We were lucky to catch up with Mr A2L recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mr, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Well as a singer, rapper, producer and manager I do slot of things. I started everything I do by learning online, watching YouTube videos and so motivational quotes on Facebook and Twitter.

I feel like the process would have sped up if I had people to help me or motivate me.

The skill that I learnt from this process and the most essential one is Guts and Positive mind.

I faced slot of obstacles like people demotivating you, going on stage and get sabotaged, not even getting to go on stage, no transportation to go to night events and not having enough financials to market the music properly.

Mr, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Xolelwa Austin Shongwe but I go by the stage name of Mr A2L. I was born on the 28th of Oct 2002 in Nelspruit Mpumalanga South Africa.

I started singing at age 5 at my church in Nelspruit Pienaar called Evans Chappell. Growing up in a Musical family made me musically driven myself. My mother was a Backup Vocalist for Donny, My father used to sing in a Choir so trust me when I say it’s been a musically driven life.

I stopped singing at church when I fainted on stage when all branches where combined at Kanyamazane Stadium and I was only 8 years old.

Time went on and I went to live in Witbank with my mother in 2018 because she moved there in 2016. I stayed there for a couple of months and the girl I was dating with bought me a guitar on my 16th birthday. That’s where my journey as an artist official started. I started learning the guitar in January 2019 and since I already knew how to sing, it was easy for me to convert my vocal melodies to the strings.

I then started rapping in 2020 when I heard someone rap infront of me for the first time in my life. I practiced for 2 months and incorporated my singing skills into rap and came up with my own sound.

I release my first single in August 2023 and an Album in Sept 2023

I’m now busy with making music videos and recording more songs

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

What pushes me to go further is that I want to do songs with my role models which are Justin Bieber, Da Baby, Halsey, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, that girl Lay Lay, The kid Laroi and Nasty C.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There was a time where I was sick and I just came back from the hospital. My mom did not want me to do music anymore and that Friday, there was an event at school. My mom didn’t even want me to go to school because she knew I would catch up, I’m a fast learner. So days passed by and on that Friday of the event, my mom went to work and I was still in bed sick.

A friend of mine called me and said these words “Bruh, it’s boring here bruh, come show the good music not the boring things we hear here.” So I woke up took a bath and caught a cab. When I got at the gate I started feeling better but when I got on stage, it’s like I was never sick.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Mr.A2L_YT
• Facebook: Mr A2L
• Twitter: Mr_A2L
• Youtube: Mr A2L
• Soundcloud: Mr A2L
• Other: Spotify – Mr A2L
  Apple music – Mr A2L
  Boomplay – Mr A2L
  Every social media and music streaming platform – Mr A2L

Image Credits

Sbahle, ICONIC-DT and Ben SA