In my mind hip-hop had just been a musical concept derived from the United States of America and the phrase “hip-hop you’re the love of my life “ was just another line I sang on my way to somewhere. But you see, my thoughts are not your thoughts and in Pretoria hip-hop has truly become the love of ones life.

In peoples minds Pretoria is still regarded as a pretty rigid and closed place, nothing good, never mind hip is ever expected from this town. Factually one can never dismiss these narrow minded views that these certain individuals still have, considering the fact that this town is closely linked with our country’s hoary past. Pleasantly enough those that live in this city can testify otherwise because most of us that are living in Pretoria are finding ourselves in the middle of a hip-hop revolution.

The hip-hop scene in Pretoria is on a positive slope that seems to be infinitely climbing. This climb can be attributed to the presence of many educational institutions around the city. Their presence has created an influx of cosmopolitan hip-hop talent and the city has ended up finding itself as a home for many hip-hop groups, groups like loose cannons, parts of optical illusion, kung fools, melanin, ill and urban militia to name a few.

From what has been said here, one can almost get the impression that the hip-hop scene in Pretoria has always been fresh, but this is not so as this town has also had its share of its ups and downs. Pretoria found itself in a situation whereby many hip-hop clubs where shutting down or where being taken over by new management. This action led to a very sharp decline in hip-hop attendance and support, but with situation looming around hip-hop artists where forced to look for other ways to explore and present their musical offering. So they did. Now many rap shows are being held at university courtyards, restaurants and coffee bars and this shift of venue has forced or allowed people to view hip-hop in a different light. Hip-hop to them is no longer a distant secluded club movement but rather a part of ones existence and attitude in a sense that a person can now listen to hip-hop drinking coffee and wearing non baggy clothes other than the usual beer and Pelle-Pelle jeans.

Pretoria has also managed to play host to many hip-hop artists such as Skwatta Kamp, Tumi and his Volume etc. the Touchbase tour was also scheduled to come by but since the organisers failed to secure a venue the tour had to make a detour. Once again events such as the annual Oppikoppi festival held in Pretoria have also helped to push the Pretoria hip-hop scene because most hip-hop supporters and artists in Pretoria have found themselves being exposed to different hip-hop artists and styles.

So while everybody else is living the hip-hop dream presented on the TV screen, the folks in Pretoria seem to be what hip-hop perhaps is about an everyday attitude on life and a cultural metamorphosis.

Written by Enoch

Submitted by: admin