The State of our Hip Hop Nation Address

Unlike our state of economy which is going south of south, the Hip Hop music genre in Mzansi is souring like seasonal birds swarming the blue sky migrating to the east. All I’m trying to cough up here is that this genre is growing and not only growing but flourishing and bearing great fruits. So, Hip Hop hooray to the old G’s like Tumi from the V, Proverb, HHP, Amu, Khuli (Morafe), Pro, Slikour and his crew who pioneered and stayed with the art to make sure it doesn’t die but kept alive up until today. This is after rap/hip hop went through a severe, gruesome criticism from the public, artist as well as the media; some artist fell along the way but big up to those who believed and carried the baton to 2016. I am reminded of our beloved comrades who fought the struggles of apartheid; it was a cause that sometimes looked suicidal, a mission that sometimes looked bleak but those comrades marched on.

Today state though, it’s crazy, I mean, you look @ the numbers and realize that the books show a positive projection. The culture, today is populating and spreading into every corner of our lifestyle whether we like it or not. From street fashion, dance, airwaves, social media, cooperate gigs, endorsements, language, businesses, tabloid and awards events. The music has evolved, the baton has been handed to the handful who knows how to carry Mzansi swag original. To be honest this is the revolution, an era of youth culture, to us who supported the genre from its genesis we are emotional when we witness the progress. Let’s take a moment, a standing ovation and slowly clap for the Hip Hop nation that stood the test of time.             

Likwid Tongue - Open Miac All Day

Flo n Quaz

Wordplay – dat sums up the poetry heard @ OST. 

Isa

24^th September 2011 saw me walking up n down the streets of Jozi running a few errands. @ da same time I was waiting 4 my Nig Ciamatic 2 show up coz we had a hip hop session 2 go 2. Came 2 find dat the session was actually a poetry 1. We decided to go in sommer not knowing wat 2 expect. Organized by Richard Quaz Roodt n Flo Mokale the Open Mic all Day poetry session was held @ OST. 

The setting inside OST was calm, couches n pillows litter the place makin it an easy sittin. We (Ciamatic n I) came in a bit late coz the show started at bout 12h00, but from what I got in those few hours there It’s like we started with the show. A selection of poets gave us 1 piece each, with a few having stuck in my mind. A lady named Isa gave a rendition in Xhosa laced with English. There was a guy named Mcatastro who got on stage n gave his heart out 2 Hip Hop. Tshepo had us all glued to his words as he told us dat he is da ultimate African. A poem politically influenced had us all thinkin what being African means.

Some of the legs there

Mcatastro

The masters of Ceremony (Flo n Quaz) had people in stitches all through the session with their witty disses towards 2 other poetry crews (Missing Gap n Towers of Thought). @ some point I thought it would boil over as Jeff (leader of Towers of Thought) looked a bit agitated but it was all poetry n peace. Quaz gave us an Afrikaans piece bout how dat language (Afrikaans) becomes a barrier towards the relationships between Afrikaans speaking Africans n the rest. It was short n straight 2 da point with a harmonica sound in da background (played by Flo). Flo also got his shine on stage a he let it rip in Sotho with some piece which left me confused whether it was freestyle or written. The man has great acumen n wit, a wizard with words. 

The Masses

Afurakan who has been in the poetry circles 4 some tym now, gave us his take bout the city of Jozi. He attracted a lot of oohs n ahhs as he let words roll from his lips like he was just takin breaths. I was waiting with bated breath 2 hear Jeff – the target of most of the disses from Flo n Quaz – hit the stage for his retaliation but sadly it was not 2 be. The session came 2 n end roundabout 17h00 with us still relishing 4 more. I am sure hitting OST nxt tym Likwid Tongue has anada session.

Wordplay

Vosloo Kasi Movement

 

Vosloorus, basothong section is where it went dwn on da 10^th of Sep. Vosloo Kasi Movement be the name of the Hp hop sessions which have been running for the last 3 months. The Mad Scientist who has been dormant 4 a while is resurrecting his hood with these particular sessions.

Got der round-a-bout 2 PM, a bit late considering that the session was possed to start @ 1 PM, but I was not dat late after all coz there had been no performances as yet! I chilled took a few pics n popped a beer! Asked around 4 da Mad Scientist and he was apparently still @ work. He showed up in due time and we took a walk along with Laxus to de Scientist’s place. Along the way there I came to learn dat The Scientist was actually the brain behind the Asgard Mixtape. It felt like a blessing having been walking around in da hood with the Mastermind behind 1 of da niciest mixtapes around!

In due time we got back to Self Express Car Wash the venue of da session. Music was blarring from the speakers, old school hardcore hip hop. It was easy to tell dat most of the cats there where old school cats who where down with Hip Hop in da 90’s.

