Local DJs launch in USA, but remain rooted in community

Local DJ and producer Ramahloe Lefika (27), known by his stage name J Maloe, has known fellow artist Neo Lephoto (28), aka Star Neo, for years.

The two, however, only started working together in 2017 when they realised their mutual love for music.

Now, while on the road to making it big, these self-taught musicians are creating platforms for local young and upcoming artists. Platforms they never had.

“I was part of Mango’s cabin crew for a few years,” remembered Lefika.

“And I studied marketing,” said Lephoto.

Music, however, has always been their destined path, as both started learning the ropes of DJ’ing and producing while still in high school.

Today, these musicians describe their work as commercial house music with traces of deep music. House music, a genre of electronic music, was created in the early 1980s and is characterised by repetitive beats, rhythms and drums.

These beats and rhythms are found on Stage For, an extended play record (EP) the two produced together. It was released on January 2 under the record label Production Block.

Lefika and Lephoto thought they were being pranked when the label first asked to work with them. They soon realised, however, that their dreams of making it big were slowly coming true.

Their five-track EP has since been released in Atlanta in the United States and is also available on iTunes.

According to Lephoto they want to use this opportunity to prove to upcoming artists that they need to keep working hard: “Somewhere and somehow someone will recognise you.”

They plan to further encourage up-and-coming artists by hosting a series of events in 2018. These events will only feature artists from the Kempton Park area.

“We want to give platforms to people that we never had when we started,” said Lefika.

Although the two might be music mentors in their community, they still have famous artists to which they look for inspiration.

“Black Coffee is an icon to me because he’s doing well internationally and that is the path we want to take,” said Lefika.

Lephoto, on the other hand, adores DJ Fresh.

A dream come true for these two musicians would be to join their mentors, and many other great artists, on the Winter Music Conference stage. This week-long electronic music conference, which has been held in Miami since 1985, is a showcase of artists, DJs, record producers, seminars and panel discussions.

The furthest that Lefika and Lephoto have travelled is Botswana and Swaziland. They did, however, hint at possible travel plans in the near future. Perhaps even to a south Florida island city surrounded by beaches.

Either way, music, Lephoto said, will always fuel their motivation: “Music is everything to us. It is a universal language and it brings different people together. It’s our entire world.”

Local artists looking for a platform can contact these artists at starneo.dj@gmail.com or jeffmaloe@gmail.com.

Lefika and Lephoto can also be found on social media as J Maloe and Star Neo.