'I want to leave a legacy'

10 July 2009 - 02:00
By Lebogang Tsele and Mpho Lebona
Slick and Bonang at Phat Farm  store Launch at Clearwater Mall,Roodepoort.06 Aug. 2008. (Photo:Eddie Mtsweni)
Slick and Bonang at Phat Farm store Launch at Clearwater Mall,Roodepoort.06 Aug. 2008. (Photo:Eddie Mtsweni)

Siya Metane, also known as Slikour, is just your ordinary guy-next-door type of dude who has the same fears as any other person.

His biggest fear is failure, which is what drives him to do what he does, and be who he is.

"If I had to say that I am a brand, it would be a bit egocentric. I'll be modest and say ... I'm a lifestyle," he jokes.

"I am a force, a pusher, a dreamer, without a doubt. I fight, I fight harder than anyone else who has the comfort of an inheritance or higher education.''

In the week of Michael Jackson's death, Slikour was in the US for the first summit by a media initiative called Global Fresh Collective.

"Being there during that time was completely tragic. People's spirits were down. I visited Harlem - where he first performed with the Jackson 5 - where a little memorial was held for him, and for three to four blocks from there all you heard was his music and hawkers selling the same MJ merchandise."

The co-founder of Ventilation Productions - which is home to artists such as Kwesta, DJ Naves, Shugasmakx, T'do, Bonang and Skwatta Kamp - Slikour says like Jackson he wants to leave a legacy.

Speaking of Skwatta Kamp, have they split? He says the group hasn't officially disbanded, but has out of necessity had to find their separate paths.

About his "public relationship" with Bonang Matheba, which was plastered on the social network Facebook, Slikour says: "You can't base your life on what people, newspapers or Facebook say because you actually know what the hell you are.

"Eventually, something will happen with Skwatta Kamp. We're working, we're still friends, but we're working under abnormal circumstances, I guess."

Slikour is also working on an album he plans to release online and on Ventilation Mixtape Volume 3.