Prophetic Remixes Vol 1 – A Tribute to Prophets of Da City
For me, this project is more than just a remix album—it’s a personal journey, a tribute, and a deep expression of gratitude.
I still remember the first time I heard Prophets of Da City (POC) back in 1990 when their debut album Our World dropped. As a hip-hop fan growing up in South Africa, their music wasn’t just entertainment—it was an awakening. POC didn’t just make beats and rhymes; they made history. Their hard-hitting lyrics and groundbreaking production hit me just as hard as the first time I heard Public Enemy. It was raw, urgent, and unapologetic—revolutionary in every sense.
POC were more than just a hip-hop group; they were pioneers, activists, and truth-tellers. At a time when South Africa was drowning in apartheid oppression, they used their music as a weapon against injustice. From battling censorship to being exiled from their own country, their impact was undeniable. Their accolades speak for themselves:
1990: Nominated for the OKTV Award for Best New Group.
1992: Invited by Quincy Jones and Caiphus Semenya to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
1993: Embarked on a national voter education campaign leading up to South Africa's first democratic elections.
1994: Performed at Nelson Mandela's inauguration, delivering their powerful track "Excellent, Finally Black President."
1997: Featured in Ice Cube’s film Dangerous Ground.
1990s: Conducted numerous European tours, a groundbreaking achievement for any South African hip-hop group at the time.
POC’s influence has been so profound that they’ve been studied in academic works, including:
📖 Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion by Adam Haupt
📖 Neva Again: Hip-Hop Art, Activism and Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa (edited by Adam Haupt, Quentin Williams, H Samy Alim & Emile YX?)
📖 Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers by Msia Kibona Clark
With Prophetic Remixes Vol 1, I wanted to honor their entire discography—the albums that shaped me and so many others:
📀 Our World (1990)
📀 Boom Style (1991)
📀 Age of Truth (1993) – Available on all streaming platforms
📀 Phunk Phlow (1994)
📀 Universal Souljaz (1995) – Available on all streaming platforms
📀 Ghetto Code (1997) – Available on all streaming platforms
The Process: A Labor of Love
Creating this project wasn’t easy. Many of these songs were never officially released in high-quality digital formats, so obtaining clean vocals was a major challenge. I had to work with old vinyl rips, often filled with hisses, pops, and heavy artifacts. Extracting acapellas became an intricate process—trial and error, frustration, and endless tweaking.
To bring Prophetic Remixes Vol 1 to life, I used:
🔹 Serato Studio – for creative remixing and drum sequencing.
🔹 Lalal.AI – to extract vocals from noisy vinyl rips.
🔹 Studio One – for mixing, mastering, and refining each track.
Download the entire project for FREE with extra visualisers & documentary via Bandcamp - https://azuhl.bandcamp.com/album/prophetic-remixes-vol-1
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