They have known each other for about a decade in the music industry during the Cassper Nyovest rise days.
It was only in 2020 that the respect and appreciation for each other’s work brought them together as a duo.
DJ Venom and Shishiliza started bringing their magic together in 2021 when they redefined hip-hop with their twist of love.
Speaking to Drum about deciding to work with Shishiliza, DJ Venom says he waited for the right time to tap into music.
“I think just respect, for what he does, what he did behind the scenes, because I have known him for a long time, so I do know the effort and what work he's put into the industry. When I was ready to start making music, we were doing a lot of gigs together. So, I think that's what drew me to him,” shares DJ Venom.
After their Sondela hit track, the duo released a debut album titled Love is Pain that earned them a SAMA (South African Music Award) and Metro FM award nominations last year and over 20 million streams.
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This was proof of how much hard work and effort they put into pushing the album.
“It's a great honour. And I think with the sound that we're making doesn't really fit in any way or can be compensated to exceed the sound. So, it kind of sounds a little bit like Afro-pop, piano, a little bit of R&B and hip-hop. This is the first time since Sondela that we’re getting back into the studio with Yumbs and we created a similar sound,” says Shishiliza.
As people who have almost done it all in the industry, including managing the likes of Nadia Nakai, Boity Thulo, Rouge, Focalistic, Reason and Chad Da Don, the two clearly mastered the skill of pushing numbers.
Acknowledging that they are lovers of love, they admit that they have done well for themselves after the back and forth they went through during the production.
From recording a verse with Ch’cco, rearranging the beats to testing it at gigs and randomly implementing ideas of refining the song at 3am, the duo burnt the right midnight oil for their success.
“But away from all of that, I think we are two different individuals and we both strongly believe in collaboration, so it's a collaborative effort, and we come together to make the best music we can,” says DJ Venom
Talking about the release of their new single Flight Ya Hoseng on 16 February, Shishiliza says people have already been awaiting the song.
“We see a lot of the reactions and responses to how the music makes people feel on TikTok mostly. We're very excited about the release - kind of waiting for it. It really feels like another fall over again. It’s not the same reception or same trends [as Sondela] but I really hope it does better.”
The song features an all-star lineup including Nomfundo Moh, Ch’cco and Baby S.O.N and is dropped a couple days after the second anniversary of the release of Sondela.
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Having hopped in different roles in the music industry, Shishiliza says the trick has helped them to build relationships with people and stay in the game for the long haul.
“It helps keep relationships, teaches you how to treat people, how to speak to people based on experience. It's just having more tools, just being more skilled for what we do.”
There is more in store from the two artists this year as they share with Drum what’s in the pipeline, including more collaborations.
“I think this year we're basically doing everything that we've done before, just aiming at doing everything on a larger scale. We’d definitely love to break out internationally. We are collaborating with a couple of artists from outside of the country. Going outside of the world is a big goal for us. I think the most important thing about collaboration is people come with different views and people have different ears. So, every time you collaborate with someone new or unknown, everyone is able to teach the next person something, no one knows it all and always just being able to learn from the next person is what keeps it beautiful,” Shishiliza ends off.
