The Creative Director of Swazi AD Agency, Sabelo Laurence Lukhele has revealed that although the Eswatini entertainment industry is a gold mine waiting to be explored, it still needs good and credible public relations personnel as well as active artists and a repertoire division.
Mr Lukhele is the sole founder of Swazi AD Agency, a company which thrives to ensure a responsive & lasting experience for its clients and their stakeholders through seamless integration of physical and digital engagement materials. As a company based in Manzini, Eswatini, the Agency assists clients in determining the best way to reach their target audience and also selecting the ideal marketing mix & develop effective campaigns”.
The creative genius was quoted saying ‘‘My passion has always been bringing the music PR industry to the division where it can stand alone as it is a big industry on it is own and needs good people to buy into the industry. The music industry lacks music PR and that is just what we trying to change in our company for people to identify with us and the Eswatini entertainment industry as a whole.’’
He went on to say “As a person who loves good music I see that there is a lot to be done in terms of Public Relations for our local artist luckily, my company is available to bridge that gap; we are currently one of the major ‘PR Companies that you can trust. Our work, focus and consistency are unrivalled. We have worked on several projects in the past like last year’s biggest braai to name a few. We have also promoted several events and assisted different clients to reach their target audience. Currently, we have managed to sign a 12-month deal with NR who is recently nominated for the New Comer category for MTN SWAMA Awards.’’
ABOUT NR
Ambition, hard work and being born in both a musical and religious family, N.R (Nerve Wreck) real name Mduduzi Mahlalela has always wanted to make singing a full-time job and was fortunate enough to meet the likes of Diba Diba from a very young age.
The 27-year-old Eswatini sensation started his music career during his high school days at Manzini Nazarene High School, where he and a group of three friends including Diba Diba formed a musical group called Cloud Of Doom (C.O.D). During those days they always managed to wow the crowds during school concerts.
In the year 2007, N.R managed to change from performing artist to recording artist and recorded his first ever singles Thobile and Phahlaphibi on which he featured his childhood friend Diba dDibaon the latter. His first single Thobile was a phenomenal success, it went viral on social media especially Facebook, it even got to be played on the National radio station SBIS 2 during Lindelwa Mafa’s time slot.
Within a short time frame, the fluent bars spitter changed again from recording artist to performing artist, which was the best move for his career as in 2011 alone the rapper got to perform solo in 52 different stages across the country and the following year he entertained crowds in 62 stages nationwide. At the time he was signed under Blaque artist management.
From 2013 to early 2018 the artist has been self-managing and in 2017 he managed to release his first album (Made in SD) Which had 14 songs and 2 music videos. His fans were very receptive towards the album hence it got 1600 downloads in 2 weeks. However, he has recently signed a new partnership deal with Swazi AD Agency owned by Mr Laurence Lukhele who will also be managing the artist.
N.R’s music is mainly inspired by current events, personal experiences and his surroundings which is why he produces music that both entertains and educates. Mduduzi defines his music as Ngwane hop, (instead of hip pop) which is a genre of music he co-founded with Diba Diba which pushes for 100% Ngwane content in their songs.
The Ngwane hop star has managed to craft his own image and maintained it with uncompromising control. Ever since the inception of his music career, N.R has never had bad publicity which is very rare for individuals in this very competitive industry. When asked about his relationships with other artists the rapper said they are all brothers and sisters, and he believes that they all need to support each other.
He has worked with a lot of local artists such as Eimsofly, Diba Diba, Qibho Intellectual and Prodigal sons to name but a few and has described them as creative geniuses.
His music career dates back to his umbilical cord since his mother is a very good singer herself. The singer is a very family, oriented young men. He sources his life inspiration from his family. They inspire him to be the best that he can be.
His mantra in life is “water can penetrate through a rock not by its force but by its persistence and hard work” hence he has made it this far. Oprah Winfrey, Sands, Steve Jobs, Drake have also inspired him to do well in life.
Musically the rapper dreams of collaborating with Symphony, Smokey, Wigo, and Sands who he used to playfully make music with back in tertiary. On the top of his playlist right now is internationally recognised female rapper Cardi B and the super mega A.K.A.
Apart from making soothing music, Mduduzi is a qualified graphic designer and part times as a freelance video director, photographer, and web design. Mahlalela is set to release his single titled ‘’Lose my mind’’ http://bit.ly/NR_LoseMyMind
