Passionate young artist
Jabulane has been inspired by how Casper Nyovest changed his own life by delivering good music to South Africa and abroad, Motivated by Nasty C's ambition as young rapper changing South African hiphop/rap game.
By Thabang Macmillan May
Jabulane Manana (16), stage name Icey Jay, is a young up-and-coming rap artist born and raised in Endulwini Section, Tembisa.
He started rapping in 2014 when he got his first smartphone and his friend sent him instrumentals to rap to. These verses were recorded using the smartphone. He then discovered his music talent and his friend took him to a nearby recording studio to start recording real music.
Jabulane is inspired by how Cassper Nyovest changed his own life by delivering good music to South Africa and abroad. He is also motivated by Nasty C’s ambition as a young rapper changing the South African hip-hop/rap game.
Jabulane says seeing people dancing and singing along to his music motivates him to go to the studio and record more relevant music for his fans.
Following his music adventure he wants to collaborate with KO, Aka and Nasty C to inspire other young rappers in his community to follow their music dreams.
He’s performed at Code 16 hip-hop sessions, IVC Entertainment‘s album launch and Gravetown Sunday sessions.
He wants to perform on bigger platforms such as the Durban July, MTV Base annual music awards and SA Hip-Hop awards.
When asked what music means to him ,Jabulane said, “Music is a platform where I can express my feelings and inspire others. Music is poetry in its purist form.”
He is currently working on a solo project because rappers and producers in his community don’t understand his music genre and so this results in him producing his own music.
His first released single, titled “Youngkidd”, is about difficulties he’s facing as a young upcoming artist and it is doing well indeed. He will soon be releasing his second single.
To download his music, find his links on his Facebook page (Icey Jay).
When he is not rapping Jabulane is a grade 10 pupil at CM Smith Private School and is engaged in drama and poetry.
He is looking forward to signing his first record deal and achieving his music dream so he can support himself and his family and do what he loves at the same time.
