His work at EMI South Africa has afforded him opportunities to meet and work with global musical giants such as Brenda Fassie, Helmut Lotti, Joss Stone, Jonathan Davies from Korn, Simon Webb, Jamelia, Sarah Brightman, Pharrell Williams, Jared Leto (30 seconds to mars) and Angelique Kidjoe. ZAlebs chat’s to one of SA music’s most influential and motivated PR Guru’s – Kevin Mdubeki
In every industry there is always that individual who is respected by many of his/her peers and is mostly known as “that person to get in contact with when you need favours or when you need things to be done right.” The name Kevin Mdubeki might not sound familiar to some of you but within the entertainment industry he is “THAT GUY” no seriously, he is.
Kevin holds a very impressive catalogue that boasts him having managed or done PR for the likes of Teargas, JR, AKA, Mandoza,Tuks, CashTime, Dj Dimplez, Chad Da Don, Buks and L-Tido. That’s just a teaser; the real list goes on and on!
Kevin paid ZAlebs HQ a visit last week and what was scheduled to be an interview turned out to be an interesting conversation about the ins and out of the South African entertainment industry. From touring all over the country with Zola during his heydays to witnessing the down’s and out’s of many of our revered music stars Kevin is one of those guys who witnessed and is still witnessing the rock ‘n roll lifestyle that some of our local celebrities live.
Working closely with Zola throughout the years Kevin made us realise how strong of a force the Zola 7 brand was just a couple of years ago.
“Zola is probably one of the best performers we’ve ever had in this country, that guy used to perform like it was his last performance ever. I remember touring with him in Swaziland and that guy just had the audience on the palm of his hands, it was absolutely insane the pandemonium he caused in Mbabane. I remember after he got off stage a riot occurred because the crowd just wanted more of him. There was even a point when we tried leaving and people were literally shaking the Caracara we were in just because all they wanted to do is touch Zola. It was crazy man.”
Kevin continued to tell us stories about the crazy nights he would experience when on the road with Mandoza:
“I used to do shows with these guys for an entire weekend, Mandoza would pick me up at Urban Brew and we’d do three to four shows in one night. Mind you, at that time homie (Mandoza) was charging like twenty thousand rand a show. We’d be driving back to Joburg at the crack of dawn ready to do more shows later on in the day. That’s why I get annoyed when artists say there’s no tour channel in SA, honestly, there is. Firstly the people are there and secondly it’s about you (artist) gathering up all your resources and saying I’m going on a road tour, that’s how some of our kwaito musicians use to make so much money.”
During his 5 year tenure with Urban Brew, he worked on a variety of programmes, including Win & Spin, Zama Zama, Disney’s Road Hog, Woza Weekend, Buzz, Metrorail’s OTM, Castle loud, and One.
Look out for part two of our exclusive interview with Kevin. In the mean time, take some time to appreciate the way he’s the reason behind some of these tracks receivng heavy rotation on air waves. Respect.
Liquid Deep, teargas & HHP – Born for this
Cash Time Fam – Number 1, Goodbye, Stundee (Shut it Down)
Kwesta ft Kid X – Boom Shakalaka
Emmy Gee – Rands & Naira
