Shane Eagle begins a new musical season with the release of his new track ‘Hold You’

Shane Eagle, the award-winning rapper, has finally given his fans and himself something to grasp onto while he works on his next record.

“Hold You” is Eagle’s new boom-bap hit, on which he collaborates with Los Angeles producer LIKE once more.

Eagle crafts lovely melodies as the track’s beginning, looping over vintage piano samples and a characteristic New York-inspired boom-bap rhythm, before striking home with passionate, heavy-hitting lines.

“LIKE has been a part of my discography, from projects “Never grow up” and “Dark Moon Flower”.

“We call it dream music. You know, he sounded so classic. It has elements of French jazz and piano, all the elements that I love in music.”

They complement each other wonderfully. The popularity of “Chocolate Milk,” which is “Never Grow Up,” which went gold and is featured on the NBA 2K soundtrack, demonstrates this.

Eagle delivers nostalgic sentiments on “Hold You,” transporting fans back to his debut album, “Yellow,” where it’s just true rap over wonderfully sampled piano keys.

Eagle was named Best Hip Hop Album at the 2018 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), cementing his place among the greats.

Eagle has evolved into an artist who can spend long stretches without producing new songs and yet keep his relevancy and following base. They have, however, been clamouring for new music since his previous release.

He argues that in order to create something, he must first feel it and move it in order to be comfortable enough to release it.

“The title is kind of cryptic because I put out the cover art. With the JTHY, and only when people hear the snippet, that they then understand that it stands for ‘just to hold you’.

“This is kind of a message to my fans in saying; ‘this is just to hold you like a place keeper while I work on the next body.

It’s music season for the rapper right now. The term “responsibility” refers to the act of determining whether or not a person is responsible for his or her own actions.

“People will appreciate the music if it’s good. If you take your time on the music and then you drop something, they can’t appreciate it’s a different story.

“But when you come with that, know the best songs. It just has to be fire. That’s how I balance it out. I can take as much time apart from projects, but when I do drop the project, it has to be amazing. It has to be out of this world.

“That has to be top-tier music, production and raps. And everybody will forget about, you know, how much time you took.”

The artist acknowledges that this technique does not work for many artists, but emphasises that it is not about the time, but about releasing something wonderful.

Eagle is now working on a body of work that he cannot call an album since it might end up being an EP.

“I haven’t deemed it as an album yet. You know, cause at the rate that music is going, the EP could be great because it’s not too many songs, even though I have a lot of songs.

“So I’m at the point of still creating it, and that’s why I was saying, “just to hold you”, kind of like a message to the fans to enjoy this and feel this soul while I create that body of work.”

At the time, Eagle is unable to confirm any of the artists who will appear in the body of work, but he does have an idea of the path it will go, but warns that it is subject to change.

“It’s also definitely tapping back into the root of becoming an African rap superstar. It’s all derived from an African element. There has to be some sort of African element in it.

“Me just being here is that African element. Africa is poetic in itself. The theme of the project could even be African poetry, you know, touching on those themes.”

Eagle has gone a long way since he was a want tobe rap sensation on the music talent show “The Hustle” in 2015. He is now an actual rap artist, a well-known brand that just adds reality TV celebrity to his resume.

When Eagle talked with IOL Entertainment, he had just concluded filming “Love and Hip Hop South Africa” a few days before the release of “Hold You,” allowing him to enter a season when he could focus only on music.

“When I came into the game through “The Hustle” and then being able to be on V Entertainment. For me, music is always my first love, I’m always gonna look for new ways to be able to invest back into music.

“Anything I ever do Is always to enhance or supplement or just be another stepping stone to make sure the music is better. That’s how it all connects. I’m grateful for all of it and grateful to be a part of it.

“Now that I have knocked that out of the park, I can focus on the body of work with zero distractions.

“For me, to make the best music that I can, is with zero distractions. When I was filming, it was a different season. It’s beautiful that it all can happen at once but in different seasons.”

Main Image: Shane Eagle| The Throne
The post Shane Eagle begins a new musical season with the release of his new track ‘Hold You’ appeared first on Entertainment SA – South African Entertainment News, Celebrity and Lifestyle Online Magazine & Entertainment.