ellesse is in the Mix

Nothing was dark about the moon when Shane Eagle debuted his long-awaited Dark Moon Flower Mixtape – and a special collaboration of two brands.

South Africa got to see the almost meteoric rise of rapper Shane Eagle having first heard and seen his talent in the first season of The Hustle in 2015. Having finished 3rd, Shane took this vote of confidence to move forward with tons of insight from the reality program. Coincidentally, in that same year ellesse was making huge come-back waves in the SA retail market, almost as if their paths were destined to collide in the future. Shane, after releasing a few singles, then released his debut album – Yellow in 2017. This album featured the now gold-certified lead single, “Let It Flow”. The album sent shockwaves through the local hip hop community with its originality and new approach to storytelling. Shane was ready for more – enter another story telling brand – ellesse. A nostalgic favorite of Shanes’ in his earlier days and ellesse, a keen collaborator with inspired talent, saw an opportunity to make some history with him. Shane appeared on the ellesse radar in 2017 after dropping his debut album Yellow. ellesse recognized a highly motivated trendsetter who reflected all of their brand values and beliefs. This partnership has been forged even deeper and is reflected in their latest collaboration on the Dark Moon Flower Mixtape listening session collateral. Here is a look at what went down.

Two closed, intimate events were held in September. Each event having their own, very expressive vibe. Both sessions being energetic and full of praise, this from some of top SA’s top hip hop artists and taste makers showed their support. To add the cherry on the cake, also debuting was the ellesse x Dark Moon Flower merchandise collab. The guests got to see, try and buy merch firsthand at the events.

La Familia – a premium street wear store in Rosebank, hosted the first Dark Moon Flower listening session. VIPs’ like Ricky Rick, Scoop Makhathini, Frank Casino and Shekhinah were amongst the many creative and street culture faces to attend this listening session. The guests were treated to one release after the other from Shanes’ latest Mixtape featuring both local and international rappers. Guests also got to purchase some fire items from the ellesse x Dark Moon Flower collaboration. Taste Maker, a local fashion icon and rapper Ricky Rick hooked themselves up with several items from the range. The show ended on a high when Shane revealed the gold award for his single Let It Flow.

Grade Africa opened its doors to host the Cape Town edition of the Dark Moon Flower listening session edition. After the Jo’burg listening session, Cape Town couldn’t wait to enjoy the session and to show their love to Shane. The event saw celebs YoungstaCPT, Patty Monroe, Zaid Osman and others arrive to join the crowd and enjoy the reveal session. Once again, the crowd was treated to an exclusive taste of Shanes’ mixtape. Many accolades and great vibes donned the evening another great success. The guests showed much love for the ellesse x Dark Moon Flower collab apparel by purchasing their limited-edition pieces.

On the 16th of October 2019 the Dark Moon Flower mixtape finally released to the public on all platforms. Social media went crazy with the #DMF trending the entire day. Check out the detailed breakdown of the Dark Moon Flower Mixtape’s inspiration, process, collaborations, artwork, etc. from Shane Eagle himself.

I took a more global approach on this debut mixtape called Dark Moon Flower. It’s a bridge between two worlds. It shows that there’s no measurable level of what you can achieve, just because of where you’re from. My signature lyricism is textured over production. I explored love, grief and growth alongside the MIND, Bas, Lute, Kota The Friend & The Hics—and even traded bars with Nasty C on “PARIS“. Although the end product is a mixtape, the 23-track offering is built around themes that speak directly to my recent life experiences.

 

The Power of Darkness

Dark Moon Flower is the next part of my journey, it’s a part of the story. The 23 songs on the project are a representation of a year of my life. Each song symbolises my stage of evolution and what I had to understand to get to this point. Some of the records are about me grieving, just letting go or finding my zen in this chaotic world. Yellow was ‘the light that guides you, illuminates you through everything’ and Never Grow Up was reminiscent of my favourite memories as a kid. With Dark Moon Flower, this is my ascension—it’s me, using darkness as my strength this time. It’s to remind my fans that darkness isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something that helps you become stronger at the end of the day. I feel like the experiences I’ve gone through gave me the inspiration and tools to use, so Dark Moon Flower became my outlet to put all that in there and get the craziest results.

Seeking Balance

I started the year off having to balance two extremes. One extreme was living through one of the highlights of my career—being blessed enough to go on tour with Bas and Dreamville. The other extreme was having to experience losing my father. Basically, in a nutshell, those two extremes are a metaphor for the instability I’ve experienced my whole life. If anything, it puts me in a position where I had to find a middle ground for these conflicting sides of my life. I see it as symbolic of me being a Gemini and also being half-Irish and half-African. I have to be in tune with both sides and it’s always been like that in my life, those two sides, recording ‘Up 1’ with Lute in Dublin and having Bas, Santi and I on ‘Vanya’—three different African artists from three different parts of Africa—so the project’s not overpowered by the other international collaborations.

 

Crafting the Artwork

The visual art was hand-painted by the closest person to me. She was going through everything with me. I was like, ‘You were by my side so it’s only fair for you to put that emotion into the piece and actually paint with those hands that were here with me.’ She basically interpreted the reality I found myself in and transferred our shared experience into the painting. When you look at the album art you can feel that. It represents my zen through this journey—I’m consumed by the dark, but not sitting in it, so I tap into my spiritual guides. It’s a little metaphor for when someone’s speaking to you from the spiritual realm. When they speak, you can see in the dark and find new ways to do things.

Dream Features

Even though it all ties in together, the whole project isn’t just one sound. The production is so layered that each sound peaks depending on your mood. There are different textures because of the features and that gives it different moods. Like, “Whispering to the Moon” with The Hics just adds that pop of colour to the record. With my first two projects I had no features, I probably had one feature across my debut album and EP. Approaching these features was kind of like going outside and playing with my friends. I feature everybody off an organic process and I had to experience a real moment with you. These are some of my favourite artists in the world and I think it’s just ridiculous that it all happened on my project. Then the producers. Some who’ve worked on some of the greatest projects like Forest Hills Drive or Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, alongside producers that worked on Yellow with Shane Eagle. Having them all on one project has some significance. This is basically me saying ‘When I do features, look who I want to be around.

 

The Personal, The Cathartic

Instead of letting my experiences become my downfall, I kind of use them as my strength. On songs like “Evolve”, being able to scream and let that out means when I’m done recording it doesn’t affect me. It’s therapeutic, and being able to rap those lyrics empowers me and also empowers the listener at the end of the day. It does take something for me to create those records because sometimes you need to say the right thing for someone to get the message. On ‘Story Time’ especially, the production is very hard and there’s almost this futuristic way of telling a story. I’m tapping into that when I say ‘I had to lose my father in order to find the keys to the cage.’ So, the thing that I lost actually gave me direction. I just tell my true-life story and put it into tracks.

  • Shane Partick Hughes

 

Don’t forget to follow ellesse on all our social media platforms and get to get the one-up on future collaborations with Shane and more. Shane Eagle’s mixtape Dark Moon Flower is now available on all streaming platforms. Head to https://electromodeza.lnk.to/darkmoonfloweAr to purchase or get a taste of the mixtape.

 

#ellesse #ShaneEagle #DML #DarkMoonFLWR #GradeAfrica #Lafamilia #RickyRick #Scoop #YoungstaCpt