Creed Oasis was a name we recently came across, having the honour to bump into him on one busy night in Cape Town, and we were immediately galvanized by how such a young mind was able to view the world in such an open-minded manner, being able to put his distinct thoughts through his music.

After extensively listening to his latest project, titled “ENDLELENI”, we just knew we had to have a sit down with the gifted virtuoso and try exploring more about his world and his journey of navigating the Cape Town music world while also learning more about his background.

Who is Creed Oasis?

“I’m not gonna be cliche with it. Creed Oasis is an artist who is trying to figure out a lot of shit.”

“I’m trying to figure out shit about life, about what’s happening, about myself, and about my music. I don’t have a specific genre, and I try different things. I make music based off my experiences, and where I see myself.”

“Creed Oasis is a guy from the Eastern Cape, from Mthatha. I came here for school. I’m only nineteen, and I like to believe that in this scene that I’m in, I’m probably the youngest, and I’ve always been the youngest from where I come from because I was surrounded by a lot of dope people.”

“I’m in a space where I find myself in each and everyone that I work with. Let’s say if we had to work now, I’d unlock something new about myself, so I love working with people.”

“I love challenging myself. Let’s say someone is dope, I’m going to try finding myself around you, so yeah, that’s basically what I’m about.”

Growing up, what inspired you to become a musician?

“I wouldn’t say I have a musical background, but I would say my mother and father inspired me into making music.”

“I didn’t know it back then, but now I know. They were listening to good music you know, like old school music, and my ear was trained to listen to music.”

“I started realizing I could rap in like grade six. I downloaded this free track on Opera Mini and I thought I was downloading the full song, but I was like “what the fuck?”. There were no lyrics on it, so I hopped on and found myself rapping.”

“A friend of mine was like “bro you’re rapping”, and I was actually shocked. I started going home and worked on my rhyming, the simple lines like cat and bat. There was not much substance in that.”

“Time went by and I started this shit, and it’s been going ever since then. And as I was doing that, I realized that I was falling in love with it.”

“There was this one bro around the area who was making music, so I thought I’d go to him. I was like “yo I’m gonna write this and come back to you to rate it”. I did that consistently for about a year and I could see I was improving.”

“If people give me the attention to listen to me, that’s how I grow, and we did that consistently, and by Grade Eight I started to record, and that’s where I could see my potential.”

“That’s basically how it happened. I put myself in spaces to learn, and I knew this, because when I’d receive Christmas money to spend on clothes, I’d put that money into buying a Mic. And my mom could see that, and she helped me. She’s a single parent who thought the music would put me off school, but I told her I wouldn’t be distracted and making music was just something I love to do.”

“She even gave me R3000, to help me buy my first laptop. My music is my passion and it’s not far from what I’m doing at school which is teaching. So I’m always speaking.”

What was the whole process behind making “ENDLELENI”?

“I was manifesting bro. If you listen to my “Dawn” project, the outro basically said I was going to be here in Cape Town and push my shit and I’ve manifested that.”

“So on “ENDLELENI”, it was basically me talking about what I’m going through and what I want. I’m vibing on the first few songs and then it gets more personal towards the end.”

“In terms of the sound, I mixed and recorded it all myself. Bro, I used to make beats, but I stopped and gave myself time for rapping and mixing. It’s easy when you have your own home studio.”

“With your own studio it’s easier to record and mix yourself, but if you cannot do that, you’re going to have to record on a beat and someone else is going to have to mix it and it takes long, so it’s a process.”

“With the people I’d been working with on that project, it’s insane because originally, I didn’t want to feature people. I don’t usually feature people on my music. And there’s nothing bad about that, it’s just a personal thing for me. I want you to hear what I’m on fully.”

“But with features it’s very important because you get to connect with others, but it wasn’t about me wanting to pop, it’s just me doing me, showing you what I’ve been through, and the type of person I am through my music.”

“It’s insane about my sound, because the thing of growing up in a rural area, there’s not a lot of things to see. I’m just me by myself and my surroundings. Even when I started, I didn’t listen to other artists, so that actually gave me time to be more authentic and say what I feel in my head.”

When it comes to your music aspirations, what are your goals?

“I’m not going to lie, everybody wants to pop, but for me to be popping means it’s me doing what I love and having access to the things I want.”

“So, the goal for me is to have the freedom to bring my goal into reality. The only thing I would want is to work and to be seen while also having the connects. Say I wanted to shoot a visual, I could hit up a person and we immediately get to work, that is the main goal.”

“The main goal is to be out there, and to work with the dopest people.”

What does being authentic mean to you as an artist?

“I actually started rapping in English. I didn’t completely stop it, but there was this broer of mine that was like “yo, don’t you wanna try rapping in Xhosa?”.

“I was young, and it was 2018, I had just started doing this, and I didn’t know then why he was saying this, but he knows why. It’s to connect with your people, and it’s more genuine.”

“I went to his crib again, and he was chilling with this amazing bro (named Ngezking), and I was going there making them listen to my shit and he was like “bro, you’re fucking fire and you coming along, but can you try Xhosa?”

“These are two people who have good taste in music, and they are telling me that. So, I’m going to take that advice.”

“I started falling in love with making Xhosa shit. People used to say I’m a Xhosa trapper, and I was like nah man I make music using my own language, but now I change it, and its more authentic.”

Having the chance to link with such a dynamic mind and suddenly realizing what we as creatives are striving for, can all be accomplished by just being genuine and true to ourselves.

It’s the same mentality we at VERVE try to maintain, and it was fantastic to hear another artist have those same sentimental values, and we look forward to seeing more of his growth in the music scene.

We urge you to check out Creed’s work, available on multiple streaming platforms. If you’re interested in listening to our whole conversation, the recording is just down below, where you can learn a ton more about the gifted musician.