T!MBO And His Intricate World Of Music

New sounds are what keep me going in life. It’s why I do what I do at VERVE. I can recall the moment T!MBO dropped his hit-single, titled “GROWTH”, back in July of this year. The sounds I was hearing had me feeling captivated.

It was such an exciting listening experience which instantly motivated me into listening to the rest of his stunning discography. After exploring his catalogue, I just knew an interview was in need, and we did just that.

Jeriah and I caught up with T!MBO one Saturday evening right before his gig at the Alien Invasion show at District. To our delight, T!MBO’s presence was absolutely phenomenal, with the young virtuoso breaking down how his world as a vocal artist, producer, and composer all operates.

Before we kick things off, who exactly is T!MBO?

“Hmmm. That’s a wild question. I’d say T!mbo is firstly a musician who expresses how he feels on the daily. I don’t want to box myself into a certain genre or a certain sound. It all just depends on how I’m feeling that day.” 

“I think if you ask different people you’ll get different answers, in terms of who T!mbo is. To me, I just think I’m a creative, basically. That’s who T!mbo is.”

“I was actually born in Zimbabwe and moved here at a very young age. I must’ve been five or six. And I used to live in Joburg for a good amount of years before I moved to Cape Town in 2013 when I was in Grade Four.”

“Everything has just been super quick from then on. I don’t really remember much. But what I do remember is always loving music since I could remember. I actually used to sing in church. That’s where it starts with most artists, to be honest.”

“Funny enough, I used to be very involved with church music when I was younger. At like six years old I was singing on the main stage and after that, I kind of stopped for a while. I think it’s when I moved to Joburg, and my mom was super busy, and we didn’t have as much time to go to church like we used to.”

“And I kind of didn’t pay attention to music that much. I used to draw a lot and do art. I’ve just always been artist since I can remember.”

We’re aware you started as a Producer. Can you tell us more about that Phase?

“It started around High School. I think Grade Eight or Grade Nine. I met one of my best friends, his name is Lorenzo, at this football club that I was playing at. That’s where we clicked. I don’t know how, but we became really good friends.”

“Then this one time, during practice, we were doing warm-up jogs. One of his friends mentioned making new music. He invited me to his house because he made music at the same time I started learning to make beats. So, we thought we could work and cook up something.”

“From there, I used to go to his house almost weekly, and we’d make music. But I was just a producer at the time. I started producing in Grade Nine, and I think I only started dropping my own music in Matric.” 

“I just loved making music, and I was using FL Studios at the time. I actually got it from my older brother because he tried making beats for like a week but gave up. He was about to delete the app, but I wanted to keep it and see how it works. I started watching tutorials on YouTube and started making beats.”

“And I was producing for my friend, and he was dropping music at the time. We were in a group called UneduKated, a collective thing we’re still working on. It’s a brand we’re working on.”

Can you tell us how you went from producing to hopping behind the mic?

“I just used to make beats for them, mix and master for them. I was the production guy, and they were the artists. But this one time they were working on a song and there was this open space on the song which they were trying to figure out.”

“I just had this idea in my head, and I kept mumbling it. I asked them why they didn’t try my idea and Lorenzo asked me why I couldn't just do it myself. I felt I didn’t make music like that, but he urged me to hop on the mic and make the song.”

“That was the first time I recorded vocals, that was in Matric. The following week I made my own first song, called “Fell For You”. I never dropped it, but I used to love it, and I played it all the time.” 

“That’s when I started making my own music. That’s also when I dropped my very first song, “BOUT 2 SPAZZ”. I thought it was like the best song ever but now when I listen back to it, I laugh.”

“For me, jumping from being a producer to being behind the mic was a very easy transition. I already had a singing background, so it wasn’t completely new to me.”

We really adored the “SAFARI’S SUNSET” project you created with D3NZL. could you tell us how the EP came about?

“Safari’s Sunset” is actually based on a true story. It’s D3NZL’s true story. Actually, Safari is this girl that D3NZL knows. It’s deep like that and I don’t really know if he’d want me to go into it like that.”

