Kings Of Another Kingdom

This past weekend presented history-in-the-making for some of us rap lovers. Not since Optical Ill was a rap crew and not a distant memory have hip hop luminaries, Golden Shovel and X-Rate, rapped on the same track. If you've been a longtime blagger or blaggette then you know how we feel about Brotha X. If not, see theblagg's bio on the side strip of this site. Go.

Are you back? So now you understand that a meeting of these minds is a big deal to us and, I'd like to think, to hip hop. Anyway, the two hooked up with Mothipa at King Katta's studio in the V and recorded a joint called Kings Of Another Kingdom. The verses complement a Battlekat fire-beat and also feature the singing styles of Battlekat, Genocide, our favourite female producer, BK as well as Lindiwe.

Instro, who was the sessions engineer, was reluctant to explicitely express what the joint is about but one thing is for sure, the producer is ecstatic about the parallel universe concept and can't wait for you to hear it.

theblagg hit up X-Rate, who told us what the experience was like. And before you ask why his arm is bandaged in this photo, we've learnt that when it comes to injuries, it's better to not ask rappers questions like "how did you do that?" This is what the half of X and O had to say about recording Kings Of Another Kingdom, a song that will appear on Golden Shovel's (Shove to those who like things, ha!) upcoming album, The Lost Gospels:

"Well, the beat was sent a week before the recording and we were supposed to start writing then. However, Mothipa and I didn't do that - as if we ever do what we are told. So we got there and Shove was finishing off a song he was busy with. After that, it was on. That beat was played and we hit the pen and paper. There were a lot of loiterers at the studio though, which was a bit different for me. As we were writing, Shove laced his verse and I think 2 hours after that Mothipa got in and then I followed. It was fun but... different for me."

If you'd seen Instro's tweets (@instros), you'd know that touching the mic after Shovel was not easy to do. But we're keen to hear the final product and hope we'll get it first - hint, hint - so keep your eyes on theblagg for that.