The Review – Basali Ba Batho by Ntate Stunna

Chris Theko

A week after he revealed in an exclusive interview with this publication that he will be dropping his ‘Mosotho Gauteng’ album soon, music sensation Ntate Stunna has dropped a taste of what the fans can expect from the project in his latest offering titled “Basali ba Batho”.

The new single which was released last Friday June 04, 2022 is the one on The Review’s gauging radar.

The song was officially released along with its music video which was dropped on YouTube. It is an amapiano sound with a twist of Famo and Sotho hop akin to the Sesotho Fashioneng EP demeanour.

The song runs for 4 minute 36 seconds, built on 128-Beats-Per-Minute (BPM) and laid on a 100/100-time signature. 

The instrumental of the track is influenced by modern day sotho hop mixed with amapiano. The baselines, low tempo 90s South African house rhythms and percussions from another local subgenre of house known as Bacardi all make up the production.       

A distinctive sound of drums come into play a number of times on top of the piano cord strings laced with a seldom sound of the trumpet.

The vocals, raps and entire lyrical content entail the entirety of the song’s message themed around avoiding messing around with other people’s wives, and is well-handled by the muso.  

On the hook, he comes in high notes of his own voice backed by reverberations of his voice in auto-tune and cured smoothly to give the chorus a soothing and attractive sound making the hook more interesting to listen to.

The track opens up with a hook where he emphasizes that no matter how drunk he can be, he does not indulge in what’s not his, particularly in the dating game hence he steers-clear off people’s wives.  

In the first verse he talks about how he would rather be called a coward than be found in another man’s house because people get shot and die for taking such risks. It would not be a Ntate Stunna hit without the word-play and the punch-lines in the song which he delivers throughout. His rhymes, metaphors and symphonies delivered in amazing fashion in Sesotho are some of the song’s decorations which make it an instant hit.

“Ha ke tšoare-tšoare basali ba batho, le ha nka taoa, ke bapalla hole le basali ba batho, le ha nka noa joala, ha ke tšoare- tšoare basali ba batho…” as the hook goes. The hook is very catchy and easy to sing along to.

One thing about Ntate Stunna, is that his story-telling which is usually themed around real-life situations, recorded in song, either as advice or awareness.

Apart from its strong message, Basali ba batho is a certified hit with a feel-good vibe that is surely going to set clubs and parties alight and top charts.

Basali Ba Batho rates at 9 out 10.