I told Shoka that every good artist has their first/first few albums that are good and have their merit within their fanbases like Jay-Z with Reasonable Doubt or Vol 1-3. Still, what catapults these artists to greatness is having that one album which you can’t deny, the album that is infallible, with Jay-Z it was The Blueprint, and with Shoka Sunflower I have to say For Now Keep Dancing is that infallible project, 10 deeply personal tracks covering the pressure and stresses of having to carry on fighting through the trials and tribulations of life or how Shoka describes it, ‘dancing’.

‘For Now Keep Dancing’ is the brainchild of rapper Shoka Sunflower and producer Moo Latte, which began when Shoka contacted Moo Latte via Email one random day and from then they got to work on crafting this incredibly layered and honest look into Shoka’s troubles over the last 3 years. An album that I feel was so meticulously crafted with everything from the rollout to the promo complementing the themes of dancing through the struggles of life.

The promo imagery and album cover that accompany the project, often depict Shoka bleeding with boxing gloves on – which I read as some what of a commentary of black men’s role in society, that black men literally have to put ourselves through some sort of harm whether that be physical or mental to ‘keep dancing’. The choice of boxing was specifically used due to the fact that ‘boxing’ is a sport that historically, black men have excelled at, but that exceptionalism has come at the cost of their health. Like how Mohammad Ali, a boxer who had much of his mental and physical faculties taken away by physically exerting himself in boxing, described his fighting as ‘dancing’.

The album delves into themes of having to keep fighting on despite issues that may arise in life, and the opening track ‘Keep Dancing’ sets the stage for that theme to be explored in more depth throughout the album. Transitioning to a song like ‘Cashrule$’, exploring how money and financial pressures affect his life and creative output and how, despite that, he has to push on. From that to the last 3 tracks, which thematically bleed into each other seamlessly with ‘Skin‘ discussing how playing a traditionally masculine role in life created an aversion to being emotionally vulnerable.

The next song, ‘How to Live’ speaks about him questioning if being emotionally cold toward himself is him even living. Closing track ‘For Now’ serves as a bittersweet closer to this introspective masterpiece as he speaks on how he just has to ‘keep dancing’ and struggling temporarily with whatever negative views he has towards himself and life, suggesting that these are struggles he’s going through at this point in life, but these tough times will pass.

I had a conversation with Shoka Sunflower where he shared some insights into certain aspects of the album. I spoke on how this album was reminiscent of Illmatic and he replied by saying “Illmatic was definitely and inspiration for this album specifically in how to structure an album, like New York State of Mind, woooo that song”, the Illmatic influence was present as both bodies of work are about 10 tracks long and have intros that set the tone for the themes that will be covered throughout the album effectively.

I asked about what the inciting incident that led to this album’s creation was and he answered,

“When I was in uni and I had just failed again, I spoke to my mom and told her that yah, I just failed again, she told me ‘my son just keep pushing forward’, she didn’t really give me a choice or anything, it was just carry on with what I was doing, and around that same time a friend of mine had passed on, and that’s a lot to deal with at 22, cause as much as it happens, you don’t expect it to happen to you, around that point I dropped out of uni so I was just at home, if I didn’t have music around that time yeah I don’t know.”

On a personal level, this album meant quite a lot to me as Shoka’s previous album ’Something from Nothing’ had a large impact on me and my creative pursuits, inspiring me to really delve into writing and creative pursuits in general away from profit, so to hear such a personal and vulnerable look into the mental state of one of my personal favorite South African artists was incredible. I felt that I needed to listen to this the way through no matter how uncomfortable and vulnerable the look into Shoka Sunflower’s mind is and despite how bleak some of the album may be, I’m elated by the fact that in spite of the tragedy that often befalls us and how hopeless things may feel that we only need to keep dancing… for now.