Represent Review: Hype Hip Hop Awards
Is Hip Hop yesterday, today or tomorrow? Rooted in the US, but scattered all over the world where young people feel urged to stand up and wax lyrically about their lives, we believe as long as there are lyrics, dope beats and issues to be expressed, hip hop’s global appeal will continue to reign proudly. We love hip hop, and have loved it since its earliest days. We believe Hip Hop is for today and tomorrow, but like every genre of music, it’s followers won’t put up with crap… they need to be inspired and uplifted. Hip Hop must continue to explore, evolve and innovate, finding new ways to surprise, engage and entice the fans. When was the first time you fell in love with Hip-Hop? Many people remember this question from the movie Brown Sugar. I was confronted with the same question at the Coca Cola Dome this past Sunday. The hippie and at times down right bizarre clothing aside, I had to admit that Hip-Hop is all but a part of our daily existence. So real and strong are its effects on the lives of youngsters that the atmosphere at the MTN Hype Hip-Hop Awards could have been wrongly mistaken for a runaway Guy Fox day parade in the US. Kids as young as 12 years old were fully adorned in similar apparel and brands to those of their favorite MTV Cribs personas. Look! There goes 50 Cents, Eminem and the entire west coast brotherhood! Sprite basketball hoop shooters were sweating it out to punt the decade old jingle: Obey your thirst! Whilst Skateboarders enticed my eyes in a tireless seesaw recurrence as I dearly wished I was 19 kg’s lighter, Darn McDonalds!!! This being the first ever dedicated South African Hip-Hop awards event, the budget must have been very tight as the interior decor and Hip-Hop related activities left a whole lot to be desired. Do not quote me wrongly! This was an exciting event, but the lack of the usual “bling” that is associated with all things Hip-Hop was very scarce. Perhaps roping in the right sort of sponsors would do the trick for next year’s event. Do it some proper justice, I mean… My specific qualm was with the inclusion of KFC as one of the event’s anchor sponsors, no disrespect to good old Colonel Saunders and all, but KFC is all about loving family atmospheres, least of all Hip-Hop, let alone the sort of hyped up culture we see on a daily basis…A little reality please. THE AWARDS The opening of the awards ceremony was down to earth, but the Hip-Hop charged vinyl...
Represent’s watching: DJ BlaQt
DJ BlaQt doesn’t only have a MySpace blog updating us on all his parties and what went down, he also performs at The House of Nsako in one of our FAVOURITE Jozi suburbs, Brixton (show it more love people, it’s an iconic suburb in need of TLC, spokespeople and preservation) and he showcases great singers like Nthabi… he’s also a nationwide artist, playing at fabulous festivals like Chimurenga’s PanAfricanSpaceStation in CT… But more importantly, he’s seriously got his finger clicking through the Web 2.0 good behaviour manual: his emails are non-intrusive but consistent, his websites and flyers are well designed and interactive and most importantly, like the rest of the music industry throughout the world, he’s making music samplers available for fans to download and sample, so they know what they get when they rock his party. Oh and did we mention we love his tunes? We’re watching you DJ BlaQt. Naas one. Represent! The B-Side presents...
Old meets New School – Arts Alive Poetry
Kwani‘s back after whipping up a storm in Europe… Go and celebrate their oodles of talent at an unplugged session with the legendary Pops Mohammed as part of the Arts Alive festival – the Poetry line-up. Don’t miss it. There’s so much going on, this is just one event of many fabulous events/concerts/parties/jols… here’s a taster: The band Kwani Experience have just come back from another successful European tour of the Netherlands, Belgium and Bosnia-Herzegovina and are hitting the stage again with bags under their eyes. The band Kwani Experience have just come back from another successful European tour of Netherlands, Belgium and Bosnia-Herzegovina and are hitting the stage again with bags under their eyes. The band’s touring success is making them one of South Africa’s greatest exports following in the footsteps of many jazz, rock and alternative bands and groups who have had the privilege of performing outside Africa. One of those artists is Pops Mohammed, a living legend, and Kwani is sharing the stage & a repertoire with him. Pops Mohammed and Kwani Experience Unplugged Kwani Experience will this Saturday the 13th of September share the stage with the veteran Pops Mohammed for the Arts Alive Speak The Mind sessions, the poetry soiree of the annual Arts Alive festival. The term ‘unplugged’ will mean that Kwani Experience will only perform with 4 of its 6 core members, which will make this collaboration a totally different Kwani ‘Experience’. Pops and Kwani will perform exclusive material, sharing the stage with acts from South Africa, Zimbabwe, U.S.A, Trinidad, Angola and Kenya for one night only so be sure to check it out. No First Timers But this will be the 5th time the two local-international brands perform together. The first four times were in 2006 and 2007 for a project called Ashes to Machines that Kwani and Bra Pops are involved in, together with French producers, DJ Oil and Jeff Sharel. An album from this collaboration is due to be released early next year once a distribution deal for South Africa has been finalized. For more on the festival and Artists: www.artsalive.co.za...