“That’s not actually her name, we just used Safari as a placeholder. But it was so random. He sent me a couple of beats at first because I found his work on TikTok. I saw a video of him playing guitar and asked if he produced.” 

“He said he did, and I said he should send me some of his beats because I was trying to make some new music and stuff. He ended up sending me a few beats and I joked with him (till this day) about this one beat that he sent me. The first song we made was called “Midnight”. That beat was so goofy, and it was so funny!”

“And we were on a call one day (he lives in Joburg), and I was like “You know what, let’s make a collab project?” and he was like “Yeah I’m down”. It was that quick.” 

“We then spoke about the title name, since he already had an idea for it. Since it was a thing of his from High School, he always said he wanted to name it “Safari’s Sunset” and we started making the project.”

“I think it took roughly about a month or two to make. And yeah, that’s where the project came about.”

Cover Art For “Safari’s Sunset”

Exploring your discography since you started, your sound seems to have evolved from Hip-Hop to a more R&B approach. Can you tell us how that evolution came about?

“Yeah, I started mainly as a Trap artist. I was making a lot of Trap music. But I don’t know. I just listened to a lot of music, and since I’m a music producer, I listen to a lot of old-school music. You know, like Motown, Soul music, and that.” 

“And none of them had Trap influences in them. They just had beautiful chords, melodies, and stuff. I just always wanted to make music like that. I think I just didn't have the skillset back then. I guess it took a while for me to get to that level where I felt comfortable enough to make some R&B fused with Jazzy influences.” 

“Interestingly enough, I actually didn’t grow up listening to Hip Hop, especially when we were in Joburg. My brother and I loved listening to the radio before getting ready for school. And they always played Pop music like Maroon 5. That’s the stuff I was listening to. I guess I always listened to Pop, R&B, and alternative music.” 

“Funny enough, when I first used to listen to Kendrick Lamar, I wasn’t a fan of his music. It’s because the one song that used to play on TRACE, was “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”. I used to find that song so annoying! Fast forward, he’s like my favourite artist of all time. I love the production side of his music.”

Another thing we heavily messed with was your “COMEBACK SZN” music video. Talk to us about that whole visual experience?

“Funny enough that was Mike’s (Michael Morella) idea. He does a lot of cinematography and he’s really good. It was all his idea. I literally just had to pitch up.” 

“He had that whole idea in his head. I sent him the song and asked him what he thought about it. He obviously loved it, and he was like “Bro we have to shoot a video on this”. I was like “Say less, say less!”. And we ended up shooting that. Honestly, he’s really good.” 

“His work is insane and it’s funny because we also played at the same football club. That’s where we all met. He left before I joined the club but that’s where he met Lorenzo.”

You’ve had a super productive year. You dropped “GROWTH” which had a more aggressive Hip Hop sound. However, you also released “See You Again” which took on a more sombre approach. Moving forward, what kind of sound are you wanting to tackle?

“I don’t know. I like dropping music that people don’t expect. The one thing I did love is chords. I don’t like the repetitive Trap instrumentals.”

“But I think you can expect just alternative Hip Hop. I think that’s the sound I’m going for now, and obviously the R&B sound. I actually also have a lot of R&B music on the way because I made a lot of R&B music this year. There’s honestly a lot in the vault.”

“And there’s this song that I just finished mixing and mastering yesterday. It’s really good. Like really good. And it’s cool because I do it all by myself.”

“I personally feel like I’d want to be in the room with the engineer because I remember the one time, I sent a track to get mixed and mastered and when it came back it wasn’t what I envisioned for the song. That’s why I prefer to do it on my own.”

So, is there anything coming soon that we can expect from you?

“Well, I had a project that was ready to drop. I started working on it in 2022. I was ready to drop it but I’m not sure what happened. I remember telling my brother I was going to drop, and he told me I shouldn’t rush it.” 

