Bongani Majola
20 May 2003
There is a lyrical revolution quietly taking place in our midst - and it's happening right here in Johannesburg. To say South African hip hop is taking shape is an understatement, role players argue. It has taken root and is spreading like wildfire, with the country's own brand of emcees spewing original lyrics in singles, cross-collaborations and at hip hop joints around the city.
"Johannesburg being the centre of the music industry," says Maria McCloy, editor of online entertainment magazine Rage and one of the foremost documenters of the hip hop subculture, "it is no coincidence that a lot of rap and hip hop activity is taking shape in the city." Currently the biggest and most recognisable faces of local hip hop are to be found in Johannesburg, she says: "This is where the exposure is."
2003, declared by some in the industry to be the year that local hip hop will shine, has already borne fruit, says McCloy. "Whereas two years ago, you wouldn't find a local hip hop CD in a music shop, today the stuff has grown to the extent where it is widely available. That in itself is a major achievement."
She singles out Rosebank-based youth radio station Yfm for its faith in the hip hop scene, even in its embryonic stage. Yfm is credited with having exposed hitherto unrecognised talent and "continues to give airplay to local hip hop more than any other station".
McCloy should know. Her company Rage Productions owns the independent record label Outrageous Records that has just compiled what is arguably the best of lyricists the country presently boasts into an 18-track CD simply titled "Expressions: Words Unlimited".
And the CD comes with the trademark rap tag of "Parental Advisory, Explicit Lyrics", for the obvious reason that the hip hop artists featured on the disc spare no one, claim no easy victories and tell it like it is, South African style.
Though executive producer Dzino is less generous in granting Johannesburg the breeding-ground status that McCloy gives to the hip hop scene, saying only "Joburg is just another city with an up-and-coming hip hop scene", the entire compilation of word warriors and a few featured R&B artists are based in Jozi.
SAMA award winning crew, Skwatta Kamp, show why they are SA's current Best Hip Hop Act with their track "Jozi's finest".
Some of the most instantly recognisable peddlers of the genre, Amu, Selwyn and Wikid, dedicated a song, titled Jozi, to the city of Johannesburg. "eJozi is where it's all happening," echoes a refrain from their track.
The really attention-grapping track is by a Soweto duo going by the name H20.
H20's creative corruption of Ella Fitzgerald's blues classic "It's wonderful" is already kicking up a storm on television and on the airwaves. Never before, says Spex, one of the featured emcees, has hip hop seen such media hype.
"Hip hop has grown from being an underground expression straight to commercial. You can now purchase our music at CD Warehouse and Top CDs as well as at other selected outlets. I think the industry is now more receptive than before, though there are still some sceptics who won't invest in hi hop yet, who just see it as another fad without a secure market."
Markets are competitive, all hip hop role players agree, and the immediate rivalry issues from the kwaito genre. "We all listen to kwaito," says Nkosana Nkosi of Skwatta Kamp, "Jozi's finest" by their own self-reference. The seven-member crew won the 2003 South African Music Award for best rap album last month, becoming the country's most sought-after rap outfit, "but we want to give kwaito serious competition".
But how precisely do they hope to win hearts away from kwaito? "Our strength is our mentality, we lace more lyrics and as far as expression is concerned, local hip hoppers just can't be touched," says Nkosi. "We are not constrained by gimmicks and quick singalongs that the music executives demand. We simply don't compromise on creative expression."
However, the biggest brick of criticism constantly thrown at local hip hop groups is that they fashion themselves on overseas artists - more specifically, that they are "US copy cats".
Amu is furious at the charge and says such criticism is born out of misunderstanding the genre. "People don't understand that by nature, hip hop borrows from all forms of expression, be it jazz, blues, classics or just other rap songs. The trick is always how to adapt the music to our scene. In that regard, we continue to churn our own unique South African hip hop and it has so grown that 2003 is the time to sell ourselves." Even so, such criticism will remain, he says.
Dzino reckons that "in some instances, that's fair criticism, but most artists are not trying to copy anyone really. Because of the history and current state of hip hop in the US, certain influences are inevitable. You can't avoid using pioneer hip hoppers as reference points, for instance, but that is as far as it goes. Otherwise, local guys have got their own unique style, completely peculiar to South Africa."
It has been the story of hip hop everywhere, argues McCloy, that it is initially dismissed as unoriginal and as a result suffers lack of recognition, "but it has turned that wave and it's on to the next stage now, which is commercial".
"2003 may not be the year we sell in huge numbers," says Proverbs, also featured in the compilation, "but it's the year we make an indelible mark on the music scene and take the hip hop revolution forward."
Source: City of Johannesburg website
