Image credit: Eugene Nduvho
Rapper, producer, songwriter, animator and illustrator King Lutendo has just released his latest album titled U Zwima. Since his debut, King Lutendo has continuously expanded beyond the sonic limits of the current hip-hop landscape, blending unique hints of electro, dance, rock, and hip-hop all with a unique blend of African Tshivenda-themed masterful lyricism. This latest album has landed on several Apple Music Playlists, which has been the case with all his releases before. The album’s lead single ‘Lufuno Luswa’ also made a recent global radio debut on NTS radio on the one glove breakfast show out in London.
Stream / Download: King Lutendo – U Zwima LP
Born to a musical Venda family, 29-year-old rapper, producer, animator and illustrator King Lutendo was raised with a love for the arts. Having studied design and illustration, he imbues his music with an arresting visual aesthetic. His take on hip-hop is experimental, using sounds not commonly associated with the genre. He describes himself as alternative and occupies a space built around his Venda Heritage, personal introspection, and spirituality.
His brand has reverberated with sites such as Native Mag, Okay Africa, Redbull Music, Hype Magazine and Nusoulhub Radio, he was also highlighted as Apple’s artist of the month in May 2019 and debuted one of the singles off his album on Ebro’s beats 1 radio show in New York. Since then until now, he has released a total of 10 studio projects which have been featured on global stations such as Worldwide FM, NOODS radio, KCRW radio, and Bandcamp radio among others.
In 2020, he was among one of the few African artists chosen to represent their continent by performing at the Mela Fest in Norway. His music is cinematically structured and carries themes such as honest introspection and self-development, love and cultural history. Often described as a one-man band, King Lutendo writes, composes, produces, and engineers all his music. He also directs all his own music videos and creates all his own artworks and promotional animations for his music.
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