Chee
Lesego Mlangeni, known professionally as Chee, is a South African–born producer and DJ working out of Los Angeles, California. His output sits at the intersection of experimental bass, dubstep and drumstep with frequent use of half-time beats. He relocated from South Africa to the United States, spent time in Philadelphia, and is now based in Los Angeles. Key releases cited in public sources include the Shrodinger EP (on Underslung) and the full-length Fear Monger; he has also released music through Deadbeats and collaborated with Tsuruda.
Chee’s entry into the international bass scene traces through those moves between continents: born in South Africa, relocating to the U.S. and spending time in Philadelphia before settling in LA. Public biographical material lists those locations and the labels above as the primary factual anchors of his career; specific named early influencers are not widely published, though his release history and collaborations make clear ties to the contemporary experimental-bass and dubstep community.
As a producer, Chee’s sound emphasizes heavy low-end design and textural detail. His tracks commonly use half-time and drumstep tempo frameworks with tightly processed kick/snare hits and chopped or reprogrammed amen-style breaks when the arrangement calls for agile rhythmic variation. Bass design tends toward layered sub weight plus midrange grit: you’ll hear pitched bass swells, distorted low mids and resampling to create growls and metallic overtones. He frequently applies time-based effects (short and long delays, modulation on delays), granular resampling and pitched vocal chops to create atmosphere, while percussion often receives transient shaping and saturation to keep hits present in a half-time pocket.
Specific examples from his catalog underscore those techniques: the Shrodinger EP on Underslung introduced heavy half-time arrangements and experimental bass textures across its tracks, and the full-length Fear Monger expands that approach into longer-form sequencing and greater emphasis on textural contrast. His collaboration with Tsuruda places him in direct creative exchange with another producer known for detailed sound design and glitched percussion, which highlights Chee’s interest in dense, processed soundscapes within a bass-music frame. Releases on Deadbeats position him alongside a North American bass network that frequently programs half-time and dubstep-leaning material.
On the DJ side, Chee brings his production sensibility into sets by favoring tracks with pronounced low-end impact and by choosing edits that preserve textural detail; listeners and promoters note his transitions keep momentum while making space for sub frequency changes. Publicly available credits and release listings are the main verifiable markers of his career: name (Lesego Mlangeni), alias (Chee), roles (producer, DJ), origin (South Africa), U.S. stops (Philadelphia, Los Angeles), the Shrodinger EP (Underslung), the album Fear Monger, collaborations with Tsuruda, and releases through Deadbeats.
Specific named influences beyond those collaborations are not consistently documented in public sources; instead, the concrete way to assess Chee’s evolution is through the records above and the production traits they demonstrate. For listeners wanting a focused introduction, start with the Shrodinger EP and Fear Monger, then seek his Deadbeats releases and the Tsuruda collaboration to hear the range of his half-time, dubstep and experimental-bass work.
