Deejays Are Keeping Lyricism Alive in South African Hip Hop

by Sabelo Mkhabela

Posse tracks seem to be making a comeback in South African hip-hop. The mid-2000s were replete with posse cuts curated by rappers, like Zubz’s Heavy 8, Slikour’s Eights, Mothipa’s If You Want To and many more.

In the 21st century, such tracks are few and far between. They mostly come in remix form – Riky Rick’s Amantombazane, Reason’s No Sleep, Optical Illusion’s Watch What You Say, among a few others. Most of these tracks feature a predictable array of rappers – usually rappers in the original artist’s circle.

Towards the end of 2015, Youngsta and Nasty C traded bars with Tumi Molekane, an accomplished lyricist. The youngins held their own on DJ Switch’s Way It Go single. It became one of the most talked-about rap songs of the year. No one saw that combination of rappers coming.

“Who had the best verse between Shane Eagle, Reason, ProVerb and Kwesta (all rappers featured on DJ Switch’s latest single Now Or Never)?”, became a topic of discussion on social media a few weeks ago. The song is based on lyricism and rappers’ technical know-how – from penmanship to delivery. It’s another unpredictable combination. I like Reason’s verse, by the way.

DJ Switch then decided on a remix. It just came out, and it has 12 emcees on it. The likes of ProVerb, Pro, Priddy Ugly, Reason, Zakwe, Siya Shezi make appearances. Titled Now Or Never CallOut, the song was premiered on DJ Fresh’s breakfast show on 5FM. It’s a great feat for a rappity rap song to be premiered on a morning show on a national radio station, knowing how mainstream radio has always shunned away from that type of hip-hop.

The discussions on who had the best bars are still on-going. Rappers evidently broke their backs trying to come up with the best lines and flows, without worrying about catchy hooks and “radio-friendly” what-whats. Reason, for instance, took a risk when he spat his verse mostly in vernacular. BigStar Johnson put aside the sing-songy flow he uses on most of his singles, and rapped like his life depended on it.

An unofficial remix by hip-hop activist TTP followed. It featured verses from 16 rappers from across South Africa and Lesotho. The rapper Priddy Ugly also put out his own version of the track. There should be more unofficial remixes coming (hopefully with more women)

Lyrics are the focal point of South African rap songs, once again, after a long time since the mid-2000s. Mostly kwaito-sampling, melodic, high-tempo songs -- Cassper Nyovest’s Doc Shebeleza, AKA’s Jealousy, K.O’s CaraCara, Kwesta’s Ngud’ among others -- have been the ones getting playlisted. Which is not a bad thing at all, except hip-hop heads have been feeling betrayed by South African rap. There’s no lyricism; the beats aren’t hip-hop enough; there’s no originality -- they lament.

DJ Switch is not alone in “saving” the culture. In 2014 DJ Vigilante’s God’s Will was one of the most talked about rap songs. He assembled AKA and K.O to feature on the song, and hearing them sparring lyrically (though they wouldn’t admit it) was a delicacy for hip-hop heads. Bang Out, Vigi’s latest single, also brought out the best out of Nasty C, AKA and K.O, the lineup itself another unpredictable combo. Once again, heads feasted on bars.

Yes, there have been rapper-centric songs which focus on lyrics, more than anything, but it’s mostly deejays who are serving the lyrical posse cuts to hip-hop heads. Think Miss Pru’s Ameni DJ City Lyts’s Washa DJ Sliqe’s Do Like I Do and more. Whether those featured rappers all dish out lyrical excellence is a topic for another day.

And it’s not just on a mainstream level. DJ Azuhl’s Follow Us Home featuring the likes of Youngsta, Ill Skillz, Jean Pierre, EJ Von Lyrik and Ben Caesar still remains one of South African hip-hop’s hidden gems. Gimme That Gem, his latest song with EJ Von Lyrik, Ben Caesar and Teba is also a great combination of wordsmiths over a raw instrumental.

Songs by groups like Skwatta Kamp, Optical Illusion, who were popular in the mid-2000s, had a cipher feel. Every song was a posse cut of some sort. There aren’t many rap groups in 2016. It’s the deejays who gather the best rhymers to go toe-to-toe over a beat.

So, what happened to rap? Rappers stopped caring about competing with each other on wax, and deejays stepped in. As EJ Von Lyrik says to deejays on Gimme That Gem: “Hip-hop would never survive without you.”