In a melding of broken rhythms, lyricism and visual glitchcraft, South African producer-vocalist Broken Telephone joins forces with Indibano, the Gqeberha-based duo of M.Phasis and Masiv Wonderful Saan, on trilingual Alt-Hip-Hop anthem ‘The Invoice’. Broken Telephone’s production is characterised by glitched-out drum machines and murky synth lines, which stitch together into an eerily minimalistic sound that evolves over the course of the track. Over this dystopic sonic landscape, Indibano spit rapid-fire bars switching between flows and three languages without breaking a sweat, with impactful lines like “Bodubula kuphel’ intlamvu, ndiku lava lava bhaba. (They can shoot until they run out of ammo, but the love remains intact.)”

Broken Telephone is the boundary-pushing solo project of Cape Town-born multi-instrumentalist and poet Neil Büchner Jr. Drawing inspiration from Jazz, post-punk, Hip-Hop, Pop, Ambient, and Electronica, the project weaves together diverse sonic textures to create a sound that’s been described as both erratically energetic and abstractly atmospheric. Born from a shared love for timeless melodies and pushing creative boundaries, Indibano is a Hip-Hop duo formed in Gqeberha, weaving their passion for music into a world of sounds. Comprised of Masiv from Flagstaff and M.P (a.k.a M.phasis) from Knysna, they blend abstract and unique vocals, rich instrumentation, and refined lyricism to craft honest and endlessly creative songs.

What makes ‘The Invoice’ feel vital isn’t just its refusal to be fit into genre boxes, but how deeply local and unrelentingly specific it is. In the degraded drums, the dry air of the mix, and the urgency of Indibano’s bars, you can feel a South African grittyness. Broken Telephone’s chorus is hauntingly melodic, a simultaneously robotic yet human lullaby that somehow hits you right in the chest as he opines, “Look at the page staring back at you”, “Burning at both ends never felt so good”. It’s that tension between human and machine, form and fragmentation, that makes the track hit so hard. This isn’t just a Hip-Hop track. It’s an artefact of survival, of burnout, of dreaming in three languages at once. It sounds like it shouldn’t work. And that’s exactly why it does.

This track is a shining example of the kinds of collaboration that keep South African Hip-Hop evolving. To hear such creative, experimental production intertwine with such masterful lyricism in three languages made for an enriching listening experience. I’m really excited to see what’s next to come from Broken Telephone and Indibano, and hopefully it involves more collaborations as dope as this one.

For Fans Of: Burial, Massive Attack, clipping., Shabazz Palaces.