Get to know your star Saturday #GTKYSS: Priddy Ugly

Ricardo "Priddy Ugly" Moloi

Born in Luanda, Angola on 2 April but bred in Meadowlands, Soweto and later in Kempton Park (South Africa) by a South African father and an Angolan mother, Richardo Moloi, better known as Priddy Ugly is the epitome of hip hop artistry.

Priddy Ugly has quite a number of accomplishments under his belt, including those beyond the music industry. It all started at the age of 13 when he joined the Moroko Swallows Academy. At 14, he took up dancing and won best male dancer at the St. Peters National Dance Tournament. Soon after that, at 15, he joined Freeze Frame, a hip hop dance crew and won Strictly Hip Hop, became the Respect Krump Kings winner and was the Krump Fest winner all in one year. If that wasn't enough, at 16 and 17, he made the SA National Athletics team, specialising in 100m, 200m and long jump events. Quite an impressive list, isn't it?

At 15 he developed 2 knee tumors, which affected the cartilage percentage in his knee cap - this ended his sporting career.

In the midst of all of that, his rap career began at 15 and he formed part of a group alongside 5 other members called 'Krunk Era' which later changed to 'Blaque'. In 2007, 'Blaque' was signed to H.U.G.E Ent by Vusi Leeuw (former EMI ANR but now founder and owner of H.U.G.E Ent) who also discovered well established acts such as Mandoza and HHP. During their time there, 'Blaque' worked with artists such as TXL, Clue, Stethoscope and Amunishn.

In 2010, Priddy Ugly pursued his solo career under the name 'Priddy Ugly' and released his first EP which moved 1267 units on the net. In the very same year, he featured on Amunishn's album 'The Principal' on a track called 'Prayer' featuring Mr Selwyn (track 2 disk 2). The album went on to win 'Best Hip Hop' at the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) for 2011. Priddy Ugly then started working under Aviator Management and did 5 tracks on the 14 track compilation album titled “The Take Off”.

He released his first highly anticipated solo project titled "The Ugly Truth". It received great reception from the public with his first single 'Love Hate' having 5000+ downloads within its first week of release, even before the mixtape was released.

He released his mixtape and had a combined number of 32 000+ downloads on all his singles. 2012 had been a great year for the young man who had been on numerous internet blogs, countless interviews and even a full page spread on 'IspeakHipHop magazine' as well as getting a 4/5 rating for his mixtape review in South Africa's leading hip hop magazine, 'Hype Magazine'. He has since shot 2 videos: the first was for his 1st single 'Love Hate' and the second video, which is of international standards, was made for his second single titled 'Swag Demonstation'. It was shot on the 1st of December 2012 and was released in the beginning of 2013, to receive incredible reception.

Currently Priddy Ugly is working on new material. His work history includes working with the likes of X-Tatic, the new female hip hop sensation from Kenya, who recently signed to Sony Music SA. On one of X-static's songs called 'Hit em up', Priddy Ugly and Aka were recruited for a feature where Priddy Ugly does the Chorus of the song. A video has been shot for this single. Priddy Ugly is also working with London born, LA based producer Tiago, who has worked the likes of Rihanna and Chris Brown. You can expect good collaborations between Tiago and Priddy Ugly.

Although the young man's rise to fame reads like a rapid progression to stardom, it did take a lot of hard work to see his career be at the level that it is. With youth, talent, good looks and humilty on his side, choosing the mic over soccer boots and running shoes is proving fruitful everyday.

You can now follow him on his new twitter account @Priddy_Ugly.
You can also find him on facebook on either Ricardo Priddy-Ugly Blaque or Ricardo Du’mingez-Moloi.
You can also like his Facebook fan page 'Priddy Ugly'.