South African rap sensation Roiii and award-winning musician Boity Thulo are determined to shake up the local hip hop industry with their brand-new album, “The Extra Mile.”
Released earlier this month, the duo’s musical offering showcases Roiii’s innovative drill sound and Thulo’s lyrical prowess.
Featuring the single “Oh My (OMG)!”, which they dropped in October, the nine-track album seeks to push boundaries as their collaboration showcases the evolution of the genre and the dynamic potential of cross-genre partnerships.
It also features songs such as “Bout Luv”and “Lastag”.
In an interview, Thulo said the album showed a side of her that her fans had never seen before.
“A lot of the time, I have always gone a specific route in terms of my raps and in terms of the content of the music I put out so I am excited for people to hear me speaking about different subjects outside of just the usual things.”
“It’s a whole project that's got a lot for people to enjoy, it's not monotonous and it will take them on a journey and that is very exciting.”
Roiii added: “The most exciting thing about this project for me is that we got to things (sounds) that both of us haven't done before, be that together or individually, so the best for me will be people realising that there is so much more to us and there is so much more to explore.”
“I was so amazed at how vulnerable we got on one song where we explore the dynamics of relationships,” he admitted.
“There is another where B (Boity) and I are just vulnerable about the things we are worried about, cautious about, thinking about and our audience has never heard some of the things (from us) that they are going to hear on the album and that's pretty dope for me.”
The duo said they brought the best out of each other while working together on the project.
“When Roiii approached me, I was immediately excited. I love the way he raps, his confidence in general and I was impressed by his outlook on how he wants to be and the way in which he thinks,” Thulo said.
“He gave me confidence while we were working together and the more we spent time around each other, I was like ‘yeah, it makes sense for us to do a full project together’ because the synergy was there and we just get each other in terms of how we want to sound and what we want to put out there.”
Roiii added that he felt the musical chemistry with Thulo from the moment they started working together in the studio.
“I saw how much passion she has, our relationship warmed up and it was fun to work with her.”
“People don't know that B has an attitude in the studio, most of the time, nobody calls me but B calls me out and she is somebody who gets the best out of me.”
“I feel like with this project, we got to make better music because of her confidence.”
The musicians also believe that both their perspectives have added an alluring element to their album.
“There are moments where we explore relationship dynamics and I never got an opportunity to rap like that, especially because now that we can get perspectives from a guy and girl,” Roiii said.
He also believes that the festive season is the perfect time to enjoy “The Extra Mile”.
“We initially wanted to release the album a lot earlier in the year and I think it would have been good still but I also think now that we are heading into the festive season, it's almost like because everybody is outside and enjoying it, it gives the music a little more space to be played around and there are some songs there that we intentionally made for a road trip.”
“I think most of the time with hip hop, people often get too deep with it and they forget to enjoy the music and I think they scrutinise every detail but what we are aiming for is just for people to enjoy the music for what it is and secondly it's just the very beginning of an adventure for me and B, a duo that people must get comfortable with seeing from time to time.We will definitely touch base and say ‘yo, wanna hit them with another one?’”