HYPE MAGAZINE IN STORES

[Young-n-mighty]

Right, so Hype magazine is out, dedicated to just hiphop. Ready D is editor. I picked it up for the sweet introductory price of 9.95, which included a freebie sample of AXE. *UGH* nothing smells so bad. But the magazine itself was ok. It seems thought that Skwatta Kampa, H2O and Tumi and the Volume have this burden of representing South Africa´s exploding hip hop culture because they seem to be mentioned in every single article i have read about hiphop this year. So expect a rehash of their opinions in Hype. Please guys, im sure there are more hiphop heads to get opinions from. There was an article on female mcees. Once again, an overdone and somewhat overexxagerated issue, and the primary sources were - you guessed it- Godessa. Surely the lack of women in hiphop can be explored from another angle now? And the ubiquitous theme of "BEEF" was addressed -  i think we´re beating a dead cow now although it was well written; cool design by Tiago. Great music reviews! Tons of  competitions too! Oh, the RYMZUWROTE section hould become a hit.
Well, it actually looks like it has some potential to be a competitor to Ymag...If they include more local stories on the vast hiphop scene. Has the potential to bring unknowns out of their bedrooms into the limelight.

So, has anybody else  seen HYPE and what do you guys think?

[MentalGymnast]

Yeah I got a free copy in Rosebank, it is not very interesting.
I don´t think anything was actually new (ie. you can read the exact articles in XXL or Y-mag)
The article with Zubs, Skwatta, H2O was the only thing worth reading.
the female MC article wasn´t very fresh, its been done before.
eKapa vs Jozi was boring, unoriginal and the premise of the article is non existant  
Music reviews - not a single local music review
RymsUwrote could be interesting, there was some nice stuff


READY D IS NOT THE EDITOR, HE ONLY WROTE (WRITES) THE EDITORIAL. LOOK ON THE CONTENTS PAGE IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER, IN really small LETTERS, IS THE NAME OF THE EDITOR AND EDITORIAL STAFF -this is what is commonly known as pimping the Hip Hop community-

I don´t like it, everything seems too much like any americana Hip Hop magazine. the cover and layout are nice but not original (how can something be nice if its a bite?)

I DON"T LIKE IT

[khoi]

I got myself a copy, honestly, I got pissed by what Zubz said on the –I think it’s called – Roundtable. Dude goes on bout how we as South Africans don’t need a hip-hop identity and I know we’ve been down this road but I hav a few issues with the so-called Last Letter and the shit he says on interviews. Does dude think we stupid or something… the reason why dude goes on bout the way we don’t need a uniquely “South African sound” is simple and plain – he knows he be won’t part of it

Truth be told, when local hip-hop does become “uniquely South African”, with cats rapping in their mother tongues –in Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, Tsonga, Swati, Pedi, Venda, Xhosa, Tswana, Ndebele, San lingoes, - not one of those BEAUTIFUL lingoes can come out of dude – he was born in Zim grew up in Zambia – and in no way can he ditch his “Will Smith during his days as The Fresh Prince meets LL Cool J” flow and come out nice in one of our lingo and I bet you he can even construct two sentences –rhyme make sense – in his mother tongue.

And his team of producers can’t chop-up some local shit and make it sound like theirs – the same way they did with Mos Def’s “Brown Sugar”, Reakwon’s “Jury”, The Roots’ “Adrenaline”, Das EFX’s “Real Hip-hop” – the list goes on…

The only/ biggest obstacle in Zubz’s rap career in South Africa, is local hip-hop being originally Mzantsi and he knows it…

He says that…I won’t even go there

[Anonymous]

as i said in my last post
there´s other perhaps more interesting ways of looking hiphop and gender other than from the pesperctive of the lack of female emcees. not that i agree with all that´s in this article, but its more interesting to read

http://www.alternet.org/story/18811

and ya i agree, it was way to foreign focused. more local crewz pleez.
young-n.

