Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the 2010 South African House/ Kwaito song "Lento" by Professor featuring Speedy.
This post provides information about South African performing artist Professor and showcases this video. Selected comments from the discussion thread of this video about this song's lyrics and explanations about a scene from this video are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/11/african-american-vernacular-english.html for Part II of this series. Part II of this series compiles selected comments from the discussion thread of Professor featuring Speedy's track "Lento". These selected comments are those which use standard English, African American vernacular English, or other ways to praise that song or that song's artists and/or music producers.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, linguistic, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Professor, Speedy, and all those who performed and produced this song and who produced and/or performed in this video. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSICIAN KNOWN AS "PROFESSOR"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_(musician)
Mkhonzeni Langa (born 1978) better known by his stage name Professor is a South African Kwaito musician from Durban. He first rose to prominence as part of the Durban-based Kwaito duo Tzozo and Professor before branching out on his own making a huge mark on the South African music industry with hit songs such as Jezebel, Imoto and Lento.
[...]
2003–2009: Tzozo and Professor
In 2003 Professor was signed to Kalawa Jazmee Records by Oskido and Spikiri. At Kalawa Jazmee Records Professor was pair up with an already established Kwaito singer Tzozo, and together they formed a due which was known as Tzozo & Professor. The emergence of Tzozo & Professor also marked the emergence of the subgenre, Durban Kwaito Music, spanning from the original genre pioneered by the very label that signed them, Kalawa Jazmee Records. While together the duo released three albums: "Woze Durban", "Amantombazane" and "Magazine".[1][2]
2010–present: Solo career
In 2010 Professor released his debut album as a solo artist under Kalawa Jazmee Records. The album was titled "University of Kalawa Jazmee" and its lead single titled "Jezebel",[3][4] it was a runaway success and catapulted to even higher levels of success as an artist and launched as an individual rather than part of the duo. The songs contained in the album were so strong that every single that came out of it was critically praised; this includes, "Jimaphi le Weight", "Imoto" and "Lento". Furthermore, at the year 2010 edition of the Metro FM Music Awards the album was nominated in three categories; Best Kwaito Album, Song of the Year (Jezebel) and Best Collaboration.[5] He went on to win Best Kwaito Album and the coveted Song of the Years Award.[6] At the 21st South African Music Awards held on 19 April 2015 at Sun City in the North West the album, University of Kalawa Jazmee, won Best Kwaito Album.[7][8]”...
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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Professor "Lento" ft Speedy
JusGorilla Published on Feb 18, 2011
Professor "Lento" ft Speedy South African House music video from Kalawa Jazmee by Gorilla Films
-snip-
Statistics for this YouTube video (as of November 3, 2017 at 8:15 PM EDT)
total number of views - 4,229,823
total likes (thumbs up) - 8K
total dislikes (thumbs down) - 404
Total number of comments - 1,013 Comments [8:15 PM EDT]
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Pancocojams Editor:
I gleaned these comments from the entire YouTube video discussion thread for Professor "Lento" ft Speedy (as of November 3, 2017 at 8:15 PM). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og5InvyyhYY (The artists are Professor featuring Speedy and the song title is "Lento".)
All of the comments from that discussion thread that focused on the lyrics of this song are included in this compilation. In addition, I've included all of the comments from that discussion thread that provide an explanation for a particular scene in the video. The comments are given in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest dated (by year) comments given first, except for replies. These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.
2012
1. Tawanda Simunje
"can smone gv us the lyrics to this song in english please????????????"
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Reply
2. mzolist
"Here is Chorus in Zulu: ungabona sidakwa kangaka, ungabona siphila kamanandi, uyabona siphila kamnandi noma impilo inzima, sonke masithandane. Baba sibonga wena, zonke zenziwa nguwe. Ngubani osinika lento?"
**
Reply
3. mzolist
"here is the chorus in english: you can see we get drunk a lot, you can see we are enjoying ourselves, you can see we sing nice tunes despite the hardships in this life. Let us all love one another. Lord we thank you. Everything is created by you. Who else can give us so much happiness?"
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2013
4. TheChenza05 [question about a scene in the video]
"why did they take the car at the station??"
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Reply
5. Unabisharla Yerzimsoniak
"They ran out of money ,2 pay for the car and everything, so all was taken away from them"
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2014
6. irene onyango
"so apparently no one can say even a sentence summary of what this song is talking about? where are these South Africans? i love it, though."
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Reply
7. Evo Molaudzi
"In short he is saying God is the giver of everything we have"
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8. tewzoful
"Can any can explain what the song is about ?"
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Reply
9. Zamokuhle Rex
"appreciation of life.. who gave us this(ubani owasinika lento)..money, girls, life, happiness despite the odds."
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Reply
10. Nkosi Ndlovu
"It is about thanking jesus christ for the life he has given you, a life without problems etc."
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11. Siyabonga Malinga
"THAT THING"
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12. Lukz Lwandile Sabucans
"who gave us such a life and whole lot of other questions.Ask a Zulu friend word for word"
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2015
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2016
13. labguitarra
"Any lyrical translation? To English"
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Reply
14. zenzi72
"lento = this thing
ubani os'nika lento?=
who gives us this thing?
zonke zenzwa ngube=
It's all done by you
Baba s'bonga wena=
Lord we thank you"
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15. Masesi Thobela
"Who s gv u all the things that u want"
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16. Jaroslav Janeček [question about a scene in the video]
"can someone explain to me ,what happen on gas sattion they robbing him what"
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Reply
17. zamani hadebe
"i think his car is being reposessed not robbing him"
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18. SIPHOKAZI NONGCULA
"hard to believ this is actually Gospel.for those who dont knw what it means : Thank you lord for this life, you are the reason we are here dancing, living a great life, you gave us this life."
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19. Brian Choko
""Lento" meaning please, feeling the track in 2016 and loving it but meaning help"
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Reply
20. luvuyo dlamini
"+Brian Choko lento root word is "into" meaning a "thing"..."ubani osinika lento" is a question meaning "who blessed us as such?"...they paying tribute to god for the blessing they have"
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21. Emmanuel Makoba
"Unkulunkulu owakuniga lezinto"
-snip-
"Unkulunkulu" is the Zulu name for the Supreme God. http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/rsa/rsa01.htm Sacred African texts: "UNKULUNKULU; OR, THE TRADITION OF CREATION AS EXISTING AMONG THE AMAZULU AND OTHER TRIBES OF SOUTH AFRICA."
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2017
22. Francis Musonda
"what does lento mean?"
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Reply
Tholoana Phoshodi
"this/ that thing"
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23. Londeka Mandy
"even in 2017 we still trying to figure out ukuthi ubani osnika lento...."
-snip-
Google translate from Zulu to English - "who gives this item"
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24. Alvyn J
"Which language was this song done Xhosa or Zulu? And what is the song about tho i find the video a bit funny? Am a Nigerian but this is one South African jam i love."
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Reply
25. SINE xo
"Alvyn J Zulu 😬"
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26. Sithembele Mzamo
"playing this song and taking every word said through the lyrics makes me Hustle more. I hope Panda-Pushas out there know what iam saying. Hold on to your Dream and stay fired up because no one ever said is gonna be easy, the is no freeway to success !!! Wubani osinika lento?"
-snip-
Google translate from Zulu to English for "Wubani osinika lento" = "Who gives us this?"
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27. Lethabo Nxumalo
"South Africans are the only people in the world that will have gospel lyrics on a club record"
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28. Pekza Success
"This song teaches about true humanity and being great full to God. Very nice lyrics."
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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.
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