“He told me to have a proper rollout and stuff. And I’ve just been making more music, so I’ll probably make more songs and add some songs to that upcoming project. But new music is definitely coming next year.” 

“Being happy with a project or any release is always difficult. I was really ready to drop the project until my brother told me to take my time with it. I kept on making more music and when I look back, I don’t feel the project as much as I used to a couple of months ago.”

“I might even start working on a whole new project with a new sound. I have a lot of unreleased music. In fact, I have more unreleased music than the music I’ve already released.”

Since we’re speaking to a musician, can you tell us what the best part about being a musician is to you?

“I think it’s just expressing yourself with the music you make.” 

“It’s a huge coping mechanism for me because I’m not really the most social person. So, I prefer just making music because I love doing it and I do it pretty much every day.” 

“It’s more of a therapeutic thing for me. That’s definitely my favourite reason for being a musician. That’s why I make music. It’s about how it makes you feel.” 

“A lot of people lately have been seeing the music business as a fast money-making scheme while there are people out there who genuinely care about the music. I can’t just go into the studio and make a five-minute song and just drop it. Especially production-wise. That’s my most important thing.” 

“And I don’t think people appreciate producers as much as they really should. It’s time-consuming to make the music. It takes a lot, not even just the time. To make an instrumental takes a lot and it’s insane.”

We noticed you’re also involved in curating a lot of scores for brands like lemkus, Archive, Artclub and Friends, and more. Could you break down what that job entails?

“So, my brother shoots videos and stuff, he’s a director. So, most of the scores I curate are for the videos he directs.”

“He has the vision for that then gives me the brief. Sometimes it’s a matter of needing a certain feeling for a video and I’ll already have the beat for it.”

“In other cases, I’ll have to compose from scratch because he’ll have a certain sound that he’s going for. I think that’s what I want to branch more out into.”

Now’s the time for the standard VERVE question we love to ask. How would you describe the current creative landscape of Cape Town and where do you see it going from here?

“I think the main thing about the Capetonian culture, in terms of the music side, I don’t know.”

“Back in July, I went to Joburg and Pretoria and I noticed that in Joburg they worked towards the same goal more than Capetonian artists. Capetonian artists can be very cliquey. They want to do things all by themselves. Sometimes you need help from other artists or people.”

“But besides that, I’d say there’s a lot of talent in Cape Town. It’s an insane amount of talent and I think that it’s not appreciated enough. I also feel like It’s the most underrated in the country.” 

“When they talk about music in SA, usually it’s the whole Joburg, Pretoria, or Durban chat. They don’t really talk about Cape Town. But I think that if we keep going at the rate that we are, eventually people are going to start noticing.” 

“I just don’t like the fact that most artists have to move to Joburg to prove themselves. Like why can’t you just do it from here? But I guess there’s just a bigger market that side.”

“I think music-wise, Cape Town is the most creative. In terms of like range, I think Cape Town has a wider range than any other province. There’s this girl in Cape Town, I don’t know if you know her, but her name is Mila Smith, she is so good. Another one is Tessi Nandi. She’s also so good. I think she’s up there with the most talented singers.” 

“If Cape Town unites, I think we could be the biggest in SA.” 

“But also, another thing that I think prohibits artists is being signed. I think they kind of have to consult with their managers and teams and that really sucks because sometimes you just want to make music with someone. It doesn’t mean you’re going to drop the music you make but you never know what music you’re going to cook up.” 

“The sounds you hear in Cape Town are very different to what you usually hear. And the quality is really good.”

If there’s one artist who is consistently putting in the work, T!MBO definitely is that guy. This was something I noticed way before we even met, constantly seeing the amount of music he’s been featured on.

With this kind of hunger, it’s only up for T!MBO. Just recently he was featured on the new single, alongside LYNDAN JAMES, on the track “SAY YES”, an absolute banger of a track.

We look forward to what more work the talented virtuoso has in store for us. For now, support the homie and peep his brilliant discography, available on multiple streaming platforms.