Spoek Mathambo

The title is derived from "Umshini Wami", which translates as ‘Bring me my machine gun’, an anti-apartheid struggle song popular with Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress, in the 1960s.

Nthato Monde James Mokgata (born 14 May 1985), known by his stage name Spoek Mathambo, is a South African artist, producer, singer-songwriter and rapper.

Born in 1985, Mathambo grew up during the state of emergency in the final years of Apartheid.

In the mid 1990s his family moved to Sandown an affluent suburb in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, where Mathambo attended St John's College, Johannesburg.

As a teenager Mathambo showed an interest in creative writing and music, both of which he kept practicing while first studying medicine at the University of Cape Town and later studying graphic design.

In Cape Town he became immersed in the local rap and electronic music scene where he gave his first gigs.

Here, he also began to collaborate with Waddy Jones (later Die Antwoord), producer Simon Ringrose (known as SiBot) and Markus Wormstorm.

The name Spoek Mathambo is derived from the South African sit-com Emzini Wezinsizwa which Mokgata liked to watch as a child. 'Spoek' translates as ghost in Afrikaans, 'Mathambo' as bones or skeleton in isiZulu.

Together, the name translates as something like 'Ghost of Bones' or 'Ghost Skeleton'.

Mathambo rose to fame in the late 2000s with his fusion of a wide array of musical influences.

He is known for coining the term ‘Township Tech’, to describe his sound.

Mathambo hails from the township Rockville in Soweto, a township at the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The trombonist Jonas Gwangwa is his uncle.

Another of Mathambo's projects in the late 2000s was the duo Playdoe with SiBot (Simon Ringrose).

It was also Jacob Zuma's signature song in his bid for power in the late 2000s.

Regarding the album's title, Mathambo stated: "My Machine in this case … is my platform to express a new wave of electronic African music blowing through the continent!"

The album includes the widely acclaimed song Control, a cover of Joy Division’s "She's Lost Control".

In 2006, Mathambo and Wormstorm started their electro rap-duo project Sweat.X and quickly rose to national prominence by releasing various mixes on their MySpace site.

A year later, they signed to UK label Citinite, released their debut EP Ebonyivorytron and toured Europe.

Their debut mini-album It's That Beat was released in 2008 at label Try Harder and followed by a tour through Europe.

Together with Starkey they released the EP Freeze Step in 2009.

A series of mixtapes titled H.I.V.I.P., periodically released on his blog in 2009, helped build Mathambo's reputation for creatively arranging different styles and genres.

Mathambo's collaboration with Richard Rumney aka.

Richard The Third called Moleke Mbembe eventually developed into a live band supporting Mathambo on his first album.

The same year, they released the album Sibot & Spoek are Playdoe followed in 2010 by the EP African Arcade, both with label Jarring Effects.

Another album with the title Bubble & Freeze was released on Leonizer Records in 2010.

In 2010, Mathambo's debut solo album Mshini Wam was released on Stockholm label BBE Records.

The track's video was directed by South African photographer Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary, who received the Young Director Award at the 2011 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The video also won the Gold Award at the South African Lories in 2011.

Meanwhile, Mathambo was nominated in the Best African Act category for the 2011 MOBO Awards.

In September 2011, he gave a presentation ad TED xSoweto.

In 2012 Mathambo moved to Seattle label Sub Pop and release his second album Father Creeper.

It received four star reviews by The Guardian, Mojo and Q.

Father Creeper gained him a second nomination for Best African Act at the 2012 MOBO Awards.

Unlike its computerised predecessor, Father Creeper also contains live arrangements.

For this, Mathambo collaborated with many artists and reviews described Mathambos music as '' a juxtaposing meltdown of styles that transcend even his own self-prescribed label of 'Township Tech'.

'' Later that year, Mathambo went on a UK tour with Damon Albarn and Nick Zinner.

The same year, Mathambo also released his first compilation album Future Sound of Mzansi, consisting of tracks he produced during the last four years.

Mathambo published his fourth full-length release Escape from '85 in July 2013.

The mixtape is a musical hommage to Mathambo's year of birth.