Young Nations’ United States Of Africa on the shelves
‘I love my city I run it like a marathon’ GP (The City is mine)… Jozi hiphop heads will be all over Young Nations’ track dedicated to ‘his city’ Johannesburg – one of 15 hawt tracks on his latest album entitled United States of Africa. Don’t be suprised by Young Nations’ American accent that busts smoothly in and out of his slick beats- he’s a global being with South African roots who’s grown up in a number of different countries including the US, France and Congo… Just listening to his lyrics affirms his allegiance to and excitement about being in South Africa, the country of his birth. And anyway, who cares about accents anyways or where we’re from… it’s all about the beats and lyrics…So, you be the judge – does his album move you, is it moving SA hiphop and hiphop in general forward, is it fresh, is it innovative, do we love it?? Get a sneak peak here and buy it here. ...
Represent Review: MTV MAMA’s in Jozi
Sadly, we won’t make it all the way to Abuja, but we definitely made up for it at the pre-party in Johannesburg, with our man Reuben “the Matrix” Malema rocking up the VIP suite while shedding copious tears of joy at one of the most successful live HipHop events in South Africa to date. He loved it, and shares his night with us below – click here for Reuben’s partner in crime, Nkateko Siweya’s photostory of the bash…. It’s drizzling and my expectations are under strict check. The last American Hip-Hop “star” whose show I attended sucked big time, the crowd turn out was unimpressive and the songs performed were to a large extent very alien to us. This of cause was Keith Murray, but tonight I will be seeing The Game. Some Background The Game is as typical an American gangster as anybody can ever be: Fast cars, gold chains, a myriad of tattoos scattered all over the body, serial alcoholic, filthy rich negro and very generous philanthropist to the general public; a full on model Al Capone to the bitter end. As the story goes, it all started when Game was 12 years old; a poor Afro-American living in the notorious city of Compton on the west coast of the United States. On his way from school, Game and a couple of buddies came into contact with the godfather of the ogg-Pound, Snoop Dogg, riding around in a hydraulic jacked low ride American muscle vehicle with gin and weed clasped in both hands. The Dogg encourages Game to hold on to his dream of wanting to be a Hip-Hop super star and as they say…all else is history. The Event – All Roads lead to Jozi Upon approaching Ponte City it became apparent that The Game is indeed a much-loved Hip-Hop artist here in Jozi. The roads leading into the Standard Bank Arena were chocker blocked with scenes reminiscent of the motorway chaos in the movie Independence Day! We proceeded at a snail`s pace to the vip parking lot. The tempo rapidly rising, rain pouring down and our hearts violently beating against our rib cages; We have arrived. This one is the MAMA of all Hip-Hop gigs… The Who’s Who of Mzansi’s Hip-Hop scene came out in support of this inaugural concert leading to the first ever MTV Africa Music Awards (sponsored by ZAIN Telecom) to be held in Abuja Nigeria this November. South African nominees HHP, Cassette, The Parlotones and Jozi were the curtain raisers with Y-fm dj’s like Mc-G helping to pump up the mood with their house tunes. With no doubt my favourite performer...
We will be back!
