Molulela ‘Mudu’ Monyake
Mohalenyane Phakela
BEAUTY queen Molulela Monyake has unleashed another arrow from her seemingly boundless quiver of talents with the recent release of her first musical single Taboo, which is currently rocking the airwaves.
The Miss Lesotho Second Princess already has an impressive CV in the pageantry realm, having notched the Miss Africa Crown International 2013 title in Sweden. Monyake is also set to compete at the Miss Tourism World in in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in November.
To raise the M30 000 needed for the trip to the Central Asian nation, the 21-year-old initiated the Miss Liberty 2015 contest which was held in May. The pageant was also premised on the need to motivate beauty queens to strive for freedom.
However, the foray by Mudu, as Monyake is affectionately referred to by friends, into the musical realm caught many by surprise. This is more so considering her chosen genre, rap, does not conform to the stereotype about the interests of beauty pageant contestants.
In an interview with the Weekender this week, Maseru East-born starlet said her love affair with verse began at the age of 11 when she started writing poems. Only recently, Monyake said, did she decide to accompany the poems with a beat.
“I wrote my first track in 2006 as a way of expressing myself and not for anyone else’s benefit,” said Monyake, who also counts Mandarin, Spanish, Afrikaans, English and Sesotho among the languages she has so far mastered with Arabic and Russian her next challenges.
“Now that I have time on my hands, I have been getting a lot of lyrical inspiration to write more verses. I decided to share my poems with the people.”
The lyrics of the poems, she said, mostly delved on interacting with friends and are also a record of her memories.
On why she chose Taboo as the name of the single, Mudu said it was a reflection of her “vibe”.
“The hook came to me when we were chilling at this joint called Taboo,” she said.
“At that moment, I was in my vibe and I believe everybody has a vibe, whether it comes after payday, while chilling at home or when hanging out with friends.”
Asked how she balances music and being a beauty contestant, Monyake said: “Music has always been a part of me. Writing songs and recording is a different story and pageantry has its time too.
“I find a way to make them vibe together, it is not easy but I would not have it any other way.”
With her brother, T-Mech, having carved his own niche in the local Hip Hop scene, music certainly runs in Mudu’s family. However, she said so far music will just be a hobby and it is too early to tell if an album might follow the release of the single.
By releasing the single, Mudu said, she was only fulfilling a wish to bring her self-expression to a wider audience.
“Dreams are meant to be brought to life! I believe in living my dream and leaving behind a good legacy,” she added.
