Radio & TV
Uncle Waffles talks about ‘Red Dragon’ EP and more on Apple Music’s Africa Now Radio
This Week’s Episode Features a Conversation With Uncle Waffles, the 5 Hottest Tracks of the Week, Africa Rising and LootLove’s Favourite Track of the Week!
Tune in to Africa Now Radio with LootLove now on Fridays, Starting April 8th at 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1
Cover Star Interview
Swati DJ and producer Uncle Waffles joins LootLove via FaceTime on Apple Music 1 to talk about her latest collab track with Tony Duardo, “Tanzania (feat. Sino Msolo and BoiBizza).” She also explains how her debut EP, Red Dragon—the first national release in Spatial Audio to top Apple Music’s South African Top Album charts—personifies her energy, and discusses finding her own sound; performing amapiano around the world; and what she’s planning for the rest of 2022.
The Big 5
LootLove shares the 5 hottest new African tracks of the moment. This week’s selection includes new tracks from Burna Boy; Black Sherif; Serge Beynaud; Asaph & Loki; and Thee Suka.
Africa Rising
Nigerian singer-songwriter Whoisakin is the latest artist featured from the Africa Rising playlist, a campaign which shines a light on the next generation of African superstars, and this week’s show features his two singles, “Superman,” and “Space.” Listen HERE.
Loot Loves
Each week, LootLove chooses her favourite track, taken from one of Apple Music’s African playlists. This week she shines a light on South African singer-songwriters Big Dreamz & Reba and their single, “Don’t Leave Me,” from Apple Music’s Mzansi Soul playlist. Listen HERE, and find a roundup of all LootLove’s selections on Apple Music’s LootLoves playlist, HERE.
Tune in and listen to the full episode this Friday April 8th at 4p EAT / 9a Lagos/London / 10a Johannesburg/Paris / 1a LA / 4a NYC on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_AfricaNow
Uncle Waffles on Finding Her Sound
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I wanted [the EP] to be a bit of everything. A bit of the performances aspect which is like, the hype Uncle Waffles. That’s why ‘Tanzania’ is the lead single. I wanted a sgija song, which is more like for the South African streets, which is ‘uMalume Wako’. Then I wanted ‘Uwelona’ because I’m a big De Mthuda fan. I was trying to go into more of the soulful amapiano, that’s why my last two songs are every soulful, which is what I really prefer so I wanted a bit of everything on the EP.
Uncle Waffles on her EP title ‘Red Dragon’
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People always say I have this fiery energy, like I really personify dragon energy. When we came up with the name, the studio we currently use is red so when we’re coming up with the name and we’re really thinking about it, we’re like obviously ‘Dragon’ makes sense but dragon what? Then like everything we were finding was red, it was so weird – the room was red, the moon was red – so it was like, ‘Red Dragon’.
Uncle Waffles on the help of Tony Duardo
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A huge help. I was still in the learning phase of everything, so he just helped me to make sure that I was creating what I actually wanted to hear. There was so much music made so we were sitting for hours, days on end, just trying to figure out exactly what I’m actually trying to put out there because I’m still in the learning process. You know, I can do a bit but I can’t do everything. I have to be talking and try to explain things with my mouth so he was definitely the person that took my ideas and turned them into real life, into actual sound.