We always have our eyes and ears on the streets and we have been watching this tenacious hustler grind for years consistently. If this was 1943, Abraham Maslow would’ve labeled Priddy as one of the exemplary people to fully express one of the most fundamental and basic four layers of the hierarchy of needs pyramid. “what a man can be, he must be”. This quotation forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization, a factor to fully realize your potential which this humble yet confident artist has mastered. As always, we invited Riccardo “Priddy Ugly” Moloi to come chill with us for an informative outlook on his journey thus far.
“I was born in Angola and at a young age my family moved to South Africa, Soweto in Meadowlands, from Soweto we moved to the East Rand in Kempton Park”. Priddy was born to Angolan mother, Santa-Maria Dumingez and a South African father Lebo Moloi.
Tell us where did it all start? Well, it started around the year 2004/05, I was inspired by watching 8mile and that time my dad had just bought a Tupac cassette. That’s when I started getting immersed in the lifestyle and culture of Hip-Hop. You would constantly find me in rap battles during lunch breaks at school, and in grade 9 I eventually landed myself in a group called “Black” whose members included the likes of Frank Casino, Dellz and other guys who don’t rap anymore. That’s when we got signed for our first record deal with EMI which at the time had the likes of HHP, Toya De Lazy just to name a few.
We virtually know you as a rapper, can you tell us how being a dancer and soccer player came in the picture? Dancing was something that was done at school because everyone used to dance back then and I liked it because I was actually good at it. With soccer, I played it from the age of 5 and at age 12 I got signed to Moroka Swallows until the age of 16. After then, I joined the 100M South African Sprinting Team, did the long jump until I busted my knees. which resulted to about 6 knee operations, that’s what made me leave the sport and I then decided to stick to music full time.
In terms of the brand Priddy Ugly outside of music, what else are you working on? I design, I do a bit of acting and I organize events. But mainly I do a lot of song writing. I write verses, hooks and full songs. I also like being behind the scenes such as script writing and content production. My goal is to be able tell our South African story to a broad audience.
Who have you written songs for? Well due to confidentiality agreements I cannot mention some names, but I have once written for HHP, Southern, Amunition those are just the legends. Most of them are RnB singers.
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