Sasa Klaas has yet to drop an official single but is declared as Botswana’s first lady of hip hop as of today in 2020. Sasa has collaborated with the likes of Botswanan hip hop artists Scar and Stagga, on singles their singles “A ke mo khandeng” and “The Commission”.
Sasa Klaas became known to the music scene in early 2012, and has an established social media presence. Through Sasa’s music and music videos I was able to see the similarities between the Botswana and American hip hip scene. I find it interesting in the past 8 years there has yet to be more female hip hop artists coming out of Botswana. So I ask the question where is the female presence in Botswanan hip hop? I noticed a lot of the modern Botswana hip hop is a branch of commercial American Hip Hop. The artists I browsed upon such as Ammo Ski Mask, Rak.0, Yaw Bannerman all over used the American racial “n word” slur throughout the song as well as hypersexual and homophobic lyrics.
I firmly believe that hip hop globally is a mass communicator. I can definitely see how images projected in American Hip Hop can be seen in a global context. I learned that without displaying multiple dimensions of a people, often times can led to one dimensional caricatures. I Unfortunately due to the mass production of images of materialism and hypersexuality leads to some believing this is the only way for the music to be heard. The imagery, lyrics, use of 808 and drums are very similar American Hip Hop scene.