Paul sings straight from the heart

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In the world of art, most young people need a voice that speaks directly to them and, at Muhuyu village, Paul Sebola does so by singing straight from the core of his heart.

Paul, who is a rap and rhythm-and-blues singer, released his first song around 2013, immediately after he discovered that he had a special talent. It’s Her Love dominated the local music charts.

“I was so lucky to have grown up in an environment where an uncle’s friends were into doing rap music,” he said. “So, when they came to our house, I would sit around and listen to them belt out their verses with such great ability that I was always bowled over and mesmerised.”

The uncle’s friends, HotPan and Belladonna, had made a great impact on Paul. “It seemed they realised how interested I was in music, because there was one day when they called me to accompany them to the studio,” he said. “They asked me to do a freestyle demonstration. I really performed beyond their expectations and that was the birth of me, The Artist.”

He downloaded the beat from an Internet website and penned the song It’s her love, which instantly became a hit. “That was the rise of my career as a singer,” he said. “I soon found that many young people were following me as an artist, and they all said that they loved my music, because I sing about issues they could relate to. I felt honoured to hear that coming from my peers.”

Among his other hit tracks are Imma Fly (featuring Rude kid Venda) and I Bake. His inspiration lies with ground breakers such as Metro CMG, Mizo Phyll, Travis Scott, Cassper Nyovest and Lil Tjay. “I love their music because I find it original and it speaks to me directly in a way that makes me also respond with a song or two,” he said.

Paul is available on social media platforms and can be reached on Tel 076 145 5021.

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.