Looking for fresh musical inspiration? Apple Music’s New Artist Spotlight for May is showcasing King Lutendo. His most recent self-exploratory 9-track album titled MAVU, is fuelled by a sense of folklore, his proudly Venda heritage and a focus on the path to self-realisation. MAVU delves unabashedly into concepts of nobility and self-acceptance. Keeping to traditional rhythms mixed with eccentric melodies and deep percussion it challenges many notions including identity, individual potential, meditation and rebirth.

The muso known as King Lutendo is a poetic word-smith who stands apart as a multi-talented sculptor of new hip hop rhythms, expressing himself with a highly original narrative-based style of hip hop. He challenges the old formulaic approach and breaks those templates, by designing tracks which are ripe with authentic lyrics and beats.

Staying true to his Venda-influenced freestyle he is introducing the world to a more intellectual and contemporary Afro-Hip style of music. He has created and released many mixtapes as he refined his strongly Venda-flavoured style.

His well-known EPs, including ‘Electric Jungles’, ‘Village Astrology’ and ‘Stylised Heaven’ showcase his passionate story-telling of life lessons and cinematic themes. For the King it all comes down to the reality of discovering one’s deep roots as well as finding and creating one’s own reality within the world we have been programmed to accept. Abstract and profound, King Lutendo’s music blends tribal and traditional beats with rich textures and thought-provoking messages.

The Apple Music New Artist Spotlight is an artist development feature, giving each South African artist four weeks of editorial support in Apple Music, including in the Mzansi Hits section and key Apple Music playlists such as The A-List: South Africa, Best of the Week, Gqom Nation and more.

With over 50 million songs, Apple Music offers a free 3-month trial with no commitment and is ad-free. Apple Music is available on iPhone and iPad and also for download from Google Play for Android devices.