Mr Thela – Top Deck

Anyone who has ridden on the upper level of a bus knows why people fight for it. You see the whole road, the breeze reaches you first and nobody is stepping on your shoes. It is a small luxury with a view, and in a busy city it feels like a victory. Used as a title, it becomes shorthand for being above the crowd, comfortable and watching the world move.

There is a second reading as well. A deck is also what a DJ plays on, so the phrase can point to a person controlling the night from the booth. For a producer in the gqom scene, that double meaning is hard to ignore. I will not describe the sound or the arrangement here, since I cannot vouch for those details and your own ears are the fair judge.

It suits a long ride with the window down and the whole city passing by below you.

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