Award winning rapper YoungstaCPT and producer Shaney Jay have once again teamed up to deliver a pure hip hop classic with their project “Suffer For Beauty”.
The two first teamed up on “Dreams Don't Pay Bills”, which YoungstaCPT describes as a pandemic project, and now, on their new project, they look at the aftermath of those years.
“I’m happy we’re getting to flex a bit more and show people “Dreams Don't Pay Bills” wasn’t all we were able to create,” said YoungstaCPT.
Jay has been working with the Y?GEN collective since 2020 and since then his sound has even scored himself his first ever award nomination for producer of the year at the 2022 SA Hip Hop Awards
“It’s always great working with Young because at the end of every session I always feel like I’ve learned something new from him. Like I can definitely say I grew a lot as a producer because of his guidance and that’s something I’ll always be grateful for,” shared Jay.
The project dives into various themes of the entertainment industry and the things musicians go through to try and deliver their best work even in times of peril.
“This project has a very global sound if I do say so myself and we explored some new sounds on this project as well, so we are definitely bringing something new to the table,” explained Jay.
“Suffer For Beauty” consists of 12 tracks, with only two features which were intentional.
“Keeping the features short was intentional but they’re still key songs. ‘Doing her Hair’ actually speaks directly to the album art and the title of the project, linking to the fact of how women have to portray themselves to the world at large and the work that goes into it.
“It’s a long process to suffer for beauty but they do it effortlessly. Nashiefah is our in-house vocalist so I’m always trying to make sure she gets a spot on my projects,” shared YoungstaCPT.
UK Drill sensation M1llionz features on “Catchy”, which happened by a stroke of luck, as it was recorded during his time in the country.
“He came through to my studio in Wynberg On the Blocc and laced his verse after shooting a crazy music video in CPT, the song speaks about how today's music has to be simple & catchy or else you’ll be another struggling rapper trying to make it,” shared YoungstaCPT.
On tracks such as “Alhamdulilah”, YoungstaCPT touches on issues close to his heart, such as the Cape Malay culture and his religion on tracks like “Benni McCarthy” he however gets to show his versatility, as he dabbles in the catchy drill sound.
This is YoungstaCPT’s 32nd mixtape and he once again flexes his skills as a lyricist and his cadence is unmissable.
Jay’s touch on production is smooth and opens YoungstaCPT up for a global audience.