5 Minutes with Honourable Juice
In my early years as a Hip Hop fan, some of my favorite artists include the late greats Flabba, Pro Kid, and HHP. They all gave me a sense of pride as they expressed themselves on the mic using their native language. One thing that connects us to the music we listen to is being able to relate to it and that is one thing that draws my attention to Honourable Juice's music.
Backstory
I don't remember how I got introduced to Honourable Juice back in our high school years at Hillview High. What I can tell you is that I knew him through Sba Pioneer and a few homies. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to know him better as he went to attend another high school later on.
Post high school, I started seeing Honourable Juice more when I was visiting Sba Pioneer. It was all love whenever I came across Honourable Juice but I do not think he was even making music then.
Fast forward a couple of years, I remember the first song I ever heard by Honourable Juice. It was a collaboration between him and Kano Wane on a song titled "Habedi Fela". As I mentioned earlier, all you have to do is say something in your native language to have my attention. I have been a fan ever since and after two solid mixtapes, it is only right to document the talent of one of Soshanguve's finest, Honourable Juice.
Interview
I had the opportunity to have a short conversation with Honourable Juice regarding his music. I was able to ask him a few questions and he gave me some fascinating stories about his life.
Can you please let the people know where does the name Honourable Juice come from?
Shout-out to you my brother for putting me on and shout-out to the Eastside Invasion. The name Honourable Juice is a long story but I have always been a fan of HHP (Hip Hop Pantsula). I think as far as 2005 when I was in the fifth grade, plus I was a chubby n**** (still am) but back then I was so much a fan. So HHP's nickname is Jabba and Sba Pioneer gave me the nickname because we were in the same class. Sba Pioneer realized how much I loved HHP and I embraced the nickname so much I started introducing myself as Jabba to everybody. Now as time went by, people thought that me being Jabba was because I carried Jabba Juice everyday. So people started calling me Jabba Juice. As days went by the name evolved in the townships, some people would refer to me as Yaba Juice or Jabba and whatever. In 2017 when I decided to make music full time, I was thinking of a rap name. I wanted a name that people are already familiar with so that every time when I release music they are going to know it was me. I could not use Jabba because already somebody that was known already had that name. I decided to take the Juice part and I added Honorable to it because it speaks of my character, that is who I am if you really know me.
That is really dope. I guess you and I have something common which is we both got our nicknames from Sba Pioneer (if you need a rap name, call Sba Pioneer😁). It is interesting how you decided to call yourself Honourable Juice back in 2017 when you decided to go full time on your music career. After releasing two solid mixtapes can you describe to us what has changed since and how was your music received by your audience?
See you got to understand that I had a lot of people that already knew me. I had a lot of friends that were friends with other people. In the townships, almost everybody know everybody. One thing people knew about me is that I am a music lover. If you find me on the streets, I got my headsets with me. Only my close friends knew that I write but not a lot of people knew I made music. When I released my first few songs, they were surprised that I even make music but from the feedback they showed me that they are really listening to my music and they really like it. It motivated me to keep releasing more music. I released a few more singles before I released my first mixtape - which I recorded in two weeks, 23 songs - titled Mr. Experience. A lot of people know about the mixtape but also a lot of people don't. For those that know about it, at the time it was a new sound and I also portray my authentic self. One of the biggest things about me is that I represent my ghetto to the fullest so it was easy for the people in my neighborhood to relate and feel that pride too. I think it is one of the reasons people bought into my music and became consistent listeners. There was definitely an impact that my music made in my neighborhood and the surrounding areas. Also, as I mentioned at the beginning, Eastside Invasion is my family. We have been friends way before we started to make music and we decided to make music together because we became fans of each other. We dropped a mixtape together which received a similar reception from the people in my neighborhood. We were able to get a few interviews and a few shows because of that and what I am happy about is that people took time to listen to what we offering. We have received great support til this day.
In terms of change, not much has changed ever since. As a musician you want your music to be played on radio so that more people can hear it, you want your music videos to be played on television so that people can identify you. You also want to do shows in different cities, interacting with new people and introducing them to the music. That's how the brand grows so that's why I say nothing much has changed. We are still pushing hard to get to where we want to be. Not just with the music but everything else that will allow us to advance.
In terms of the music itself, a lot has changed. The first sound that I made initially is not the same the current sound. I feel like my writing has improved a lot, my delivery has improved and I still trying to perfect it. I feel like I improved a lot because of my experiences which have allowed me to grow. As the years went by, I started to be more open with my music. Initially when I started all I wanted was a beat to rap to, I was not really open to speaking on the challenges I faced but now I am more open into letting people into my personal world.
Is there a project the people should expect from Honourable Juice or Eastside Invasion ?
Yeah, there is always something the people can expect from us because we are always working. We took so much time not releasing because we are trying to make everything full circle. We working hard to make sure that by the time we release something new, we are able to put money behind so it can go further. We are working the Eastside Invasion 2 project, what I can say is that there is a lot of improvement from us.
We do our best to create the best quality music as we can and let the people have it. They will decide if it is a good project or not. All the members are also busy with their solo projects but the main thing right now is Eastside Invasion.
Last question, who have you collaborated with and also who would you like to work with?
One thing I can tell you about where we are from, not just Sosha but Pitori, there is so much undiscovered talent and I am blessed to have worked with some of them and also be in contact with them. I am talking about homies like DSV, Mbizanidas, Rich Hobo, Lepane Gang, Klass, FYE, TLM Dilo, J Melanin, there is so many people that are making dope music.