Who is Max Hurrell? asks Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

Who is Max Hurrell? asks Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

Lockdown anthem, ‘ZOL,’ produced by Max Hurrell went viral enough to reach Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Let’s face it, South Africans were not pleased (to put it mildly) with Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma after she made a U-turn with regards to the sale of cigarettes during her address last month.

But where there’s darkness, there can be light.

Which is exactly what local producer Max Hurrell did when he sampled the minister’s speech explaining why the government would uphold the ban on cigarette sales.

It turned it into a (dare I say infectious) house-infused song called ZOL, which has fast become an anthem not only in South Africa but worldwide.

On Wednesday, Dlamini-Zuma took to her Twitter account, posting: “Who is this Max Hurrel fellow? We just need to talk.”

Who is this Max Hurrel fellow? We just need to talk.

#COVID19SouthAfrica#SolidarityFund

— Dr Dlamini Zuma (@DlaminiZuma) May 13, 2020

The talk

Naturally, it wasn’t something Hurrell expected to see.

“I honestly made [the song] just to make people laugh during a tough time,” Max Hurrell told the BBC.

“I’ve gotten loads of thank yous from people saying they needed the ‘mood-lifter’ and so I am grateful that I was able to help people feel better,” the producer adds.

Hurrell also divulged that he did have a “brief conversation” with Dr Dlamini-Zuma later that day, and that “nothing will stop the lockdown anthem”.

“The minister has no problem with the creativity of artists and she knows that it was not done in malice,” her spokesman Lungi Mtshali told the BBC.

Well, there’s no stopping “ZOL,” now in the top 50 of the streaming chart on Apple Music. It is also in the top trending videos on YouTube and has a dance challenge on TikTok.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma embraces “ZOL” by Max Hurrell and so should you- listen to the track below.