Masego’s song “Tadow” has been ranked as a certified platinum recording. The jazz anthem was released in October of 2017 and was included on the artist’s debut album “Lady Lady” in 2018. The album was named one of the top 25 R&B albums of the year by Rated R&B. A video for the song was released in 2019, and then the track was reissued as a single after a surge of fan attention on TikTok in August of 2020. To date, “Tadow” has had over 222.48 million listens on Spotify.
Masego took to Twitter upon hearing of his platinum ranking, posting, “Just poppin in to say a Jamaican/South African kid raised in Virginia went Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond from freestyling. Please continue pursuing your dreams.”
Masego was the focus of considerable attention when it was revealed he was included on the eagerly awaited new album “Certified Lover Boy” by Drake. Prior to his collaboration with Drake, the artist notably worked with French Kiwi Juice in 2017 and Medasin in 2015 and attracted many fans with his “Lady Lady” debut album in 2018.
The phenomenon that is Masego, 28, a multi-instrumentalist who calls his music “trap house jazz,” has been fascinating for the jazz sector to watch. The artist, whose given name is Micha Davis, was born in the West Indies to parents who are both pastors. His father’s career in the United States Air Force gave the budding musician that chance to travel. The family moved to Virginia when he was eight years old and that was where he was raised in a non-denominational Christian household that reverberated with the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway, among other Black musicians. He was exposed to the trap music style – Masego calls it the “actual drug-cooking music with the hard-hitting drums” – by his friends. This paved the way for him to create his unique style of “trap house jazz,” which involves a fusion of R&B, jazz, and hip-hop. The style marked his early EP recordings “The Pink Polo” and “Loose Thought,” and it is evident in “Lady Lady.”
Davis, whose father is Jamaican, began using the stage name “Masego” after he explored his family’s roots in South Africa, and while his pronunciation differs from the original form, he discovered that it means “blessing” and “prosperity,” which meant it was perfectly aligned with his church nickname of “blessing.”
Masego plays several instruments, but began his musical career playing the drums. In his teen years, he was drawn to the saxophone, the instrument for which he is probably best known. He admitted in an interview with GQ magazine that he wanted to learn the saxophone to impress a woman. In fact, the artist says that all of his major influences are women, a situation let by his mother, who introduced him to many of his favorite musicians. He also credits his various relationships with women for his growth as a man. “A father will definitely be more impactful, but there’s something about women, there is a different growth within you,” he said.
Photo – Masego Twitter
