Rapper, Emtee Records CEO and African Trap Movement (ATM) GOAT, Emtee says his hit song Roll Up was a freestyle but a certain individual claims they wrote it for him!
“Roll Up was a freestyle but someone keeps claiming they wrote it for me lol,” wrote Emtee.
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Here’s a lowdown about Roll Up, according to True Africa on December 11, 2015, AKA took his seat on the podium at the BET Experience Africa press conference. On his left was Diamond Platnumz, a giant on the African music scene, and on his right Emtee, the little known South African rapper with a hit song on the radio.
The publication further reports that later that evening, AKA sent out a series of tweets paying homage to the young emcee, even saying he sees a lot of himself in Emtee. That name drop was an unexpected shift from his typically self-absorbed character. In co-signing Emtee, he’d broken from his unwritten code of conduct and given Emtee a career-defining moment. The Supa Mega had given his approval.
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True Africa also reported that it started a few months earlier when AKA, after first hearing Emtee’s then newly released song, Roll Up, tweeted, ‘EMTEE – ROLL UP. Somebody tag this guy. DORO says ?.’ That was one of Emtee’s realest moments and proved to him that he was on the right track.
Emtee (then) told the publication, “Just a couple of months ago I was sitting at the crib and I was at a point where I felt like this thing’s not gonna work and let me just go find a job,” he said.
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“I was sitting at home and watching him (AKA) on TV. In my mind, I was like, “Ah I’ll never be like this guy, man. Look at him, he’s light in complexion, he’s got a nice haircut – he’s the complete package.” And I never thought this guy would ever like my stuff because I do trap (music). So I just couldn’t believe it when he sent that tweet out. It really changed my life, just him telling the world about me,” said Emtee.
About his breakthrough song, Roll Up, Emtee said that he came into the studio and found his producer Ruff making this beat.
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“I loved it and I was like, “Yo, give me this beat!” and he was like, “Naa, I’m going to sell it to so and so.” Emtee then pleaded with Ruff and made a deal with him.
“I told him, “Naa tell that guy some story, I’m taking this beat and I’m gonna record on it now. If it sucks, tell me and you can sell it,” said Emtee in relation to the making of Roll Up.
It is also reported that Ruff gave him a chance and an hour later, Emtee had quickly “freestyled” onto the beat – proving a raw unique South African flavor of trap music.
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Roll Up became an instant hit, drawing interest from the likes of WizKid.
What was initially meant to be work on a separate record ended up leading to Roll Up Re-Up, the remix to Roll Up featuring Wizkid and AKA. Soon after, and seemingly overnight, Emtee released his debut album, Avery.
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