Lehlogonolo Ronald Mataboge (born March 27, 1997), known professionally as A-Reece, is a South African rapper, songwriter and record producer. He was raised in Pretoria, Gauteng.

A-Reece release music under the Ambitiouz Entertainment Label in 2015, but with no paper work signed yet. He gained popularity in 2015 following the release of his single, "Couldn't", which featured the rapper Emtee. After disputes with management of the label, he left to become an independent artist late 2016.^[1]

A-Reece released his debut studio album, Paradise (2016) which produced the singles, "Couldn't" and "Mgani".^[2] In 2017, A-Reece released his second album From Me to You & Only You. In 2018, he released a collaborative album with Ecco the Beast and Wordz titled "Long Lost Letters" (L3), the lead single was "Welcome To My Life". In October that year he released his 5th Extended Play, And I'm Only 21. In 2019, he released Reece Effect.^[3]

In 2021, A-Reece signed a distribution deal with Apple Music owned A&R company Platoon, which specializes in packaging emerging artists before they get a major-label contract, and his mixtape Today's Tragedy, Tomorrow's Memory: the mixtape was publicised on Forbes, Clash and Flaunt magazines.^[4]

A-Reece's third studio album P2: THE BIG HEARTED BAD GUY (2023), debuted number one in South Africa.

Early life and career

Lehlogonolo Mataboge was born on the 27th of March 1997 and came from Danville, Pretoria, Gauteng. He started writing music in primary school following the footsteps of his older brother Phologo Jody Mataboge, known as Jay Jody from the hip hop duo B3nchMarQ. He got his stage name "A-Reece" from his star sign Aries.^[5]

In 2014, A-Reece released an EP titled Browniez EP. In 2015, A-Reece signed to Ambitiouz Entertainment and released his first single "Couldn't" under the label, featuring Emtee. He released Cutaways, an EP, on 29 September 2016, which consists of songs that did not make the cut for his debut album Paradise.^[6] His debut album was later released on October 21, 2016, and topped the No.1 spot on iTunes just under 24 hours after its release.^[7]

Following a financial squabble with Ambitiouz Entertainment, he formed The Wrecking Crew (TWC) in 2017 with MashBeatz, FLVME & B3nchMarQ. The Wrecking Crew consisted of Him, MashBeatz, IMP THA DON, EX Global, Wordz, Ghoust, Ecco the Beast, Enkei, Louw, KRI$H, Tyga Bankz, Mellow Don Picasso and Olu Cakata. He released a single "Meanwhile in Honeydew" which featured 1000 Degreez early in 2017. On the 21st of October, he released his second album From Me to You & Only You which included Feelings featuring FLVME.

In 2018, he released a collaborative album with Ecco the Beast and Wordz titled Long Lost Letters (L3), the lead single was Welcome To My Life. Mataboge then released 2 Extended Plays, Gwan Big Up Urself 2 in March and in October he released his 5th EP, And I'm Only 21. Early in 2018 FLVME, Ecco the Beast and Mellow Don Picasso left The Wrecking Crew due to financial disputes.^[8]

In 2019, A-Reece released a single, Carele$$, to address his squabble with FLVME. He then released his second collaborative album with MashBeatz titled Reece Effect. The Wrecking Crew changed names to Rvbberband Records.

In 2020, A-Reece had a fallout with MashBeatz and this led to him collaborating with his older brother Jay Jody. He also released a number of singles, including $elfish [Exp.2], which were leading to his highly anticipated mixtape Today's Tragedy, Tomorrow's Memory.^[9]

In 2021, he released his second mixtape Today's Tragedy, Tomorrow's Memory containing 13 tracks. He also released his third collaborative album, heaveN caN waiT: thE narroW dooR, vol.1, with Jay Jody. The album included "thE confrontatioN" which is a song that addresses his beef with his former producer MashBeatz.^[10] In December 2022 A-Reece was featured in Africa Cypher (Hennessy Cypher) that happened in Nigeria, the Cypher also featured artists such as Vector, M.I Abaga, M.anifest and Octopizzo.

Ambitiouz Entertainment controversy

Ambitiouz Entertainment went under much scrutiny after artists Fifi Cooper, B3nchMarQ, A-Reece and Flvme left the label in a very public and ugly fight.^[11][12] Artists claimed that they decided to part ways with the record label because of financial disagreements. Fifi Cooper went on to say that she had been signed for over two years to the label yet had not received a single cent from her performances, as well as royalties.^[13][14] The record label also went on to remove all of A-Reece's music videos from their YouTube channel and his Facebook page was also deleted. A-Reece Released "Loyal" where he addressed his reason for leaving Ambitious Entertainment. In the song A-Reece slammed his former colleague Emtee for staying in the record label. 7 months later on his album Manando, Emtee responded with a diss track called "Crown" calling A-Reece whack and emotional on songs.^[15]

Discography

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Category	Results	Ref.
South African Hip Hop Awards	2016	Himself	Lyricist of the year	Won	[20][21]
		"Couldn't" (featuring Emtee)	Best video	Nominated
		"Ameni" (with Miss Pru, Fifi Cooper, Emtee, B3nchmarq, Saudi and Sjava)		Won
			Song of the year	Nominated
			Best Collabo	Won
	2021	Himself	Lyricist of the year	Won	[22][23]
		Today's Tragedy, Tomorrow's Memory: The Mixtape	Mixtape of the year	Won
		Himself	Artist of the decade	Nominated
		"The 5 Year Plan" (feat. Wordz) Directed by (SXMZX for Poison Cure Productions)	Best video	Nominated
		"Hustlers Prayer" (with 25K) Directed by (Nate Thomas for  Uprooted Media)		Nominated
			Best Collaboration	Nominated
MTV Africa Music Awards	2021	Himself	Best Fanbase	Cancelled	[24][25][26]
South African Music Awards	2022	Himself	Artist of the year	Nominated	[27][28]
		Today's Tragedy, Tomorrow's Memory: The Mixtape	Best Hip Hop Album	Nominated

References

External links

• A-Reece on Twitter
• A-Reece on Instagram