Surrender to perfect timing

Thirteen years after their first musical connection, Rapsody and Nomisupasta finally linked up to record music and build community

- Kibo Ngowi

Nomsa Mazwai first came into contact with Rapsody when the producer 9th Wonder sampled Mazwai's music for three songs on the North Carolina, US rapper's 2012 debut album The Idea of Beautiful.

The songs sampled music from Mazwai's own debut album, the self-titled Nomisupasta, released in 2010.

On the song Kind of Love, Mazwai sings, "What kind of love is your love that you only feel when you happen to be with me?" as Rapsody opens her first verse on the track with the line, "Soweto, we feeling the love y'all." Poignantly, Rapsody even travelled to South Africa and shot the video in Soweto, walking through the streets, hand-in-hand with groups of children, delivering her bars in front of spaza shops and in passages.

Mazwai is credited as a featured artist on this song as well as In This Town and When I Have You, but 13 years later she has not received a cent in royalties from any of the three songs. The systems meant to ensure that she collected money off the use of her intellectual property failed her.

"It's not 9th Wonder or Rapsody's fault," Mazwai explains. "It's our government. I can't sit here and blame people for not forcing my government to do what they're supposed to do. But, you know, I prayed about it and, luckily for me, I did not take my frustrations out on the wrong people.