DANC where the first to grace the stage. Just like myself twas their 1^st time @ these sessions. They gave us 3 politically motivated tracks, white screaming out Fuck Eugene Terreblanch, Fuck DA, and Fuck ANC. These had 1 guy saying “hey watch it u in da hood.” V dot graced the stage with his motswako laced tracks that got us moving side to side. Laxus also hit the stage and gave us a few well versed tracks.

More cats hit the stage but I failed to get their names as I was 2 busy takin snapshots of da cats in da dark smoking on something something. Unfortunately I had to get out of da hood n go back 2 my humble abode in Germiston. The session was possed to run till 23:30 and I got da feelin dat it was gona get crazier! All was well except dat da sound may hav been a bit off point and there masses also did not rock up as expected. Well the sessions are held the second Saturday of every month and I am surely hitting it again next month! Vosloo Kasi Movement is not a competition but a movement!

MANGOZI YATALA KA SPICE - Thulamahashi

Mr Do

Twas da 2^nd of July, twas mid winter this side of da world. Being in da far end of Mpumalanga we did not feel the dire cold dat seldom affects ppl during these times. Twas a sunny day with a slight wind which faded as the day progressed.

Pleasant and Dialletic

A ride had been organized to ferry us to Thulamahashi, and interesting conversations had sprung up in the car to signify that we shud have a fun filled day! A conversation regarding the recent killing of a 3 year old by a pack of dawgz in S.A got us asking what the roles of pets where in our lives.  With that being spoken out, we spoke bout nature’s culling methods on humans; free flowing conversations set us up for a good day!

13:25 Thulamashi.

No sound yet! Oh well, it shall be here when it is here. As we familiarised ourselves with our surroundings I spotted the mellow Spoja, sitting on da stage with a friend who introduced himself as DJ Buswa/Pap/Porridge.  (Hip Hoppers and names! Lmfao, Now how the fuck u gonna call urself DJ Porridge?). He good though! As we waited for the sound system my tummy started reacting on me so I had to look for a nearby toilet. Find 1 I did, although it was not the cleanest toilet around, but hey who I to complain am. Tis the hood after all and we shud clean it ourselves.

Sound was ready by the time we got back (Shout out to S.K, for providing the sound and stage free of charge) and the Hip Hop music was blaring from the speakers. Shit had to start poppin, after all we were a bit short on tym. As the sessions always begin all emcees graced the stage n started to deliver sum freestyles just to warm up! A few emcees came hard, as in Rash n K.G with Mr Do always crackin up da masses with his constant switch between Xitsonga n Sepulana.

I and Mr do graced the Mic 1^st n gave our Anthem “Batho ba Shota”, a song dat originated on stage @ 1 of our first sessions. CHP muvemnt who has always been gracing our sessions hit the stage and the energy dat yungin oozes is astounding. With Dj S. K alternating between beautiful hip hop the day progressed. Third eye a native of College View hit da stage n kinda changed the mood of the session with his hardcore lyricism on da song “Travel.” Pleasant and Dialletic did a fascinating collabo which got every1 of their seats.

CHP muvement n Panda

The dancers Wild Catz (Batau) graced da stage n had other dancers in da backropund get out from hiding with a battle dat came out of nothing. The Crazy Dawgz reunited for 1 track which saw our Dj hitting da stage! Masta H did 1 of his finest tracks with Mr Do following with his “Re Thoma Go Yikwa” a whole lot of ada performers also hit they stage n flexed their Vocal Cords.



Pedi Swag n Masta H



CHP Movement hit the stage again with his 11 year old lil sis. She kinda stole the shine from every1, coz she will remain da topic of this Hip Hop session. We had Yvonne from BBR news present and she said a story will be in da paper! Overall twas a start in Thulamahashi which shall c us going further! Before i disappear, shout out to Pedi Swag’s Oscar n K.G who was also present at da session all da way from Mashishing. They have been featured in AB Crazy’s Man of da moment vid!

One Love!

Young black and gifted....?

They were young; they were black and intelligently radical. The young organised people of ’76 run to the street of Soweto in June 16 with a mission at heart and a vision of a clear South African education system in mind. They made their statement, revolutionised and created history. Every year we stand still in remembrance of this heroic action our fellow young soldiers endured. They aggressively paved and painted red the road to freedom for us, Mandela walked on it fist in the air and gave us the independence. One thing in common here between us and ’76 generation is the aggressiveness, the drive, passion, the radicalism of young blood, the death drive. We are the generation that can take up arms and fight for our leaders; we are the kidz that get on skateboards and paint walls; the brothers and sisters who eat sushi on top of naked bodies, like the Outlawz we rebel against the system that we don’t understand.

