Da L.E.S the doting dad .
He’s launched his 4th album, his hot new track is climbing radio charts – but little Maddie is No 1 in his life right now
IT WAS all people could talk about for weeks. Da L.E.S’ annual All White Pool Party – now in its eighth year – has become legendary and on the day partygoers lined up at the gates of the rapper’s swanky Bryanston home, all kitted out in required white for the jol of all jols to end January. Then the police arrived and shut the whole thing down before it had even properly begun. Da L.E.S, it seems, didn’t have the required permit – and Twitter soon erupted as only Twitter can.
A series of memes poked fun at the muso and some serious shade was thrown. But Da L.E.S – real name Leslie Mampe – took it all in his stride.
“There was a bit of a complication with my permit application but the show will go on,” he tells us when he arrives at our Johannesburg studio with his daughter, Madison (3). “We’re gonna have an even bigger thing on 18 February. Some people did come, so we had an All White pre-party, but the All White 2.0 is definitely happening!”
Nothing can keep The North God – as he calls himself as he lives in the north of Joburg – down. He’s just got too much going on and most of it’s smoking hot.
But today it’s the adoring dad rather than the rapper we get to see. Little Madison, in yellow shorts and a matching T-shirt, holds onto her dad’s hand and orders him around like a boss.
“Let’s do a pose like this, Dada, and then another one where we walk,” she says as our photographer snaps away.
Madison seems to have her dad wrapped around her little finger as he follows her every command. Although spending quality time together is a challenge because of his busy lifestyle, these are the times he lives for, he says.
“My daughter is very easygoing. She’s so free-spirited – she’s always happy and it just seems like she understands what I need to do, you know, like she gets it.
“I guess my problems will come when she’s a teenager! For now she’s great – easy to deal with, loving, beautiful, very confident and talented. She’s perfect, you know, she’s my princess.”
“No, Dada, I’m not a princess – I’m a queen,” Maddie quips.
THIS year marks his 10th year in the music industry and he plans to make it epic. It’s got off to a great start already, with him playing loads of gigs over the festive season and in the middle of it all he launched his fourth solo album, Diamond In Africa.
“We’ve only released it digitally so far. I’m working on a physical release and a couple of radio tours but it went to number one on iTunes on the first day and stayed in the top five for three weeks, so I guess that means it’s doing well,” he says.
Da L.E.S was born in Washington DC in the US and lived there with his parents, Leslie (69) and Priscilla (67),
before moving to South Africa in 1993 at the age of eight. Even then he knew he wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
“I wanted to perform – like Michael Jackson. Then in my teens I started skateboarding a lot and I wanted to be a professional skateboarder, but it was at the skating park that I learnt to rap,” he recalls.
In 2007 he joined forces with Bongani Fassie and Ismael Morabe to form hiphop group Jozi, of which he was a part for three years while also working on solo projects. He’s since carved out a successful career. His new track, Lifestyle ( featuring Gemini Major), has been climbing the local radio charts and the music video trended on social media.
“The Lifestyle dance has gone viral – when we’re performing the song, kids are doing the dance and we’ve got really big goals in terms of Lifestyle as a track, Lifestyle as a ringtone and a call-back ringtone. Our goal is to reach platinum in terms of sales,” Da L.E.S adds.
The album features collaborations with AKA, Nadia Nakai, Maggz and others. A big part of Da L.E.S’ work is about supporting other rappers in the industry. “I’m all about that – spreading love and exchanging ideas so we can turn SA’s hip-hop industry into something that’s internationally recognised,” he says.
“I’m at a happy place in my life. There’s no time to be negative, there’s no time to hate one another. When you’ve already achieved what you wanted to, why not help one another, help to build others and become strong? There’s power in numbers.”
BESIDES the eighth annual All White Pool Party, he’s also looking forward to his Diamond In Africa concert in March in Joburg and he’ll be launching a clothing line, North 94, later this year.
“It’s been 10 years since I joined the industry and probably 15 since I started rapping, and it just keeps getting better and better.
“Every single time I’m in the studio, there’s just so much more I want to say. There are so many more ways to be creative and enhance my skills,” he says.
“I think I always did foresee that I’d get to where I am right now, but I still see a bigger vision for myself.”
But there’s no doubt about what his most important job is – that of being a dad to Madison.
He isn’t with her mom, Aurea Alexander, anymore but he spends as much time as possible with his little girl.
When he isn’t in the studio, at a gig or out at parties, you’ll find him at his Bryanston home with Maddie, catching up on some of her favourite movies and shows.
She loves the Minions movie and her favourite TV shows are Dora The Explorer and Barney & Friends.
“We go to [ family restaurant] Papachinos a lot. She also likes to hook up with Kairo [ fellow rapper AKA’s daughter]. They’re godsisters and she loves Kairo, so they hang out.
“She also likes to kick it with me in the studio sometimes when she can and when it’s not too crazy,” he says, looking adoringly at his little girl.
Madison turned three in December and, like her dad, she knows how to party. She celebrated her birthday with family and friends at a Spur, then had a party at her nursery school in Fourways.
To top it all off she enjoyed a day of pampering at the Life Day Spa for kids in Fourways where she and a few close friends had manicures and pedicures, a Jacuzzi session, massages and even some kiddies’ champagne.
He’d love to spend more time with his daughter on weekends, but being a musician makes that tough.
“When you’re in the music scene, you get your busy seasons and generally throughout the year it’s a nice pace but the gigs are mainly on weekends. And I know weekends should be family time but I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do – because I’ve got to provide for her.
“Being able to do that makes it all worthwhile.”
‘I wanted to be a pro skateboarder, but it was at the skating park that I learnt to rap’