After leaving the music industry for five years thinking that he wouldn’t ever return, Durban rapper Novi Naidoo is back with a brand new single, “Forever”.
The track, written by Naidoo, with the chorus by Afro-soul artist, Scelo Gowane, is dedicated to his wife.
“My wife and I are together for 20 years now, and she’s been with me through my musical highs and lows, and I thought it would be fitting to write this song for her to say thank you for always being by my side,” said Naidoo.
He said that after releasing music in 2019, he wasn’t enjoying it anymore so he decided to hang up the mic never to return.
But during Easter this year, the music bug bit once again.
“I was tired of music. I was in a space where I wasn’t happy with writing or rapping. I had a lot of ups and downs and when I looked back at my career, I had a lot of successful points and worked with the best music talents like the late Mampintsha and Sketchy Bongo.
“I had the opportunity to do a lot of stuff, but it came to a point where I was just not happy with music anymore. The time, effort and energy put in for the reward coming out didn’t add up, I just decided to call it quits.
“I stepped away from music thinking I was never going to return and then the feeling came back. So it’s all about timing and being in the right head space,” said the rapper.
Naidoo explained that he had the urge put out a song since last December but just needed a small push, which he got from his friend and collaborator, Gowane.
During Easter this year, he called the “Ingoma Yethu” hitmaker who was excited and asked him to come through to visit and, by the end, the two had written “Forever”.
“We went back and forth perfecting it. My wife had a lot of input on the song. It is for her so I wanted her to be 100 percent happy with it before we released. It’s the first time I ever took her input seriously,” he said.
So far the single is enjoying success on many radio stations across the country, and has charted on Durban’s East Coast Radio.
“Stations are already playing the song. I think a lot of the time radio stations only latch on to a song after like six or seven weeks, so it’s still early days. So far the response has been good,” Naidoo said.
Now that he is back, fans will definitely be seeing more music from Naidoo during the course of the year.
“I plan to go back to the studio soon. I am already in talks with various artists on potential collaborations. ‘Idols SA’ singer Lindo Sithole being one of them.”
Naidoo started his music career in 2002 and has worked with numerous top notch artists over the years. He recalled working with the late Mampintsha as one of his career highlights.
“He and I were very close and when I told him that I was quitting music, he said to me ‘You’ll be back’. He was right. Mampintsha was one of the best in the business and I learned a lot from him.
“When we were out in public, Mampintsha couldn’t walk two metres without 10 people stopping to greet him, and he would take the time to greet every one of them. Another highlight for me was working with the amazing Sketchy Bongo.”
Looking back at his two decade long music career, Naidoo said he has changed immensely.
“With time I developed. When I first came in I was naive, I didn’t know too much. I thought that you had to be an American to be a rapper, so the style and the way I spoke mimicked that.
“Over the years I started to embrace my culture more. We fused music a lot over the years and that was mind-changing for me.
“It developed me a lot. The more I wrote, the better I became. Now I am more authentic. Everything about this song shows how I have matured as an artist.
“I keep everything South African and home-grown. I hope listeners enjoy the track,” he concluded.
Listen to “Forever” below.