We are the unpredictable social-network junkies, risk taking ambitious youth of 2011 but our future looks bleak, I’m saying bleak subjectively looking @ our present state of affairs, I’m not prophesying; I’m just saying, the rising in stats of HIV/AIDS infections amongst the youth, according to information released by South Africa Institute of Race Relation there is an increasing number of unemployment between the age of 15 and 25, teen pregnancy, the level of our education and our so-called society role model, the likes of Mandla Lamba and khanyi Mbayu. Maybe is only the worry of the elders, who’ll always say ‘eish, abatwana ba la malanga’. Where is our inspiration? Where is our death drive directed to? There’s no question about the energy we exude, we have so much energy we can light up one Eskom power station for a day, that’s how much power we have. An ANCYL conference is an epitome of the energized generation that we are. We engage our leaders, take on technology, accessorize and flirt with every modern fashion trend and infiltrate every social network system like we are promised a seat in paradise. I am writing with mixed emotions here, with so much vigour, a nation of 46 million in population nearly quarter n half of it being the youth, we fail to mobilise and come against piracy so our artist can sell 50000 units? How are we dealing with the reality of HIV and Aids? The government and the ruling party put it in simpler language ‘this is not a fight of one man, but it is everyone’s fight’. Are we weary to fight or we just don’t give a crap. In this era where everyone wants to be a tenderpreneur, we still battle to acquire comforting results when it comes to Maths and Science. Have we lost the objectives of the freedom fighters, the dreams and ambitions of Steve Biko, Chris Hani and Solomon Mahlangu?

The truth is, Mzansi’s troopers are us (youth) and we are sitting in the middle of the sea with a sense of direction but no compass or a captain. We need to sail our ship to the right direction and see in us the heroes and legends of the 20th century, lets hustle the hustle like the boys and girls our age; Proverb, Slikour, Noni Gaza, Kabelo of TKzee, Goodenough Mashego, Teargas, Kgebetli Moeli, Kgoshi Tshwarelo esengMogakane, Zizo Beda, Khensani Nkosi of Stone Cherrie, Katsuko, Siyabonga Ngwekazi of Ama kip kip, Monice of Monice entertainment... I can go on and on. This route is not to the swift my young friends but time and chance is given to us. What do we do with the freedom we have in our hands?   

Luv ur Hood and recognize is al gud        

LUV UR HOOD vid by Goodenough Mashego

Who gives a sh*t if I’m Black or White?

…truly speaking, who gives a rat if I’m black or white, really who cares, except for the corporate world documents that expect you to classify yourself according to colour and race. They are the biggest ogre in the race card so maybe they might be excused as uninformed. From last decade it was the whole system of Verwoed screaming and stamping black, black, black, kaffir, kaffir, hate….we learnt, persevered and adjusted to the situation. An extraordinary Golihlahla Mandela comes out from the sea try to rebuilds the nation and re-invents the flag into a rainbow symbol with the hope to end all discrimination and injustice, in good spirit that all shall be one. Well, it didn’t quite happen, lately it was Malema accusing everyone and everything with racism, Kuli Roberts had her opinion just like everyone else but she was strongly vocal about it with the emphasis of ‘race’ she was accused of racial comments, then there was Trevor Manuel and Jimmy Manyi’s publicity squabble; and Steve Hoffmeyer…WTF? Who do you think you are to make such degrading comments? Even if racism is not a crime where do you get a leg or the platform to stand and say such things? Do we need to unleash Malema on you? And wasup with Donald Trump questioning the whole President of the US’s academic credentials is it because he’s black?

The world and its people is engrossed by the cataclysmic events nature has bestowed on us, we don’t need you (racism). Honestly, the world is big enough for us to live as people, not as people with colour. Shit is, I see the colour that has been defined and engraved in my mind as green, stupid, loud, unintelligent, and aggressive before I see you. They say I’m defined by culture, tradition and race but I’m the motherfucker with the personality, what was I before I came out with my skin pigment? South Africa has come a long way since the apartheid regime but apparently we are still living in the after effects of that segregation. Which gave me an excuse when my girlfriend accused me of racism, I literally said, it’s a reverse hatred, like a boomerang, I give back what they gave me. For a little I sounded like Julius. The brutality of racism is so severe that if experienced it can leave someone scared for life, so I heard. But we don’t need that kind of shit in our lives, do we? Jay Z was quoted saying ‘these generation, especially the Hip Hop generation is the least racists kind of people’, I really want to concur but if morons like Steve Hofmeyer, Donald Trump and Jimmy Manyi will come out in public and spit such ignorance, like being a certain colour is a curse, then fuck being black, fuck you cause you not same colour as me! I’m not saying this cause I’m black or because I think the radar is going strongly towards the south, I’m saying this as a human being, as an Hip Hop ambassador, as moral species of the earth; racism is an demonic iniquity that need to be exorcised form humanity cause I’m so full of it!!!! Who really cares if I’m red or bliue?

Luv Ur Hood nd recognize iz al gud