Wotta skandi
Zuluboy cracks hip-hopping the Mzansi way
Saturday July 19, 2008 22:37 - (SA)
Other than his heavy cultural bent, there isn’t much that separates Zuluboy from the rapper archetype, at least on the surface.
You know the look – book bags and pants hanging below the waistline – but that’s where comparisons with other MCs end.
A pioneer in his own right, Mxolisi “Zuluboy” Majozi’s claim to fame lies in his being able to fuse Zulu with urban hip-hop culture without compromising either, a feat he’s made to look effortless, while local hip-hop still grapples with issues of identity.
He’s in a laid-back but fortunately talkative mood when we meet for this chit-chat at Capello’s in Newtown, Johannesburg.
“I didn’t have much sleep. I spent the night rehearsing my lines.”
What, your rhymes?
“Nah man, I’m learning my script, I’ve got a part in the new season of Soul City.”
The rapper will be playing Zakes, “a madly-in-love schoolboy” who can’t seem to “think beyond the confines of the ghetto” in the socially-conscious TV series.
So while we’ll be tuned in to check if he can flip the script on the small screen, the conversation drifts back to his skills behind the mic and his coming up from the Durban underground scene to national recognition.
Zulu has just dropped his second offering, Inqolobane, following his critically acclaimed debut album Masihambisane – The 1st Hip Hop Lesson. With Inqolobane the rapper ups the par in terms of creating authentic Mzansi hip-hop
Inqolobane literally means “grain hut”, a storage house for grain, but Zulu says in the album’s context it means “a reservoir of knowledge, a storehouse where nation-building and constructive messages and knowledge are stored and shared.”
“This is something I realise more when I’m outside the country – that I’m an African. It’s something I noticed when I was performing overseas. I felt that if I could strip my lyrics from the music it would sound American,” he says, switching fluidly from fluent Zulu to Model C English.
“With this album I tried to redefine our heritage through sound. After listening to guys like Speech (formerly of Arrested Development) I realised we are fortunate as Africans to have a rich musical heritage and resources – we have marimbas, jembes and the like.”
So for his second offering, Zulu roped in maskandi music icon Bhekumuzi Luthuli and a string of maskandi guitarists to accentuate the “Zuluness” of the album.
“I call it ’skandi-hop”, he says.
A blend of maskandi and hip-hop.
But it hasn’t been all gravy for the muso who is living out his dream – “ripping shows from here to overseas” and all that comes with the package.
When he first came to Jozi he was told if he wasn’t doing kwaito there was no room in the game for him.
“After I completed matric in 2001 I came to the New York of Africa, with a demo in hand looking to get put on, but by the end of the year I had to go back home with nothing to show for it financially”.
But while up here he wound up at Dorkey House, “a refuge of sorts for a lot of prominent artists”, where he learnt to play the piano and got some training in jazz and cla**ical music.
“In those days I was still a dancer,” he adds, laughing: As in what? A B-Boy or pantsula dancer?
“Yes, pantsula. I was touring heavily with the group Tribe. I learnt a lot about the music biz from that experience. But I had nothing to show for it when I got back home. So my mom and grandmother sat me down and asked me what it was that I truly wanted to do with my life.
“Off to school I went. I enrolled for audio-visual studies, but I was more interested in the Durban hip-hop scene and my guitar than school,” says the self-professed rascal, “the school prefect who sold cigarettes”.
In those days the Castle-sponsored Inqaba Sessions venue was the place to be at for any rapper worth his salt. That’s where he paid his dues and sharpened his skills.
The big break came when he had to open for Pro Kid who was performing in Durban during the promotion of his Heads and Tails album.
“I think it’s because of that performance that I got signed to Native Rhythms.”
-Look out for the new Zuluboy album, Inqolobane, in music stores. This & That
-Born December 21 1982 in Ntuzuma, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
-Was raised in a single-parent home by his mom and grandmother.
-Is still learning the guitar in his spare time.
-He considers the likes of Mos Def and Immortal Technique as musical influences.
-Cites Capitalist Nigger and The Alchemist as books that helped to shape him.
-Is a new dad – has six-month-old daughter named Nubai
