1. What’s your name? Leonard Maliti also known as Lenny DaKid
2. Where do you come from? South Africa born in Katlehong, Raised in Pretoria
3. How long have you been composing? I officially started composing to make a career out of it around the end of 2016 beginning of 2017
4. What is your creative process? How do you start creating a beat? / How do you start writing lyrics to a beat? I internalize everything. I take it in and everything that comes out of it is from a place of reflection. When I write a record, it could be a conversation, it could be how I’m feeling, it could be my dreams, it could be what I see from Society.
5. What made you chose a career in this field? Seeing all the people I looked up to. All the people that inspire me and live the life I want to live. Back then I used to just listen to the music and I didn’t think I could do it because it seemed so far away. I got to a point where I was left with two choices. It’s either I live a life I don’t want to live or I could pursue the dream for the rest of my life with the possibility that it could happen.
With what I’m doing now, every day is a surprise; all days are not the same so it’s a real-life journey. Ultimately that’s what made me get into it.
6. Did you do any courses for your career field? No, It was something that was always in me, to be honest. So when I did it, it was always an effortless thing cause I always wanted to rap, and I always listened to rap and to good music. I’ve always had an ear to hear even when music was about to pop, I could hear it and then I started making it. I’ve always felt like you need to give it the energy you want from it cause it’s not as easy as I thought. But the talent has always been there, I’ve always been a dope writer.
Now the production side of life, that was all learned through the journey. From always being in studio working, watching what the engineer does, next thing the engineer is not there and I’m doing it myself.
Then it just slowly became what it is right now, which is greatness.
7. What advice can you give to aspiring composers? Do your thing! That’s my advice, do your thing. Keep pushing, you know? Do your thing. If you really want it bad, you’ll get it. Because while you keep doing it, you’re getting better which means it’s always on your mind.
The more you stand behind the mic, the better you become at even saying the things you want. So Do it. And do it if it makes you happy.
8. Which other composers or artists have you worked with? Raven Simone, Makwa, and Kid X
9. What has been the highlight of your career? Doing the Disney Channel Raven’s Home S03 track. For me that was crazy because growing up I used to watch ‘That’s So Raven’ every day on SABC 1. Every day without fail. So it was unbelievable for me to see the Directors picking me up in an H1 showing me where we’re gonna be shooting. Telling me that I’m gonna meet Raven Simone and that we’d be shooting together. That was just a surreal moment. And they paid me mad racks on top of all of that.
About Lenny Dakid
Musician since 2016
Music genres: hip hop, afrobeat, jazz, trap
Style: light (life), colour, good energy, joy
Sounds and influences: Life Itself. With influences that stem from morning breezes to ocean humidity in the air. One can expect to hear intriguing compositions and sounds in Lenny DaKid’s Music. The cross between African sounds and Western influences, Western Traditional Hip-Hop, and sounds from other genres allow Lenny DaKid to create emotive music that promotes feelings and the understanding of one’s mental and emotional standpoints.
Current:
• Black Sheep Promo
• I Made Me Do It EP Promo
• Socially Awkward EP
• Socially Awkward Unplugged Visual Project
• KiDS Mixtape
• The Hit Factory
• Show your Ink 2020 Music Fest
• Really Wanna Music Video Promo
• KiDS Album
Past:
• Disney: That’s so Raven S3 Soundtrack
• National – Provincial Election Soundtrack [Access your Say]
• Umshubelo Music Fest
• Show your Ink Music Fest