Hype Magazine is delighted to announce a decade of being South Africa’s number one hip hop magazine.
By Lindelwa Nxumalo HYPE MAGAZINE is delighted to announce a decade of being South Africa’s number one hip hop magazine. Published by Panorama Media Corp, HYPE was created as a tool to uplift the culture and grow the local industry. Consistently at the forefront of emerging talent, the notorious HYPE SESSIONS mixtape has helped launch the careers of some of the biggest artists in our industry. To kick off HYPE’s 10-year celebration, a limited collector’s edition issue debuts on shelves nationwide today 1 October and will be available over the October-November period or until it are sold out, we chat to Editor of the magazine, Simone Harris about the journey. What’s a day in the life of Simone Harris, using 7 words? Busy, insightful, stressful, rewarding, challenging, engaging, fulfilling. So your twitter account. Staying true to your handle @SimmaOne, with only ONE tweet since ’09? How is a queen in the hip hop world so absent from the twitter streets? [Laughs] That was actually a test account. I’m active on twitter through our official handle @HypeMagazineSA. Hip Hop is a male-dominated industry. In Hype Magazine’s decade of existence, how would you say the hip-hop industry has evolved in respect to women’s involvement? In my opinion the number of women in hip hop has always been high if you look at ladies who are doing things in the name of hip hop behind the scenes. Just look at the number of women doing PR, publicity, presenting, photography, journalism, music compiling, management and business. It’s huge and they’re calling the shots in creating big brands out of hip hop artists. I think it has become even bigger in numbers in recent times. When it comes to the actual number of women in the forefront from an emceeing perspective, the lack thereof is a global phenomenon and not unique to SA. Hip hop has always been dominated by men in the forefront and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon. Hip Hop, in fact, any occupation in the entertainment industry is more than a job – it’s a lifestyle. How did you absorb hype magazine and everything that comes with it into your life, was it a big adjustment? HYPE took over my life from the onset. It wasn’t a job I could walk away from at 5pm every evening. It becomes your life – your overtime, your overdrive. It’s not a big adjustment if your job is something you love and are passionate about. If you do something you love you never see it as a job and that’s been the best thing about working at HYPE over the last decade. I had to learn recently how to shut off and be...
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