LUUKHANYO immediately blew me away when I first encountered his music back in 2023, when his name came up as a potential act for the first CCC event I was involved in. Seeing the artistic Hii ROLLER music video and hearing his slick, lyrically layered raps with an infectious Anderson.Paak-esque inflection to his delivery grasped my attention right away. “Damn, this guy is cold!”, we all collectively thought. This all culminated in us booking LUUKHANYO and his band, The Hii ROLLERS, to perform at The Commons for Up Close and Personal.

And let me tell you, this was one of the most insane live performances I have ever witnessed. The band didn’t miss a beat and LUUKHANYO was absolutely electrifying with his vocals sounding even better live.

Since then LUUKHANYO has established himself as one of the most exciting Hip-Hop artists in the country, with his genre-bending sound and immaculate pen game. He has just dropped ‘Venture‘, the reflective and vulnerable second single from his upcoming debut album LUCKY UU, following on from the irresistibly catchy ‘Open Casket’. The track draws on LUUKHANYO’s experience growing up as a Black teenager in Post-Apartheid SA and serves as an ode to the resilience and unbreakable spirit of black people. “There’s a line in the song that goes ‘couldn’t wash this Black with bleach’,” explains LUUKHANYO. “Black people tend to relate to each other all over the world, and there’s a common understanding of what it means to be Black — and that can never be erased.”

LUUKHANYO‘s hard-hitting verses are complemented by the laidback Jazz-infused production with a sincerity that lies behind the groovy bass lines and acoustic melodies. The production hints at LUUKHANYO being willing to step out of his comfort zone and explore different soundscapes, with the backing vocals beautifully mingling with his lead vocals through the chorus. I am excited to see if this translates to an album to peel back further layers to this already accomplished artist.

Whilst I might not be able to personally relate to the specificity of the Black teenage experience that LUUKHANYO describes in ‘Venture‘, his powerful storytelling helped me to better understand the perspective he speaks from. The ability to bring someone into a world that is completely different to their own is the mark of a great musical storyteller(i.e Kendrick Lamar, Bob Dylan, Frank Ocean), which LUUKHANYO certainly is. I am very intrigued to see where he goes with LUCKY UU lyrically and sonically but expect that the album will deliver the kind of engrossing listen that LUUKHANYO usually offers.