Volume 50 Issue 8 - August 2012 : Entertainment

Is this the demise or the birth of Hip-Hop or what?  Debate within the music industry predicts the demise of rap music locally, although others say the genre is simply undergoing a major paradigm shift. Whichever way you look at it, the propositions sound dicey. Will it rain tomorrow, or can a mind blowing rap album pop out from the current crop of rap artists? Or has the genre lost its appeal and splintered into a variety of forms? Or is this the demise of hip-hop as some suggest?

About half a decade ago, the local hip-hop music was at its peak, so they speak. From P-side to Westside the level of artistry and the hype associated with local hip-hop was just not easy to ignore. At the time it was just not about who was the best wordsmith, rather, it was more about how much your timberland boot cost, which car you were driving, and the rhymes an artist could spit-out. That was the era when the first crop of industry heavy weights such as Scar, Kast, Stagga, Mista Doe, Orakle, Zeus and Appollo Diablo first emerged. It was an era of oversized t-shirts and pants where hip-hop and basketball were almost blended together.

Hip hop hits such as Scars Metlholo, Apollo Diablo’s The city owes me, and Orakle’s Break through, and Stagga’s It getting crazy, not only dominated the airwaves but rattled inside car boots in front of parking lots of many a night club. That was the time when the University of Botswana was abuzz with microphone battles while almost every wall in town was littered with amateurish graffiti. At the height of it all was talk of Scar beef with Zeus that almost lasted forever, Orakle with Zeus, Apollo and Scar, Stagga and Mr T. It was a typical American hip-hop society riding on a turbulent hip-hop wave.

Since the new era of Motswako that replaced the hard-core gangstar rap, the skinny jeans and bright coloured t-shirts and the Mohawk hairstyle, another era of artists in the likes of A.T.I and Cibil Nite, has crested.  One may be tempted to ask, is this the end of rap music or is it another era that will take Hip-Hop to another level? Will there come an era where the current crop will enjoy airplay in Channel O like Scar, Apollo Diablo and Orakle did?

Rapper Apollo Diablo does not think that Hip-Hop is on its deathbed. Instead, he believes the genre is undergoing transition. “For the past years we have been struggling to find our own identity and we have been emulating American Hip-Hop culture and I think the current crop of rap artists are giving birth to a new era of Hi-Hop that centers around our own culture. I call this the birth of Hip-Hop,” he says. Diablo says the older artists have to re-engineer themselves to stay relevant in a market dominated by the new breed. “We also have to embrace the change for us to stay relevant and showcase our own cultural identity. Hip-hop is a culture and culture is dynamic,” he reckons.

However, during their time how did they manage to enjoy airplay in channel O? “It was all about quality videos and content was a determining factor. We focused more on the content of the song and gave utmost picture quality on videos,” says Diablo.  Channel O award winning lyricist, Orakle says Hip-Hop has curdled into simpler kwaito blended beats and is more like music for the club. He is of the view that Hip-Hop has also transformed into, “make a quick buck” kind of genre with very little artistry. “There is no artist who stands out in terms of artistry. It’s like they are all doing the same thing. It’s all about snap your finger and lay back kind of attitude. Its easy to have an album with 12 songs, with only two good tracks, that is why the artists don’t last,” he says.

Former RB 2 Hip-hop presenter, Justice Ditlhong, is of the view that while rap music has evolved, only the culture associated with it is dead. “Rap is all about rhythm and poetry. It’s not easy to follow the current Motswako trend,” he says. However, Ditlhong reckons a good future for Motswako. “With the current collaborations with the South African artists I think there is a bright future for Motswako,” he enthuses. And the Hip-Hop industry awaits the coming of both A.T.I and Diablo’s album. The two albums will gauge the future of the genre besides shedding light on the question, “Is the genre aging out. ENDS

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