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Hip Hop Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dpleezy on January 15, 2009, 12:48:03 PM

Title: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: Dpleezy on January 15, 2009, 12:48:03 PM
Check out this interesting debate as a white South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough, undermining his culture and poisoning the minds of his people.

http://nicharalambous.com/2009/01/14/this-is-what-is-wrong-with-our-music-culture-rattex-is-poison/ (http://nicharalambous.com/2009/01/14/this-is-what-is-wrong-with-our-music-culture-rattex-is-poison/)
 
Feel free to jump in...
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: SolitaryNative on January 15, 2009, 01:09:44 PM
Total tosser. White or not the c*nt clearly has no idea what he is talking about. Unless his Xhosa is seamless and he is actually capable of discerning what Rattex is about. Would it be out of hand for another WSA (sort of) to write a lambasting response or is he dumb enough to have strung himself up with his own rope already?

What a tosser, seriously. All that shit about bling and what have you. Rattex is a politically minded motherf***er who speaks on some serious shit, from lumka, all that shit about devils in suits forgetting cats at home, showing love to his goddamn background. This is why I should ignore shit like this. D don't respond though, somebody is bound too. The trouble with the internet is swill like that, unmitigated, uncensored stupidity. f***in offensive actually.

Remember I used to say that shit- Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you to their level and beat you with experience. (Anon) . Case in point.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: DaT NiGGa P-DuB on January 15, 2009, 01:18:32 PM
What the f*** is being american about style?? what i dont get is why the sense of fashion / style critique is always placed on black people, or rather african hiphop heads?

when a white south african kid wears surfer clothing or has that kinda style, he is not trying to be australian is he? why cant it be that this sense of fashion can be appealing beyond rap / nation / colour. But when a white kid wears hiphop clothing he is trying to be black - NOT AMERICAN but BLACK! WTF IS THIS KAK??

THIS DUDE CAN EAT A DICK FOR ALL I CARE.

Rattex is reppin who he is, how he was cultured (which is not limited to the spaza lifestyle) and is proud to be where he is from... more power to u bra!
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: DaT NiGGa P-DuB on January 15, 2009, 01:24:42 PM
my goodness, is this nick haralambos? i knw this dude.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: The Mighty Loks on January 15, 2009, 01:25:31 PM
Wow... How I wish ignorance was a terminal illness so some people could actually just perish.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: afterbirth on January 15, 2009, 02:44:11 PM
much as he's speaking out of his ring piece..
the subject line of this topic is wholly inappropriate..
perhaps intended to spur us into action- but misguided nonetheless..
i say this as no one ever refers to u as "the white englishman" when u vent ur spleen about the american accents adopted by some of our local acts.. 
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: Draztik on January 15, 2009, 02:50:38 PM
damn... i got too emotional to comment, what a bunch a bullshit. dude first need to understand the culture of hiphop and the language. What part of our clothing isnt westernised, (even what the BLOGGER is wearing), what a useless point of reference. listen the music idiot!!!!!
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: General Ratzinger van Stilzkin on January 15, 2009, 02:54:28 PM
quick someone ask him why the parlotones sound and look like your average rock band in the states
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: TY-D-CPT-021-NKE on January 15, 2009, 03:00:12 PM
oh shit when i first read the headline i was like"some bra has a problem with a thing that kills rats?...and its not black enuff?"...lol...i have to agree that this fool doesnt know shit about shit and aint black enuff himself...c***! hip hop just like rasta is a movement/culture/way of life/ and we ambrace it course there is an atraction...rastas speak like "dem liyaan burn babylone"...we be like "yo sup son/homy wat it is" ...what ever hip hop means to the person embracing it...shit peeps are all smoking tik..rattex props...
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: RearrangedReality on January 15, 2009, 03:03:12 PM
As much as im on your side on this one D, I feel the dude wasnt being racist. You've supported your reasoning your saying what you said and it's makes a lot of sense and understandable and yes, the context in which the word homie was used is rather insulting but i dont think dude what being racist. He just doesnt know enough about the culture he was commenting on and hence made the reckless comments.

