New Music Review: Tamarsha v Imbube
Oh yes, it’s a live and kicking music review battle on Represent as our resident reviewer, the delicious Dawn Penny, puts two new South African releases up against each other… RnB meets HipHop… We did warn you muso’s, don’t mess with Dawn, she knows what she likes and of course readers, what she believes you’ll like and what’s worth spending your hard-earned dosh on… Read all about it: Tamarsha – I ain’t givin’ up vs Imbube – Hip Hop Theatre Tamarsha – 4 beats out of 10 Imbube – 7 beats out of 10 I’ve decided to introduce something new to my music reviews and that’s “Battle of the Beats”. This will basically consist of a head to head between two genres and our first one is Hip hop vs R&B. The songstress Tamarsha going against the gutter rappers, Imbube. My criteria for this battle is Talent, X-factor, Sound and Favourites. Let the battle begin… Tamarsha – I ain’t givin’ up Talent: Before receiving this CD to review, I had never heard of Tamarsha before. I must say off the bat, she is talented. I mean she has an amazing voice and takes the time to write her own lyrics, which is always refreshing of an artist. Tamarsha has a beautiful voice and sounds like she knows how to use it. With so many males dominating the R&B scene in South Africa, it’s quite refreshing to hear a female vocal in the mix. But then a beautiful voice is only a mere fraction of what makes an artist. X-Factor: Um, this is a hard one because either you have it or you don’t. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck in suckville with no passport to leave. If you do, you will remembered – or at the least be sung along to. I have no doubt that Tamarsha has talent, she just doesn’t move. She doesn’t stand out, she doesn’t have her sound but rather a quilt of Destiny’s Child, Keyshia Cole or any such artist – but the 90s sound of that. I think she just needs more experience and more time spent finding that thing that sets her apart from the next girl. Sound: The production on Tamarsha’s album is not quite something that’ll make the short list in demos sent to producing greats. It’s mediocre at best. I mean it’s not bad, it’s just not good. It’s a sound that’s been heard before and doesn’t do much for her X-factor strife. Oh, she does her own rendition of Humpty Dumpty, ‘cept there’s no story behind it, no depth to it, just Humpty sitting on that wall and...
Thesis Social Jam Session Vol3.
We introduced you to the fabulous Sowetan fashion stockist Thesis and the creative collective behind it a few months ago, they’re having a jam session this Sunday, and it looks to be rocking! Click on the flyer for more info: In the streets of Soweto a creative shell was cracked when a truly raw brand was born. This brand lays a point of view about the experiences, culture, ambiance and the beat of Soweto. Thesis is bringing a music report called Thesis Social Jam Sessions. Happening every first Sunday of the month, the jam sessions are described as a social connektion of creative’s and people that are like minded coming together under the roof of Thesis concept store to share in the sounds of true music ranging from Soul to Breaks’, Jazz to Hip Hop, Poetry to Comedy. Live elements rule the platform with new and unsigned (some signed) acts performing to woe the eclectic crowdz that gather to share in on this environment. Born out of true deprivation of what is good in our terms, the Thesis Social Jam Sessions were conceived. The Sessions are set out to include all forms of the arts in order for them to withhold in the current state of “corrupt” art forms and to be considered inclusive to all people with the love of the arts. The arts being talked about include music, photography, fashion design, graphic design, live performance, comedy, poetry and film. The reason for them to be named social sessions is because it’s a coming together of creative’s and like minded people to interact and communicate for the growth of a unified creative society in Soweto. Thesis as a fashion company and brand has already set up the platform through their fashion design and concept store, thus their association with the new brand…Thesis social Jam sessions. As previously proven worldwide, music is the unifier of all languages around the world, including Soweto. With the Thesis Social Jams Sessions, music is the foundation of the sessions with resident and guest dj’s playing an array of eclectic music ranging from 70’s soul to neo soul, hip-hop to trip-hop, jazz to acid jazz and roots reggae to dub steps. Thesis Social Jam Sessions provides a platform to unsigned and signed artists and live performers. The air that we breathe is “live” as we belie that live performance breeds a intensity in the crowd and performers alike with the mood that can not be replicated through recordings. With saying that, Thesis Social Jam Sessions are recorded and broadcast through pod-casts, so that the message, vibe and atmosphere filters down to the people and...
Represent’s Loving: Madcon
These Norwegian hiphop heads are rocking the beats all the way from the lands of the northern lights, we reckon this song “Beggin’ ” released less than two weeks ago and already making BIG waves, is going to be HUGE! The one half of Madcon (Mad Conspiracy) is a South African homeboy Tshawe Baqwa born in Germany – he grew up in Oslo… NICE ONE MFO! K for some reason YouTube is not letting us embed this funky video, so please watch it here or on google video here. Sorry! Read about Madcon on Wikipedia here. Joburg’s The Star featured Madcon in 2005 already! Read about it here. You can also watch an interview with them here… or see Madcon‘s MySpace here. For more juice on the Skandinavian hiphop scene check out this blog Northern...
