When South Africa first went into Covid-19 lockdown a year ago three young men from Atlantis took the opportunity to make the best of their situation.
From the garage of their Robinvale home Chad Scott (24) and his 19-year-old brother Joshua, along with their best friend Denzel Paulsen (26), launched a record label which they called GMF Records.
“We have all been involved in our own aspect of music,” the manager Chad said. “I was a DJ, Joshua has always been into producing and Denzel rapping.
“When lockdown started we did some promotional videos. We started recording videos for social media using our cellphones, and all the editing we did ourselves, and we started getting attention.”
The trio also has their own clothing line, which has become popular among the local youth.
The Scotts’ grandmother is their seamstress, who makes the items from the garage.
GMF Records released its first EP (extended play record) with nine music tracks on Friday 26 February.
“We’ve been working on the ‘You Saw, I Said’ project for more than six months now,” Chad said, “and decided on this name based on the content of this project.”
The three took the inspiration for their music from their daily lives. “Most of the tracks on this EP talk about things in and around the community and others which are seen on a daily basis, but hardly ever addressed or spoken about.” Paulsen said.
In many of his verses he offers fragments of advice to the youth, using his personal life experience as reference.
Says Chad: “We’re already working on our next project, and it feels like yesterday that we started this. I guess it just shows how busy we are every day.”
He adds that the biggest satisfaction for all their hard work is seeing how people appreciate the events and music as well as realising just how much they have grown.