With that said, I also feel the responses directed to the blogger in gereral are rather too harsh because he has stated his reasons and responded humbly to a lot of the comments and admitted where he thought his views might have been out of ignorance(though he did not use this word).

Im not sure what to say about the title of the thread though even though i actually want to comment on it.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: General Ratzinger van Stilzkin on January 15, 2009, 03:08:47 PM
the topic title choice begs for ridicule though.  :D
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: kingdavid on January 15, 2009, 03:18:46 PM
somem white people seem to know to much about africanism.

rattex must promote hunger in his videos.

he must do some smash and grabs and probably a lot of white african will love him

'ohh smash and grab did you see that? he's absolutely south african from a township.'

why dont they fu***n wear animal skins and eat potjie kos in msanzi rock videos?
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: RearrangedReality on January 15, 2009, 03:25:21 PM
the topic title choice begs for ridicule though.  :D

funny but rather inapproriate, he should have went for, "White South African accuses Rattex of being poison".
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: motho on January 15, 2009, 03:29:30 PM
much as he's speaking out of his ring piece..
the subject line of this topic is wholly inappropriate..
perhaps intended to spur us into action- but misguided nonetheless..
i say this as no one ever refers to u as "the white englishman" when u vent ur spleen about the american accents adopted by some of our local acts.. 


True that. I am also wondering if we would be having this discussion had the artist not been signed to Dplanet's label.

The blogger is merely stating his opinion on the video, that is what bloggers do. He may not know about hip hop culture as much as the rest of the people on this site. But then again, some of you have blogs and if you like the video so much, maybe you can write a "more balanced" review of it yourself instead of attacking ignorant Nic for expressing his opinion
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: rob_one on January 15, 2009, 03:33:13 PM
I know Nic. He and I worked on a paper together where he was a senior editor.

He's an excellent journalist - very opinionated but always open to a debate. I may not agree with him but you can certainly respect his point of view.

I see D had been engaging in a pretty heavy debate with him. Rock and roll. I stuck my two cents up on there too.

Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: SolitaryNative on January 15, 2009, 03:50:17 PM
He has a good style and shit but honestly that was an abomination of a piece. Talk about showing yourself up. A blip maybe but not always a winner to be articulate and uninformed simultaneously. Not known for my calm head. 
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: The Mighty Loks on January 15, 2009, 03:50:55 PM
much as he's speaking out of his ring piece..
the subject line of this topic is wholly inappropriate..
perhaps intended to spur us into action- but misguided nonetheless..
i say this as no one ever refers to u as "the white englishman" when u vent ur spleen about the american accents adopted by some of our local acts.. 


True that. I am also wondering if we would be having this discussion had the artist not been signed to Dplanet's label.

The blogger is merely stating his opinion on the video, that is what bloggers do. He may not know about hip hop culture as much as the rest of the people on this site. But then again, some of you have blogs and if you like the video so much, maybe you can write a "more balanced" review of it yourself instead of attacking ignorant Nic for expressing his opinion

Yet he refers to Rattexes MUSIC in it's entirety. The music to me can't get any more "African" ( whatever that means considering Africa is such a huge continent with so many different cultures) but the video might be American influenced, but then again what isn't? He comments on their clothes, a South African brand and the scarfs are Arabian and let's face it, it's Hip Hop not isicatamiya (sp), a genre of music that has a high American influence and sadly that's something that isn't too easy to step away.  

And why does everything have to be proudly poverty stricken for it to be proudly African? So for this song to be African they had to be draped in leopard skin, with dying children and broken down cars?






Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: OG Beezak on January 15, 2009, 04:24:36 PM
This reminds of some ish I wrote back in the day:

I’m sick of hypocrites, maniacs, claiming we are copycats
Accusing the culture (Khaltsha as well) while the whole S.A. is a mess
If they could listen, sit down and digest,
This verse I’m gonna converse while I tie my converse
Cos they so stressed, our brothers claiming we fake rappers
Even our sisters can’t comprehend why we drop verses
Why we take stances, take this hip hop to a level where it advances
Cos since we were kids, we been crying and searching for love
On every street we creeping and ducking them guns
Hope we get by, reminiscing cos papa just died
But still they ask why we rapping about hoods and thugs
Hoes and guns, I’m repping even boys with knives
But hold that thot , I’m humble like a catholic nun
This ain’t no Game, I’m writing like Biko what I like
Motherf***er if you don’t like this ish just gun it up

But D, you guilty of accusing niggers for American accents as well. Lesson from this-----let niggers be what they be and live what you be
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: 1kind on January 15, 2009, 04:40:57 PM
withouth ruffling too many 'african' feathers, i'd like you to look at the way the title is phrased very seriously. It already sets up the black reader to anticipate another racially driven rant from a disgruntled white blogger.

But after reading the article i think that rattex was chosen out of convenience to make a point that i do agree with, "In our quest to elevate the standards of hip hop to a marketable entity we have borrowed many American ways of promoting our product (hip hop)."

THAT IS THE TAKE HOME MESSAGE...

South africans (black, white or otherwise) have expressed this view many times over. There was nothing in that article to convince me (unlike the title of this thread) that it was a racially driven slander on rattex...

If i, a black guy, had written that article the reactions would have been different.

I know rattex. i've chilled and spoken and philospophised with him. he is a true ghetto soldier with all the aspirations shared by youth from our background. he is a kasi boy through and through, kodwa masingayibaleki inyani...



Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: ProVerb on January 15, 2009, 04:46:40 PM
Wow... How I wish ignorance was a terminal illness so some people could actually just perish.

Beautifully Put!
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: Dpleezy on January 15, 2009, 06:23:15 PM
much as he's speaking out of his ring piece..
the subject line of this topic is wholly inappropriate..
perhaps intended to spur us into action- but misguided nonetheless..
i say this as no one ever refers to u as "the white englishman" when u vent ur spleen about the american accents adopted by some of our local acts.. 


Yeah, it is a bit inflammatory - the whole situation just really pissed me off and that's what came out.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: Dpleezy on January 15, 2009, 07:03:24 PM
When I engage in a debate over any aspect of hip hop culture in South Africa, I do so from an educated perspective and with the best interest of the culture at heart. I might be wrong sometimes, but I engage people with respect and in the spirit of debate.

I love hip hop and SA hip hop culture. I devote a large part of my life towards trying to build SA hip hop in whatever small way I can as one individual. 

This dude just waded in with his racial stereotypes and ignorance of any aspect of South African or global hip hop culture. Obviously I reacted more strongly because he was attacking one of my artists. The fact that he decided to vent his spleen on Rattex of all people really got to me too.

I accept that the title of this post is probably inappropriate, but like I said, the whole thing just really pissed me off and the fact that the blogger was white just seemed highly ironic. "Rattex accused of being poison" would have been much better (and quite funny too).
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: whitewash on January 17, 2009, 05:28:14 PM
I left a long comment cos that article had me heated, the dude didnt even accept it!! He says he is happy to debate but he refused my comment!?? Wot a load of bullshit!

@D - U conducted yrself perfectly and made him look like a fool. well done bra!
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: rob_one on January 17, 2009, 06:43:01 PM
I left a long comment cos that article had me heated, the dude didnt even accept it!! He says he is happy to debate but he refused my comment!?? Wot a load of bullshit!

@D - U conducted yrself perfectly and made him look like a fool. well done bra!

He didn't 'refuse' anything. Sometimes comments don't post on his webpage. It's not his fault.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: Naturelle on January 18, 2009, 12:12:28 AM


He didn't 'refuse' anything. Sometimes comments don't post on his webpage. It's not his fault.
[/quote]
lol.
Title: Re: White South African accuses Rattex of not being 'African' enough.
Post by: whitewash on January 19, 2009, 01:40:40 AM

He didn't 'refuse' anything. Sometimes comments don't post on his webpage. It's not his fault.

Ok fair enough if thats the case..but do you know that is the case for sure rob? I went back and I can still see my longer comment above the 2nd one..it says 'awaiting moderation'. That usually means waiting for approval?