Does socially conscious hip hop have a market in today’s culture?
Words by Mercia Tucker “It was the first dominant rap group with the most dominant MC saying something that meant something.” Chuck D said this of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s The Message. The recreation room of the apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the West Bronx is listed by the New York […]
The Rise of Family Tree Records
Words by Mercia Tucker Images Jabu King In 2017, Family Tree Records has grown to become a household name in hip hop circles. The opus of its CEO, Cassper Nyovest, the label was started in 2014, when he was only 24, and has been prolific in its growth. In the years since its conception, it […]
Cutthroat Entertainment
Words by Caron Williams Photography by Max Mogale From Def Jam, Death Row, Bad Boy to Roc Nation, each iconic era of hip hop has been accompanied by equally iconic record labels that have helped shape the genre. Whilst prolific musical outputs and the impact of their respective artists on hip hop helped shape their legacies, […]
10 Best Debut Hip Hop Albums
Words by Mercia Tucker They say you live your whole life to make your first album and a year to make your second. It’s part of the reason why debut albums are so magical and sophomores, more often than not, don’t live up to the standard. Your entire life experience up to that point […]
Maftown’s Impact on SA Hip Hop
Words by Mercia Tucker Mafikeng is home to some of South Africa’s most talented and celebrated artists. When considering the cultural capital of South African music and entertainment spaces in the 90s, however, Maftown hardly came to mind. Kwaito took the urban youth by storm as the centre of a cultural revolution that validated a […]
Da L.E.S – Larger than Life
Words by Mercia Tucker It’s April 2016 and the VIP section of the Zone 6 venue in Soweto starts to fill up with the fashionably late. The precursory pouted pics posted, small talk starts to run thin amongst the invited guests in what seems like an almost dramatic wait for the North God Concert to […]
AKA’s Marketing Strategy for Caiphus Song
Photography by @blaq_smith In the lead up to the release of his latest single, Caiphus Song, AKA conceptualized an impressive marketing strategy which resulted in an immense amount of media buzz. With what began as the perceived break-up between South African entertainment’s most revered power couple, AKA leveraged local media publication’s intense scrutiny and the public’s fascination of […]
5 Classic SA Hip Hop Albums
Words by Mercia Tucker Classic, adjective \ˈkla-sik\; judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind. In the musical spectrum there are many interpretations to this definition, some arbitrary and others rational and reasoned. The two qualifying criteria, however, have to be longevity and artistic brilliance. Forget […]
SA Hip Hop Brand Kings
Words by Mercia Tucker “The Superstar shoe was dead. The shoe was dead. And Run-D.M.C. singlehandedly brought that shoe back” said Angelo Anastasio, Marketing Director for Adidas 1984-1991. It was Russell Simmons’ idea for the group to record a track about My Adidas, but it was Lyor Cohen’s business acumen that had them pitch a […]
Can a SA rapper break into the American market?
Words by Mercia Tucker New York is to hip hop what Mecca is to Islam. The city has cultural significance that birthed and evolved the genre, and is expressed in odes to the city from Kool G’s Streets of New York, Mos Def’s Brooklyn, to Nas’ N.Y. State of Mind. The culture is pervasive, and […]
Separating the artist from their art
Words by Mercia Tucker “Can you separate an artist from their art?” is an old question but is still a relevant one. That there exists in the world a bond stronger than an exceptional artist’s with his art, I’m not convinced. A birthing doesn’t seem an adequate descriptor. It doesn’t quite capture that, unlike with […]
Interview: A-Reece
Words By Mercia Tucker You can probably remember the first time that Lehlogonolo Mataboge made you go “Whoa! This kid can rap!” You can probably remember the time after that when he outdid the first and your jaw dropped at his skill. Meet A-Reece; one of the more talented rappers in the game right now […]