[TNGlive]

Quote:

28-06-2004 at 16:19, khoi : Truth be told, when local hip-hop does become “uniquely South African”, with cats rapping in their mother tongues –in Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, Tsonga, Swati, Pedi, Venda, Xhosa, Tswana, Ndebele, San lingoes, - not one of those BEAUTIFUL lingoes can come out of dude – he was born in Zim grew up in Zambia – and in no way can he ditch his “Will Smith during his days as The Fresh Prince meets LL Cool J” flow and come out nice in one of our lingo and I bet you he can even construct two sentences –rhyme make sense – in his mother tongue. The only/ biggest obstacle in Zubz’s rap career in South Africa, is local hip-hop being originally Mzantsi and he knows it… He says that…I won’t even go there

Khoi you need to go download my track 2 questions. Listen to it. Digest it. Then go eat go eat a d*&^. All your threads seem to add up to something I´m not a fan of period. :-Y  :-Y  :-Y

[TNGlive]

28-06-2004 at 17:07, TNG :

Quote:

28-06-2004 at 16:19, khoi : and I bet you he can even construct two sentences –rhyme make sense – in his mother tongue.

How do U know that? :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y Do you speak HIS mother tongue you small minded cat? The reason our forefathers got divided by past killers


[ This message was edited by: milkdaddy on 28-06-2004 20:02 ]

[khoi]

Quote:

28-06-2004 at 16:27, milkdaddy : Khoi I´m looking forward to more Kwabulawayo Kraal shit, still bump the album to this day!  When´s the next one coming?

We currently on the road with Hidden Force, Rashid, and the rest of the Touchbase Tour Crew – yesterday we were in Kwa-Thema and this Sunday we going to Daveyton. The tour ends in September, meantime we wanna set up shop, take the Kraal out of Gauteng maybe do Cape Town, Durbz, where ever, - still on the subject, if anyone want the Kraal in your hood I’m here/ or call 072 353 1072 let’s talk – as far as the CD goes, we not dropping it this year, but that might change, KIWI is prepping his solo and then after that we talking the Kraal

As always thanks for the continuous love…
;-)

[khoi]

Quote:

28-06-2004 at 17:07, TNG : Quote: 28-06-2004 at 16:19, khoi : Truth be told, when local hip-hop does become “uniquely South African”, with cats rapping in their mother tongues –in Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, Tsonga, Swati, Pedi, Venda, Xhosa, Tswana, Ndebele, San lingoes, - not one of those BEAUTIFUL lingoes can come out of dude – he was born in Zim grew up in Zambia – and in no way can he ditch his “Will Smith during his days as The Fresh Prince meets LL Cool J” flow and come out nice in one of our lingo and I bet you he can even construct two sentences –rhyme make sense – in his mother tongue. The only/ biggest obstacle in Zubz’s rap career in South Africa, is local hip-hop being originally Mzantsi and he knows it… He says that…I won’t even go there Khoi you need to go download my track 2 questions. Listen to it. Digest it. Then go eat go eat a d*&^. All your threads seem to add up to something I´m not a fan of period. :-Y  :-Y  :-Y

Haven´t you heard I don’t download I buy - sell your album to me and YES, believe me, I will buy it…and hopeful your track will dish out some humble pie cause I love those they bring out the best in the one who bake them :-]

[khoi]

Quote:

and I bet you he can even construct two sentences –rhyme make sense – in his mother tongue.

Quote:

How do U know that? :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y  :-Y Do you speak HIS mother tongue you small minded cat? The reason our forefathers got divided by past killers

I don´t speak his mother tongue, but sure would love to hear him rap in it. and far as being divided, well my history is a bit dodgy pls explain what u mean there 4 real pls school me


[ This message was edited by: milkdaddy on 28-06-2004 20:03 ]

[TNGlive]

Well I guess your intentions are not malicious (sp) man. All good. You can order the CD "The Big Ups FRom SL MAg Mixtape" that has the track. From Soulfu_Enterprise and they´ll receive your endz and mail it to you. Soulfu_Enterprise@yahoo.com
Peace
Oh. p.s the History lesson would be a little too long right now.  Outy.

