One of the most exceptionally talented names you are more than likely to hear escape the lips of the most stringent hip hop heads resides just 65KM from the administrative Capital of South Africa, otherwise referred to as Cap City in shorthand jargon, Pretoria. In a Township called Nkangala, in Bronkhostspruit. Brought up by a house of conservatives from both his martenal and paternal side, influenced the kind of African spirituality that he exhibits today. Considered by many a Sage, Ebilam (derived from his surname ‘Malibe’ spelt backwards) is a studious scholar of Afrocentrism and arcane knowledge of the ancients. He is well-versed in Kemetic knowledge and the origins and mysteries of the Bantu ethnic group, his enthusiasm is, therefore, as a consequence obversely reflected by his musical genius.
He admits, however, that it hasn’t been easy. One can imagine all sorts of imposing obstacles and impediments that will bottleneck even the most resolute of visionists growing up in the late eighties and early nineties just before the abolition of Apartheid and Racism. This bore profound influence on his outlook of life, that he felt like he should be among those at the helm of black consciousness, this of cause is attested by the very song which he chose to avail himself to the masses by, titled House of Deception from his first album titled Strings Of The Books And Tombz which came out 2012, on whose chorus he raps about being the one-man army assigned to cut the head of the Devil… figuratively. The song was a reference to the foreign powers constantly working in the shadows to keep Africa under and in a state of perpetual ignorance. This was somehow concurrent because at the time the album was released he was serving as a member of the SADF in the army. The military even handpicked him to be a supporting chaplain for a battalion of 500-foot soldiers, to whom he had to deliver daily words of wisdom and encouragement for the entirety of the duration in the bush camps.
His versatility can also be attributed to his artistic upbringing because even as a young student at Ezivuseni Primary which is just a stone’s throw away from his abode, he was always participating in intellectual sports games, including the debate team and always showed up at the top four of the most outstanding students in the class. In reminiscence, he was always a Master of Ceremony because even the same Uncle who inspired his rap moniker by reversing the spelling also used to spell his birth name Vusi, Sivu/Sifu meaning young master in Mandarin. But it wasn’t until high school that he fully became consciously aware of his rapping abilities overarching those of his peers, that was around the same time he met with a crew called The Ridaz which consisted of T.I.C (R.I.P), Kopa Tek, Buzzy and Sliq(R.I.P) who heard them freestyle by the sidewalk and brought them in and introduced them to the culture of Hip Hop. At age 16 they took him to meet AQ of Ba4za because they felt that they were on the same train of thought, after he heard him spit, he knew he had to up his game, these elders he says are the ones he feels forever indebted to, that and that one instance in 2002 when he first rap battled a dude in the male restrooms at school where the challenge was held, he said he received his first lesson as to how a freestyle battle is supposed to be conducted. In all respects, he basically should have paid double the tuition fee that year. To them and the crony Lebohang Mabogoane who helped him hone his pen during those days of coming up.
About Strings Of The Books And Tombz Ebilam professes that he meant to record it in acoustic guitar but fate had something else different in store for him. The direct translation of the album title would mean the fine line that people walk in the midst of uncertainties between life and death. It took him five years to record since he could not find the quality he was hoping for from local producers, that was until he had a song that Trompie The Beat Machine produced, got hold of his contacts and visited their studio in Phelindaba, Attredgeville (Pretoria), as fate would have it, he was residing just in the neighbouring Town Thaba Tshwane by then, so he got the opportunity to work with people like Oghest for the artwork, Phyzikz, Orison, and Smixo on the instrumentals. He later recorded a music video for one of the tracks called Breath Of New Life produced by Blue South Media and the concept was a call of awakening from our slumbers.
Several projects were dropped before then, a mixtape titled Streetz of Ekay which he released in 2008, followed by an EP titled The Rockbotom which came out in 2011 and several related motion pictures. The most recent was the mixtape he dropped in 2015 titled The War Sceptor and he has been working on unreleased projects since.
Asked if he had any message to share for his fanbase, youth and the general public Ebilam responded…
“We should plant our foods and feed ourselves. You can be a billionaire but if you have to take out money from out of your pockets to buy food to prevent hunger then you are still poor as rich as you are. The earth was designed to feed us and we should take good care of it in return. The older sages would say “take care of your body its the only place you have to live” let’s take good care of ourselves in these trying times, Covid 19 may seem to be disputing the spirit of uBuntu because we must socially distance ourselves from each other, while the spirit of Ubuntu means oneness and unity. That doesn’t have to change at all, we as a collective consciousness are stronger together, we have beat plagues worse than Covid 19 before and we shall survive this once again together. Being your own Messiah means not waiting for an employer to find your C.V or spot you in a crowd, do something for yourself you might even find out that the reason you couldn’t get a job is that you must create one yourself and for others. May The Creator and Creatress Bless us abundantly, protect, guide and shower their eternal light and love amongst us All as their divine creations”.
And those were the final words from this elder and emcee, but we do hope that we get another chance to Wrap it up with him in the near future whatever that he may have in store for us, we absolutely look forward to bringing you that asap, peace.