my reality right now is - pourin vodka and hennessey, ballin outrageous, rockin hiphop, spittin that FIRE, hollerin at foreign hoes,poppin tags, f*** cris, we was sippin on moet shootin videos in Cape Town. all my niggas is ballin!
when we was broke we wasnt doin all this! but im sayin! its everybody's dream to live the good life!!!! its not jus for Americans! like what?are we not supposed to live good? are we supposed to rather focus on kasi life and poverty!? i got outta that! now im livin how i wana live! rockin what i wana rock! sayin what ever the f*** i wana say! speakin how i wana speak! real talk! when SONY approached us they wanted us to be more "south african", i hollered at my moms(the definition of an african woman!) and she said NAW MAN! DO YOU! DONT DO THAT SOUTH AFRICAN THING!!! MUSIC IS GLOBAL!!!! WHAT U DOIN IS DIFFERENT! THATS WHY WE LOVE IT!( 99,9% the people of UMTATA!!!) WE WANA SEE AFRICA PROGRESS INTO THE FUTURE! WE TIRED OF ALL THESE KWAITO PEOPLE WHO ALL SOUND THE SAME AND HAVE NOTHING RELEVANT TO SAY!!!DO SOMETHIN THAT THE GROWN UPS CAN RESPECT! in a nutshell,she made my hustle official! she gave it merit and said run with it!!!!
thats wisdom right there! yall jus talkin bout how its supposed to be! im tellin u how it is!!!!!!!!
this is bigger than SA!!!!! its global!!! we gotta hav fans in new york to japan!!! the SA market will support u more if u go global!!!!! im more of a universal mc than an SA mc!!!! im proudly SA but see further than these borders! now u gon knock me cos im thinkin out your usual BOX!!! damn!!!
thats life!!!!!
Cash, if that's how it is for you cool.But all I ask u to consider is a couple of things.
Firstly, who defined "balling" for you?In-fact who even brought that word into your vocabulary and frame of reference?
Also who taught u to a**ociate the word with sipping moet, foreign "hos" etc?
Its not about u staying broke or acting like u're broke but its also a question of how u perceive the notion of success. Your perception of the notion of success seems influenced by rap lyrics.
Its different for instance from what the middle or capitalist cla**' perception of what success is.
Who taught u to interpret success in that way, and also to celebrate and articulate it in that manner?
Do u think that's a universal notion of success that u hold or rather it reflects the views of the black american undercla**?
Is that view of success appropriate in the African context?Does it do anything to advance our hustling in our own individual context as Africans?
For instance why aren't you talking about BEE schemes, stocks, shares, mutual funds and bonds?Isn't this what we really need to learn about in order to be successful?
Your frame of reference seems to have been limited by rap lyrics and u don't really pause to consider how the objects of your frame of reference i.e. moet and "hos" are relevant in our context and what purpose they actually achieve.
That's how deeply embedded in your consciousness the black american undercla** frame of reference has become. To the extent that it comes out from deep within you as a mental reflex.
Just pause to consider this if u will.I think a lot of headz r still in that very same headspace.
About going international, I don't think going international depends on how well u can soak ur music with an American/Foreign frame of reference.
For instance, Oliver Mtukudzi, Baba Maal, Yousou Ndoor (excuse my spelling), Salif Keita, Franco Luambo to name just a few made it big internationally by sticking to their own frame of reference.
Artists like Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba, Lucky Dube etc who communicated in English were still succesful bcoz they used the English language to depict their unique frame of reference.
They didn't portray anything else other than their situations as individuals and as a people. They didn't adopt a foreign frame of reference in order to garner success.
So I believe u can make it internationally even if u flow in English but ultimately ur stories must depict where u're from in the unique vernacular of the English language that exists in ur own area e.g. the Nigerian slang used by Fela or the Jamaican slang used by Bob Marley.
I honestly think if u try and come across like an NY cat to real NY catz u'll come across as a joke. At the end of the day we don't really understand the nuances of their culture just like they don't understand ours.
Listening to Hip-Hop CDs doesn't really allow u to live vicariously thru the situations the rappers r talking about. U can learn how its like for them over there, but U can never fully understand how it is bcoz u really don't walk in their shoes.
The whole world wants to know how its like to walk in ur shoes and we want to hear u say it in ur own unique way.This is what I believe makes a great artist.
Pac used to weep in ebonics and Biggie used to be ruthless & unflinching in the same vernac.That's what made them so dope.
When its all said and done, I wish u luck in ur career, and I don't want to come across as a prophet of doom bcoz at the end of the day we're dealing with art which is subjective.
