Gigi Lamayne just recently released her long-awaited album, Set In Stone and the South African artist has had the streets buzzing since.
While it is undeniably a rap album, what sets this project apart is its inclusion of the popular South African beat style of Amapiano, a genre that incorporates jazzy piano, organ, guitar chords, solos, Kwaito basslines, percussions from a local subgenre of House known as Bacardi, and some soul-stirring vocals according to DJ Moma.
The Breakdown of Prominent Tracks on The Album
The album’s bonus track titled Mashonisa featuring Busiswa and Makhadzi, who are both heavy hitters in the Amapiano and house scene, perfectly showcases the rapper’s versatility and her ability to perfectly bend and blend her style with respect to any genre she chooses to explore. To no one’s surprise, the track went viral and spent several weeks on the charts.
While in my opinion, Makhadzi and Busiswa had the most impact on the single, Gigi held her own and even had the most memorable line of all ‘Kant’uges ubuya nini’ which roughly translates to ‘When will the power be back’, a statement many South African’s who are sick and tired of the country’s mandatory power cuts could easily relate to.
The project’s 6th serving, EMPINI featuring Big Zulu and Anzo, also set the internet ablaze. The track is a prayer to the lord and in it, Lamayne asks that God protect and guide her while she wrestles with the many trials and tribulations life throws at her. It’s about knowing you have a purpose and not allowing people to drive you away from it.
The track is a lyrical gem but just like Mashonisa, the featured artists overpowered the rapper and instead made it their own. The beats are tailored to the style of the featured artists with Gigi adapting and trying to fit into the mold in the background.
Set In Stone’s initial track, Oh My Gin is the track. The way Gigi flows through the beat, being sure to serve a mind-turning bar every chance she could along the way. GOOD GOOD featuring Don Calya is also definitely getting those replays. It’s fun, it’s giving boss babe vibes and the wordplay between the two rappers makes it a whole moment. It’s twice as good as the title suggests.
The Artist’s Say On The Album
In a recent interview, Gigi said she believed this to be her best album yet and she’s not wrong. Her track Fabiani is most definitely an ode to classic kwaito. In it, she name drops Kwaito’s great, Mzekezeko which is further proof of their influence on her newfound music styling.
Fabiani is in my opinion the best track on this album. It’s an afro bop with energy and flare. The featured artists, Alfa Kat and Ney also did their thing and added more than enough spice to the mixture.
To create hype around the drop, she dropped a freestyle titled I Cum Back before dropping Mashonisa featuring Busiswa and Makhadzi. In my opinion, Fabiani, Mashonisa, and Good Good should have been the main singles, an error I believe cost Gigi the views and streams this masterful project deserves.
The ‘Ice Cream’ hitmaker is and always will be a force to be reckoned with and this album is proof of that.
