De Mthuda Reveals Why He Calls Himself The Landlord. De Mthuda, real name Mthuthuzeli Gift Khoza, is very versatile as a producer and verified hit-maker. He grew up around people who loved music, so he began to love it too. It wasn’t long before he realised he didn’t just like listening to music, but wanted to know how to make it. .De Mthuda has been in the industry since 2013 and almost 10 years later, he’s become the producer to the stars, working on one of the most popular genres in the country – amapiano.
De Mthuda jokingly says he calls himself the landlord because the other artists are his tenants. “I think I am The Landlord because I move like one, very quiet, well respected and getting my money. Also, my fence is too high to be worried about my neighbours,” he said.
“I also opened my new record label called Ace Of Spades and have signed a couple of artists like Da Muziqal Chef. I love that I am in my own lane and that’s important for me, I am not trying to be number one but I want to be the best, my only competition is me,” he shared.
It took one hit song to motivate him to keep on going and produce chart-toppers. His first hit song was Shesha, featuring fellow DJ, producer, and vocalist Njelic. This song has been featured on the international series I May Destroy You and the movie Coming to America 2. This has showed him that anything is possible.
“I started producing back in 2012/2013. Back then, we mostly produced deep-house music and when the likes of MFR Souls started making something called ama45, where they could usually slow down popular house songs and bring down the BPM, that inspired Amapiano and the rest was history.”