The Hip Hop African

Kwesta’s debut ablum, Special Rekwest gave South Africa something they were not use too musically. Buttabing, the label Kwesta was signed to was known for their artist with agrressive styles of music. Three years later and Kwesta has branched out on his own and released DaKAR. On first listen the album is surprisingly dark, although it still a sound of pop. Wit the release of DAKAR he wanted to bring himself out of something of the space where he was comfortable with personal stories and beats that were not so mainstream. Many has said that DaKAR has the sound of American music but Kwesta says it is far from that. His track, All About has a pretty but melancholic piano loop with sjmilarities of Coldplay. The chorus is way catchy, uplifting, but the harmonies are eerily out of the norm. Yet it is really popular. There is a busy electronic track thick with experimental sounds and in another surprise turn, Kwesta rocks an old-school kwaito-ish track with Zakwe and Kid X called Thul’ Ujayive.The pop punk trio, CrashCarBurn, turn into metal heads when they feature on a track called Johnnie which also includes traditional Zulu singing. Again, it works really well. On another track the lyrics are an obvious and painful narrative about his early life. Absentee fathers are a feature of South African society. It is therefore remarkable that Kwesta is so devoted to being a proper father to his child. Is he also motivated by the cliché of what happened when he was young. He has dedicated a track called “Radio” to his partner and mother of his child with he speaks so highly of. Kwest urges that he wants his fans to connect with him on a personal level and grow with him. After the hype and success of his debut album, Kwesta began to feel frustrated as both label owners Slikour and Shugasmakx od Buttabing released their own albums. He felt sidelined. His frustration led to rebellion and he recorded and released eight songs in eight weeks which were freely available on the internet. Out of this his second album was born.