Represent Review: Jazz at Moratele Park
Reuben ‘The Matrix’ Malema kicked back at a highly entertaining day of jazz at Moratele Park last weekend in a warmer Tshwane. Obviously The Matrix had a ball, but he just couldn’t quiet a nagging question – ‘Who will replace the Jazz greats when they’re gone?’ See our photostory from Represent’s supertalented photographer, Nkateko Siweya, by clicking here. Friday night – 29 August 2008. The Newtown Cultural Precinct. Rejoicing in the mellow tunes of jazz is the prevailing mood and yours truly is taking it very slow. Jazz, like all other things which are so blissfully fulfilling, demands that one graciously savour it in bite-size portions lest you spoil the encapsulating experience that is so full of delight. The organizers of this year’s colossal event left nothing to chance. Enthused fans and all visitors had to park their vehicles at the Old Johannesburg Train Station located adjacent to the Market Theatre on Carr Street. The entire area of the Event was fenced off and fully equipped security personnel tirelessly scoured the populous venue. Creative décor and free-flowing performing arts unfolded unhampered as the entire venue was transformed into a Kofifi/ Marimba cultural village of yesteryear: Sofiatown. Flute and harmonica tunes taunted the mind to imagine a place that mostly exists in the National Archives of South Africa’s past cosmopolitan glory (or the Drum magazine archives – Ed 😉 ). The eyes couldn’t help but swiftly teleport the mind into the world of the unison dancers of the smash hit: Sarafina! I found myself uncontrollably whistling away to the familiar harmony : “O tla utlwa bo-tsotsi ba re: a re yeng ko Meadowlands! Meadowlands, Meadowlands, Meadowlands Sithandwa sam’ !” Priceless! The Event At 19h00, yours truly and Mr. Siweya enjoyed the exemplary performance of local artist Mark Fransman at the Dinaledi stage. The Market Theatre played host to the Classic Jazz Masters followed by the charming Simphiwe Dana (If only wishes were horses). 20h15, by this time my partying mood had reached fever pitch, with the least intension of slowing down. We headed for the Mbira stage to catch the fantastic showcase of artistic skill and unlimited ease of the Nigerian born ‘Asa’. 21h15 still at Mbira, I was plunged (head first!) into a whirlpool of romantic ballads by Ringo Madlingozi, my sense of imaginary infatuation was completely and utterly drenched into a soapy mess!! The Spinners from USA skillfully breached the fun between Dinaledi stage and Bassline where Joshua Redman (USA) twirled us about with his ingenious saxophonist melodies. I thought this event was totally fabulous. Thank you Standard Bank for taking us down the Sofiatown history timeline and...
White bros what can sing
We love white bros with funk, soul and sweet singing depth… (Jamiroquai, Robin Thicke, RJ Benjamin, Michael Jackson…) What more can we say? Just MAKE SURE to listen to this man by watching his freshpie ‘Another Day’ video below – hot and JUICY! Now. Ladies and Gents, we bring you, with love, the great-to-be Jamie Lidell. We really dig this Stevie Wonder inspired...
Jazzy Jazmine Sullivan
We’ve been missing Lauryn Hill for so long, we’ve kind of given up on her ever coming back with more music since her heart-breaking live album. Even seeing her at her Johannesburg concert wasn’t enough to give us hope (remember that weird night). So we were naturally delighted to hear the sweet soulful sounds of Jazmine Sullivan… an L-Boogie (meets Mary J in parts) clone. Shift over Lauryn. ‘Need you Bad’ is a soulful reggae song perfect to cheer up all the lonely hearts out there… watch the video...
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