[MentalGymnast]

Yeah think Khoi is right to a degree (let me not say right, but rather that I agree with him to a degree). I think Zubs is too Americanised to realise that we need a Local Sound, something original (I don´t think its as blunt as him wanting to sell).
about the Mother Tongue, I´m not as sure, I do realise that for SA to find itself in Hip Hop more MC´s need to flip in their mother tongues (MC´s are uncomfortable flipping in English but don´t realise it) but then again some people, like me, are incoherent in an African Language, and have English as their first language (I won´t say Mother tongue cause English is not the Mother of my tongue)
I think the whole issue around flipping in Mother Tongue is about relevance, Local Hip Hop needs to be relevant and forcing english (especially in an American accent) is not relevant

It takes more skill to do something original than it does to bite. therefore flipping in vernac requires more skill. I think Khoi was making the point that Zubs is not as hot because he doesn´t have the skill to flip in a manner he hasn´t heard on radio. So its not about Khoi being able to flip in Zubs´ mother tongue or Zubs flipping in Khoi´s but Zubs doing something original and relevant.

I think its all about RELEVANCE (English, German, Japanese, Wolof, Arabic whatever!) and of course NICE MUSIC

[Coon]

true true. my agreement lies with khoi.
i personally cannot flip at all in my mom and pops´ tongues, but try to sneak in all them references and bits and bobs and cultural schitt that makes SOUTH AFRIKA SOUTH AFRIKA...because essentially i believe that when you leave the country you should not only be on par with the other MCs in the world but they will expect and extra bit...something new and PARTICULARLY INTERESTING (language, custom, styel etc) because you aren´t from America, England, Jamaica or even Zimababwe...
you need not only fall into the cockcheese of representing, but need to establish a little something Hip-Hop is forgetting: ORIGINALITY~!!!!!

globalising culture only means one thing: imperialism. dominance of the ´more powerful´ not only in terms of economics but in culture...flipping like them (the powers that be) only shows that you can ape them and their customs, that you are an unintelligent K-AFFIR because you aren´t able to take influence and INNOVATE!!

you sound like nas, ll cool j or rakim. try sounding more sdumo, boss magamba and steve hofmeyer

[Coon]

younahmean my niggaz and nigarezzez...word in bun!
hahahahaha
silly wappas
whats funny is that in a whole song in english, or the most complex rhyme scheme, if someone brings out a specifically local comment or specific cultural reference that is what gets the most attention!! that is what makes people realise you are an individual, a south afrikan individual who took the influence from japan, new york, vietnam and added himself...flipped it on it head and CREATED!!!

[Coon]

are any of you holding rap lessons??
schooling/sonning/kicking the truth etc....
i wish i could do the vernacc rap thing!!

[Young-n-mighty]

i think we should start talking about HIPHOP FROM SOUTH AFRICA and not just SOUTH AFRICAN HIPHOP...
Some hip hop from South  (ern) Africa will sound ´american´ and some will draw on home influences. some will sound completely on another tip.
Coz does Hymphatic Thabs not sound original, yet mostly he rhymes in English.
And what about white boys who rap? and maybe they´re just not like lekgoa.

lets face it, this art form was born in the BroNX, its like that. So ya, we can find the local flavour, but those who dont speak the language are not excluded. Coz the question is who produced it, and where. If its done here then damn it its from here.
If its done in Zimbabwe then damn it its from Zimbabwe.
Bros, lets stop trying to essentialise what South African is in this global order.
That´s just so tribal.
kind of like- this is how we are and this is how we´ll always be.
MIZCHIF is Mzansi hiphop even though he is Zimbabwean - coz this is where it happens for him and this is where he collaborates, contributes and grows.

And that goes for all Music... REALLY, LIKE South Afircan R&B has the same struggle. Despite efforts by TWINS to indigenize it.

I believe hiphop struggles only because people dont have much in their pockets in South Africa to help them broaden their musical interests. WHY ISNT SKWATTA SELLING AS MUCH AS MAFIKIZOLO?
Coz hiphop in any form is new and ´alien´ to South Africa, you buy it as added an extra.
Empty pockets makes appreciating hiphop harder in South Africa.
I mean, damn even Zola sells but not as much as Phuzekhemisi, coz the people that buy his music dont have all the money to explore variety.
It´s economics man.
Zubz would do fine if people could just throw their money around like kids do in Germany and America.
German kids listen to blimmn everything coz they can afford to be exposed to it.

Note to aspiring celebrities: If you wanna move units and make dough, go to germany and sell to german kids.