ZAlebs chatted to one of our best friends in SA Radio, Nick Explicit. Nick and his show, the Explicit Drive, are nominated in tonight's MTN Radio Awards. We chat to him about all this and more.

Nick Explicit welcome to ZAlebs and welcome to the ZAlebs couch. We were hoping to have drinks to offer you but we couldn’t get our order in on time. 

No I understand, Nkandla cost a couple of million, so you guys had to cut back as well. 

[Laughs!] Please introduce yourself to some of our readers who might not be too familiar with Nick Explicit.

My name is Nick Explicit and I present the Explicit Drive on UJFM 95.4 and I’m with them every Monday to Friday from 3 till 6. I also do the Weekly Wrap Up every friday on the Fresh Drive on 5FM. I basically do what you do online except I put it in a rap song.

I used to hear the Weekly Rap Up when I was younger and honestly, I thought you were black! I was so shocked when I eventually saw a picture of you!

Tinashe honestly, I thought you were white honestly! It just shows you that people might not be so used to white guys rapping. I think people expected me to be a house DJ or something. When I came out though, they were surprised. 

We enjoy UJFM, We love the Explicit Drive as well as the Continental Breakfast (As well as OUR feature on the show). Recently the station has been recognised at the MTN Radio Awards, picking up an impressive 10 nominations in different categories. How do you feel about being a part of that kind of team?

You know what, without wanting to sound arrogant, when I started doing Drive last year, it was always the plan. When I met with management and they offered me the position this is where we wanted to be. Every single day is a new challenge for us. Shout out to MTN for delaying the announcement, as if we have nerves of steel! When they eventually came out we found out that the show had been nominated that was exciting, then I found out I was nominated too and got very excited! One nomination was wonderful, but two? It was like wow. 

I think I speak for everyone at ZAlebs when I say that I hope you take the prize home! While we were speaking (before the interview) You mentioned that nobody is allowed to give speeches. What would you have said if you could say a speech though? 

I’d probably say something cheesy like “I thank God for winning this award and to my Management team and to everyone at UJ and to anyone who thought this couldn’t happen”

What would you say are the next big goals for the station? Perhaps for the next 10-12 Months? 

I want us to raise the bar higher. I want to get it to the point where you tune in and you don’t treat it like a campus radio station, but rather it carries that commercial radio station vibe. The newsreaders are on point, the sports presenters are on par, I’m not sure of that Nick Explicit guy though! 

Ahead of tonight’s MTN Radio Awards I just want to touch on the recent changes we’ve seen in South African Radio. A lot of people moving, leaving, resigning. What do you think of some of the recent moves and changes we’ve seen? 

To start with, Mo Flava moving from Breakfast to drive, and I was surprised. Good luck to Ankletap though, who will be replacing Mo. Some of the other big moves? The Gareth resignation was a big surprise. Having been a fan of his show for years I felt like he had maybe three to four more years in him. He had that quirky way of informing the public. He had those quirky, funny interviews. He was genius.

Let’s chat about your music for a little while. A lot of people who are familiar with you know you because of the 5FM weekly rap up. You told me that you’re also working on a mixtape though, tell me about that? 

Yeah we released one about two years ago, it was called Broadcasting Live and it was a follow up to my first EP. Funnily enough it was my first EP that got me the 5FM gig. Fresh heard it when I was entering this battle competition and he put me on the spot. He said “I want you to freestyle, and I’ll give you the words”. He gave me words and eventually ran out. I was using Catherine’s mic at the time (She was doing traffic) I picked up the traffic sheet that she had printed out and I continued free styling using words from there and Fresh was like “You’re freaking amazing”. He then called me up after seeing a weekly wrap up on E! Entertainment and said he wanted me to do it on his show. The Fresh Drive has been around for 7 years, and I’ve been on it for 6. I’m part of the furniture now

Tell me a little bit about the music that you’re recording. What kind of rapper would you describe yourself as? 

I’d probably put myself in the same box as Reason. We were both pushing and coming up at the same time actually and the funny thing that people don’t know about Reason is that he’s been around for years. It’s only now with Motif that he’s managed to break through. We had one of the most infamous battles on YFM’s The Rap Activity Jam back in the day. He won, but we have always gone back and forth and said “I was better, you were better” 

When is the single dropping from the album? 

We’re holding thumbs and crossing fingers that it will be close to the end of April. You know how these things can work out but end of April is looking likely. I’ll definitely make sure that ZAlebs gets to hear it first! 

We had such an amazing time chatting to Nick Explicit and you can all rest assured that as soon as that first single drops, ZAlebs will be spreading it like Wildfire! We’re looking forward to it and we wish Nick Explicit  and UJFM the best of luck tonight at the MTN Radio Awards!