut down. I finished writing the verse while we were there and we went back to the studio. I still had the melody stuck in my head as we played. Then we took a break and went to play FIFA with ZooвЂ™s homie. вЂњAs Zoocci was making the beat in studio, the melody hit me, and then I just took out my phone and I wrote three or four lines. Here, 25K takes us through the album, track by track. The pairвЂ™s chemistry is undeniable, and the projectвЂ™s coherence sonically and lyrically points to their rigorous craftsmanship. Referring to his music as вЂњkasi (township) trapвЂќ, 25K (born Lehlohonolo Molefe) captivatingly tells his story in both Sepitori (Pretoria slang) and English over a bass-heavy trap soundscape crafted by Zoocci Coke Dope, one of the South AfricaвЂ™s most notable hip-hop producers. Pheli Makaveli made sense because Pheli is the slang name for Atteridgeville, which is where I come from.вЂќ Zoocci picked up on that influence as we were working on the project. вЂњBut the inspiration behind it comes from me growing up, listening to a lot of West Coast hip-hop-2Pac, Dre, Snoop, NWA. вЂњThe title Pheli Makaveli was suggested by Zoocci Coke Dope,вЂќ 25K explains. Though not overtly socially conscious, Pheli Makaveli does paint a picture bearing political undertones: feeling neglected and let down by the politicians they vote for, the people resort to unlawful means of survival.

The story of 25K is also the story of Atteridgeville, a township west of Pretoria. вЂњIt sums up a bit of everything about me from back when I was in the streets, hustling, when I used to stand on the corner, hoping to make a little sale.вЂќ вЂњThe project is about my upbringing, my story and my journey before the music and when I fell in love with the music,вЂќ he tells Apple Music. If he had survived to complete Don Killuminati, it is possible that the record could have become something worthwhile, but the overall quality of the material suggests that the album would have been a disappointment no matter what circumstances it appeared under.From the onset, 25KвЂ™s debut album Pheli Makaveli tells the gripping story of a young hustler on the come-up. Tupac himself sounds uninterested in the music, which makes the conventional, unimaginative music all the more listless. All Eyez on Me proved that Tupac was continuing to grow as a musician and a human being, but Don Killuminati erases that image by concentrating on nothing but tired G-funk beats and back-biting East Coast/West Coast rivalries. Naturally, the appearance of Don Killuminati so shortly after Tupac's death led many conspiracy theorists to surmise the rapper was still alive, but it was all part of a calculated marketing strategy by Death Row - the label needed something to sustain interest in the album, since the music here is so shoddy. Released only eight weeks after Tupac Shakur died from gunshot wounds, Death Row released this posthumous album under the name of Makaveli, a pseudonym derived from the Italian politician Niccolo Machiavelli, who faked his own death and reappeared seven days later to take revenge on his enemies. Everything about The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory smacks of exploitation.

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