Represent Competition: Tickets To Young Guns
We’ve got three pairs of tickets to give away to this weekends Young Guns gig in Norwood featuring F-eezy and Koldproduk, just click on their names to fly to their MySpace pages and listen to their words. If you’d like to be a winner, simply email EDITORista and tell us what the name of the venue is. Please include your name, surname, id number, email and phone contact details. Represent! If you’re into hip hop, then chances are you’re going to love the next Levi’s® Young Guns gig at the Boxercising Gym in Jozi. Supported but Y Magazine, it’s got a lot going for it, most importantly live performances from F-eezy and Koldproduk, two of Mzansi’s fastest rising rap talents. Of course, it’s sponsored by YFM and it’s going to be another of those awesome Levi’s® Young Guns parties. You know, the ones that take South Africa’s most ruthless and restless acts, challenge them to give their wildest performances ever, and then get them on stage in front of hundreds of diehard fans. It’s like some deviant social experiment where the results are always what’s least expected. Pretty cool, hey? So make sure you’re there when the effects of this one are felt. Don’t come crying if you’re not. Taking the mic on the night is the almighty F-eezy, the young emcee who’s suffering from an attack of the hip hop virus, an illness that makes him break out in spontaneous rhymes, spitting wordplay that’s infected with ups and downs of everyday life, verses that are sick, sick, sick! This man is hardcore. He speaks his truth and for as long as his words hang in the air, it’s the absolute truth. The rest just falls away when he gets going about everything from his love of rap to the hardships he’s faced, themes that came to the fore on his debut album, Gate Khahlela. This is ghetto life uncensored – the soundtrack to the other side. Koldproduk’s also in the house. With their mould-breaking debut album, All Under Heaven, Moki Sage and Kaspa delivered a wake-up call to the local hip hop community: keep up with us if you can. With astonishing style and an acute sense of originality they’ve taken a whole new approach, jamming their tracks full of the vast musical styles that have influenced them. The result is a hybridised, head-turning, heat-seeking hotbed of eclectic beats all layered with a positive messages and super-surprising twists and turns. These boys are hungry. They want to take hip hop to places it’s never dreamed of going to. And if you’re coming down to Levi’s® Young Guns, then...
Represent Review: Pro (kid) and Jus Dat
The Matrix is back… and like a fine smooth wine, the Matrix’s reviews just make you want more. Matrix for President! Check out his Represent Photo Story of the night unfolding here. It’s Friday night and you find yourself confronted with two choices; go home and call it a day or hop around town looking for some fun. What do you do? You freaking well get off that couch, drop the remote control and hit any if not all party scenes very, very hard! So, it’s Friday June 20th and after a short-lived period of serious introspection and self-discovery; the Matrix decided to take you in his confidence and go on a renewed conquest to capture and immortalize those special moments in Jozi’s social night life (xenophobia banished to the depths of Hades and all) which make you want to scream, kick, rant and shout for yet another round! To true party hoppers and the fervent whiskey/ bourbon connoisseur; Jack Daniels hardly tops the list of flagship “A – list” party sponsors, but hey beggars were never afforded the luxury nor the prerogative of exercising individual choices right? Although that dethroned French queen once suggested that they can but for one day be fed tons of well baked cake! I wonder where she got that idea from… Anyhow; moving along…, maybe it was the setting of the Jack Daniels Presents PRO (kid) and Jus Dat! Rap Unwrapped event which made me abandon my somewhat redundant hibernation for the thrill of night life again (or was it the enticement of Tennessee’s whiskey/ bourbon splashing all over my tongue the entire night?…How I wished!), whatever it was, it surely did a darn good job because right now; my craving for an active social night life has never been this sky—high! THE EVENT At first glance, the sheer size of Milpark`s Rocka Lounge does not look the type to stage any hip-hop event (with its first impressions leaving a lot to be desired) and let alone the venue’s capability to handle the rowdiness of the sort of hip (excuse the pun!) crowd which Hip-Hop tends to attract. However to my absolute bedazzlement; the venue`s capacity was perfectly suited and equally conducive to an enjoyable evening in secluded comfort and acute serenity. And the cherry on top? The beautiful women (especially the ONE xhosanova! O ya ndi thethisa sana!!) After what seemed to be a never ending repertoire of familiar dance-floor tunes, two in-house Disc Jockeys propelled the atmosphere from a somewhat relaxed mood to one that just said: “Get up and shake that thing till something breaks loose!” However, in my opinion...
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