M'du Masilela - M'du Productions

M'du Productions

M'du Masilela's production company represents both the accomplishments of M'du himself and the progress of the new generation of South African musicians with regard to exploitative production companies. Indeed, African musical sensations have not always been in control of their franchises. According to an article from the 1998 edition of the Saturday Star called 'From 60's stars to 90's Beggars', the 40s, 50s and even 60s were rife with "systematically exploited black performers." In response to this victimization, the new generation of South African artists plan to be proactive and avoid the mistakes of their predecessors. With an independent attitude, these performers have approached the more global companies quite skeptically, in an attempt to avoid at least one middleman in the music industry chain. Despite the fact that distribution will continue to be accessible to global companies like Sony, Masilela's decision to become a producer himself signifies "a growing black economic empowerment within the music industry." Equally as important is the fact that in recruiting and producing his own talent, M'du creates a very localized form of Kwaito music that can be identified with the South African township culture. In an interview with Aryan Kaganof, M'du asserts, "I wanted to do what I feel" about his decision to become an independent producer. Later, he adds, "I don't think that the township culture will die out. It's still here in the suburbs, to us it's still the same. We've got a whole lot of black people living around here and to us it's our country in South Africa", which indicates that he identifies Kwaito music, his role as a key player in its production and the township culture all with one another. By producing for himself, M'du reasserts his South African identity in the context of global media companies.