Sizwe Alakine Explains How He Came Up With The Name Of His Album “Alakine’s World”. Sizwe Moeketsi Moniker, is a South African rapper commonly known as Reason, he came to prominence after his collaborative work with Ms Nthabi. He has worked with some of South Africa’s respected names such as Stogie T, Moneoa, ProVerb, DJ Maphorisa, Kwesta and HHP just to mention a few.
Sizwe Alakine, also known as Reason, is ready for the masses to hear his 13-track album, which has just recently been released. Sizwe explained how the name for his album Alakine’s World came about. “I think it was inspired by the sound, most importantly wanting to be a part of it and wanting to make my own version of it. Wanting to feel different styles around it. I think that’s what inspired me to do this body of work. Its called the Alakine’s World because it’s my world. If you listen to piano as one world, it’s this place where everyone is having fun.”
He further explained that the album is basically him telling stories. “That why I called it Alakine’s World, because I wanted to tell the stories in my world, that it’s not always juicy, it’s not always great, we’ve got the bad, and the really good side.”
“I think telling stories about my world is really telling stories about everybody’s world. We are all going through the same things, we all see the same successes, we all see the same wins, but we also witness some failures. We also see some bad things happening but essentially it’s inspired by piano and piano is all about good vibes so the vibes take priority. It’s very very important. It’s our stories and our sounds and our language and so it becomes a better — I think — reality to consume musically. We are already speaking like this. We are already talking like this. We are already acting like this, we are already dancing like this, so let’s go with it.”
To put the matter to bed where Alakine and Reason are concerned, the rapper said Alakine is his alter ego. “If you are just a musician you should be able to do all types of music, it shouldn’t be some sort of transition. Every genre is unique, and every genre is different. I think its an alter ego that is really focused on creating South African music and South African sound and I came up with that name to not deviate from the ethos of what Reason is.
“I think the philosophy with Reason is very specific. It’s poetry, to music, to lyricism to hip-hop. It is specific to that. But Sizwe Alakine is a South African brand and that’s the story we are trying to push. Its more of an alter ego rather than a complete change. Reason is Sizwe Alakine’s ghost writer, that’s the best way to put it.”
