Morale (rapper)

Morale
Born Thabo Philemon Malefane
Meadowlands, Zone 1, Soweto, South Africa
Occupation
  • Rapper
  • songwriter
  • record producer
  • TV Personality
  • Radio Personality
Musical career
Origin Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Genres Hip hop
Years active 2006–present
Labels Neo Shanty (currently)
Associated acts
  • Kwesta
  • Maggz
  • Reason
  • Zola
  • Sean Pages
  • Sam Magic
  • L-Tido
  • Teepee
  • Lection

Thabo Malefane, better known by his stage name Morale, was born in Soweto in Meadowlands Zone 1 and has been rapping since he was in grade 5 in a group called Zodiac Sunz that never really got to release any music commercially. He was introduced to hip hop in 1993 but only made his break into the SA Hip Hop scene in 2007 with his Mixtape " Rising Son" that won him Mixtape of the year from Hype Magazine. He is the founder and CEO of Neo Shanty Music. [1]

Career

Early career

Morale was in a group called The Benjamins straight after high school. The group was made up of Morale, Sean Page (Sefako Moloto) and the child star Psyfo (Sipho Ngwenya) in 2003 and BMG’s Dave Thomson wanted to sign this trio. The deal did not materialize and the group pursued solo careers. Morale’s first solo track "I hate People Like That" was featured on the Hype Magazine Nokia Session CDs 2006.[2]

At the time of his first solo single release Morale was an insurance broker and he invested the money he made into his record label Neo Shanty. The first project released under the independent Neo Shanty record company was "Rising Son" mixtape by Morale in 2007. His single "Best Endz" was number one on the top 10 Metro FM Rhyme & Reason chart show for 12 weeks and stayed on the charts for 7 months. The mixtape was said to be a classic in the SA Hip Hop industry and it launched Morale into what he is today. [3]

Music career

In 2008 Morale went to the MTV Base 985 celebration party in Newtown and bumped into the great Kwaito artist Zola who was the biggest South African artist at the time. Morale sold his mixtape to Zola[4] and after listening to Morale; Zola became a big fan of Morale music. He introduced Morale to Lance Stehr the owner of Ghetto Ruff and a verbal agreement was discussed for Morale to license his debut album under Ghetto Ruff. That never happened instead Morale partnered with Uproot Records to distribute Morale’s debut album "Rising Star".

The song "I Am" was Morale’s first single on " Rising Star and the video got heavy spins on SABC, Channel O and MTV Base. " Promise", "Aint No Thing", "Got My Mind" and "No Lie" were singles that were well received. Uproot Records battled to get nationwide distribution for the "The Rising Star" album and the album was only available at Musica stores. That didn’t stop Morale, he went out to sell his album the way he sold his mixtapes.

On SABC1's Live, the biggest SA music TV show, Morale said; "I really consider my first album as a mixtape because it was not distributed like an album but rather like a mixtape". Morale got to share the stage with Keith Murray in 2007 and he introduced L-Tido for the first time to the SA music scene. Morale launched L-Tido’s music career and also formed the crew called Glitterati (Glitz Gang) made up of himself, Maggz, L-Tido and Sean Pages. The Glitz Gang group split up in 2012.

Morale dropped his sophomore album "Smile,Clap & Bow" in 2011 and won "Best Collaboration" award at the Metro FM awards for the song "Ayamaah" ft Zola. "Call My Number " ft Teepee was the biggest song of 2011. Morale was nominated numerous times at the 2011 Metro FM awards and in 2012 at the SA Hip Hop Awards. He shared the stage with Maino, Tyga, Keith Murray, Flavor, Ludacris and The Game on their tours in South Africa. Morale was the firs rap ambassador for Ciroc in SA. He is an ambassador for Puma, Proudly SA, Jägermeister and the Nation Lottery. Morale is also a radio personality on Transafrica on The Jungle Top 10 African Count Down. [5][6]

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected information
Title Album details
Rising Star
Smile, Clap & Bow

References

  1. ↑ "Morale".
  2. ↑ "Various Nokia Hype Sessions Vol 11".
  3. ↑ "TVSA Morale".
  4. ↑ "Youtube : Morale ft Zola - Ayamaah".
  5. ↑ "Morale Introduced L-Tido".
  6. ↑ "Straight Up With Morale".
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