Paragon, the model of excellence, is an incredibly talented hip-hop musician. He is a down-to-earth and soft-spoken guy, but don’t let his subtle innocent-like appearance fool you. This young man’s music is more edgy and hard-hitting than any other South African hip-hop musician I have heard in a while. It is pretty clear that he takes his music seriously and has a lot to offer in the hip-hop industry.

Born as Rosswell Melow in Bloemfontein and later raised in Enerdale, Riverlea then later Florida, he grew up listening to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey as his parents’ type of music. When he began listening to his own music, he took interest to musicians like ColdPlay, Will Smith, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, being the first hip-hop album that he listened to, and many other musicians.

Paragon is an emcee and a self-taught producer, having started rapping seven to eight years ago and producing in 2002. He is a proudly independent artist by choice, who makes extraordinary music and does not require a record label to validate him.

His music touches on everything and anything you could think of. The normal day to day lives of people, the good and bad, the ugly and pretty. He does say though that the music he has made so far has not accurately portrayed the type of music he would like to get out there. “I can say, the music I plan on putting out now is more real, you know, down-to-earth…trying to bring it down to every other person’s level”. One thing you will probably never hear him rap about though is assets that he does not possess, like flashy cars and mansions, like a lot of hip-hop artists we hear today like to do. Paragon feels that it gives children the wrong impression of what hip-hop is really about.

Not far from the name Paragon will probably be the name Titus Track Productions, not to be confused with Titus Track, the hip-hop group. Titus Track Productions is a beat-making company started by him and his brother. The name derived from Paragon’s first stage name, Titus, and his brother’s stage name, Lord Track, thus Titus Track Productions was born.

When asked what has been the most exciting moment for him as an artist thus far, he said, “…the launch party for my project The Invisible Man EP. It was a bunch of mixed feelings, but when it all came together and didn’t matter anymore, because it was time to be on stage, that was my favourite or most exciting time, because now I saw the response to my work”. Being the artist, events coordinator, choreographer, marketing head and distributor for his project, Paragon definitely worked hard on this one. He received a great response for his hard work and even an “encore” from the audience.

Paragon is working on a lot of things right now. He just finished production for Sounds Intense, a hip-hop group under Titus Track Productions and is currently working on a project for a fellow musician, Foul play, as the Executive Producer. Before he can begin recording his new material, he has to conclude with his other commitments. He is working on his new mixtape, available for free, titled Breaking the Silence, which will be about exactly that. It symbolizes his need to now open up about the industry, himself and life in general. In the future, Paragon would love to work with his all-time favourite South African hip-hop artist, Zubz.

TITUS TRACK PRODUCTIONS presents SOUNDS INTENSE is a project that Paragon has been part of and it is available for free. You can get a copy or download it from a link on Facebook. Other artists and projects to look out for would be Foul Play with Constructive Brainstorming, Universal Lord Track with Prelude To A Legend, Cata-lust with Audio Visuals, and last but definately not least Paragon with Breaking the Silence.
To get a hold of Paragon, you can find him on Facebook under Rosswell ‘Paragon’ Melow and on the Titus Track Productions Facebook group. Also on myspace.com/titustracklive to listen to and download songs, Reverb Nation and on Twitter on @Titustrack. You can also ask to be on their mailing list and you will receive all information via email.

By: Bongiwe Dlamini

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