Category: South Africa
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Jay Jody Tackles Mental Health on ‘Be Myself’
Hip-Hop often requires the artist (and their peers) to show strength, bravado, and dominance. The topic of mental health and wellness, however, is a scattered topic in Hip-Hop. It does not often take precedence in rap music, however, when it does, it tends to land in a special pocket that many artists are afraid to tap…
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Maglera Doe Boy – ‘Makazana’
Lyricism, and out of the box creativity provides a brief description for the ‘Makazana’ visuals released by Maglera Doe Boy in late 2022. Born as Tokelo Moyakhe in Reitz, Free State, the South African artist delivered a personal, yet relatable message to the world while speaking both English and Southern Sotho slang, the language often…
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PdotO’s “Dear God”
image provided by SlikourOnLife PdotO’s Dear God is an emotional plea against the world and all of its pressures. PdotO uses this song to express his grievances against his community touching on topics such as rape, alcoholism, and xenophobia. The song brilliantly shows the realities of being a socially conscious emcee in South Africa and…
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Love and War by Stogie T
image provided by Stogie T on Youtube I struggled to look for a South African hip hop song post-2020 that would cover social justice. South Africa and Africa in general tends to be hidden from the rest of the world and its music is usually listed in “world” music on music platforms. By the time…
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HHAP Ep. 79.5: Announcements and Celebrating 50 Years of Hip Hop
This is a short episode we recorded to send out a couple of announcements and to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop.
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Love & War by Stogie T
The song I will do my second blog post about is “Love & War” by Stogie T featuring Lucille Slade. Reports say this song speaks of the strange state of heroism and delinquency. The composer sampled the Tommy Butler song. The instrumentals are very soothing, the message is great and clear, the chorus is catchy…
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Somnyama Yena Yedwa: Blxckie
Sihle Sithole, also known as Blxckie, is a South African Rapper from Sydenham Heights, Durban. The foundation of his rap career started when he was only 8 years old just making music with his friends and the rest was history. Barely knew English but wrote poems to improve the language, wrote his own pieces, and…
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Nadia Nakai’s “Kreatures” Kreates a True Narrative of Female Hip Hop stardom
Image provided by ZIMBOlebs Nadia Nakai is a South African born Zimbabwean Hip hop artist from Johannesburg. Growing up, she went to high school in Kenya and graduated from Monash University with a degree in marketing communications and media studies. After spending some time in the television industry, Nadia decided to focus on her music…
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HHAP Ep78: Eavesdrop on Cultivating Spaces for Authenticity in Hip-Hop
Eavesdrop is a multi-hyphenate artist who is an MC, a producer, a director, and an actor. She has been active in Cape Town’s Hip-Hop scene for almost 2 decades and as a lyricist she often produces meaningful lyrics, expressing ideas that have depth. In this interview, we had an important conversation with Eavesdrop about the…
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HHAP Ep77: DJ Azuhl on Hip-Hop & DJing Culture in South Africa
DJ Azuhl (djazuhl.net) is a prominent South African DJ with Beat Bangaz (beatbangaz.net), a DJ collective in Cape Town. He was born and raised in Cape Town and has been involved in the Hip-Hop community in Cape Town since the 1980s. DJ Azuhl started out breakdancing with the legendary Breaking crew Brasse Vannie Kaap (BVK).…