Shane Eagle has released a new single ‘Hold You’ and has revealed he is working towards a body of work. Picture: Supplied
Award-winning rapper Shane Eagle has finally given his fans and himself something to hold onto while he works on his upcoming project.
“Hold You” is Eagle’s new boom-bap single, where he once again joins forces with Los Angeles producer LIKE.
Looping over classic piano samples and a distinct New York-inspired boom-bap beat, Eagle creates harmonious melodies as the introduction to the track and then hits home with heartfelt, heavy-hitting bars.
“LIKE has been a part of my discography, from projects “Never grow up” and “Dark Moon Flower”.
“We call it dream music. You know, he sounded so classic. It has elements of French jazz and piano, all the elements that I love in music.”
The two work well together. This is proved by the success of “Chocolate Milk”, which is “Never grow up”, which went gold and is featured on the NBA 2K soundtrack.
On “Hold You”, Eagle offers his fans some nostalgic vibes that will take them back to his debut album, “Yellow”, where it’s just real rap over beautifully sampled piano keys.
The album won Best Hip Hop Album at the 2018 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), establishing Eagle as one of the greats.
Eagle has become an artist that can go periods without releasing music because of his stellar catalogue and still maintain his relevance and his fan base. However, they have been hungry for new music since his last release.
He explains that for him to create something, he needs to feel something and move him for him to be comfortable enough to release it.
“The title is kind of cryptic because I put out the cover art. With the JTHY, and only when people hear the snippet, that they then understand that it stands for ‘just to hold you’.
“This is kind of a message to my fans in saying; ‘this is just to hold you like a place keeper while I work on the next body.
The rapper is now in a season where it’s music time. His music is very self-reflective, making it important for Eagle to be in a good space to create fire music worth dropping.
“People will appreciate the music if it's good. If you take your time on the music and then you drop something, they can't appreciate it's a different story.
“But when you come with that, know the best songs. It just has to be fire. That's how I balance it out. I can take as much time apart from projects, but when I do drop the project, it has to be amazing. It has to be out of this world.
“That has to be top-tier music, production and raps. And everybody will forget about, you know, how much time you took.”
The artist does acknowledge that this strategy, however, doesn't work for all artists, but expresses that it’s not about the time but that you release something great.
Eagle is currently working towards a body of work, which, at this point, he can’t say is an album, as it could end up being an EP.
“I haven't deemed it as an album yet. You know, cause at the rate that music is going, the EP could be great because it's not too many songs, even though I have a lot of songs.
“So I'm at the point of still creating it, and that's why I was saying, “just to hold you”, kind of like a message to the fans to enjoy this and feel this soul while I create that body of work.”
At the moment, Eagle isn't able to confirm any of the artists that will feature in the body of work but he certainly has an idea of the direction it will be taking, but does warn it’s ever-changing.
“It's also definitely tapping back into the root of becoming an African rap superstar. It's all derived from an African element. There has to be some sort of African element in it.
“Me just being here is that African element. Africa is poetic in itself. The theme of the project could even be African poetry, you know, touching on those themes.”
Eagle has come a long way since 2015, when he was a wannabe rap star on a music talent competition, “The Hustle”. Now he is an actual rap star, a notable brand that recently added reality TV star to his bio.
When Eagle spoke to IOL Entertainment, he had just finished filming “Love and Hip Hop South Africa” a few days before “Hold You” was released, allowing him to enter a season where he could focus on the music.
“When I came into the game through “The Hustle” and then being able to be on V Entertainment. For me, music is always my first love, I'm always gonna look for new ways to be able to invest back into music.
“Anything I ever do Is always to enhance or supplement or just be another stepping stone to make sure the music is better. That's how it all connects. I’m grateful for all of it and grateful to be a part of it.
“Now that I have knocked that out of the park, I can focus on the body of work with zero distractions.
“For me, to make the best music that I can, is with zero distractions. When I was filming, it was a different season. It’s beautiful that it all can happen at once but in different seasons.”