Meet Cape Town’s New Supergroup, Contra Gang
Words by Sabelo Mkhabela
Contra Gang is a newly-formed Cape Town hip-hop collective consisting of a diverse array of members including Uno July(rapper), Camo (rapper), Stan1 (vocalist and producer), J1TheGod (rapper and producer), M’tunez-I (rapper), Simmysimmynya (rapper), Psyc’ AK (producer) and Don Loyiso(producer).
After a few singles and some performances around Cape Town, the crew has released their first collective project The Code EP, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Contra Gang is an exciting crew – it represents what I personally feel is lacking in Cape Town hip-hop, and that is the integration of old and new school artists. It’s refreshing to hear OGs like Uno July and Camo rapping alongside new talent like Simmysimmynya, J1 The God and M’tunez-I.
Writer Akhona Shasha from the Cape Town hip-hop blog Mic In Check, even went as far as comparing Contra Gang to the legendary crew Prophets of the City, one of the first South African hip-hop outfits. He wrote, “I have not been this excited since Cape Town’s supergroup Prophets of the City, yeah I said it; you heard me; they have the potential to be on that legendary level.”
Time will tell.
The production on The Code is mostly bass-heavy, leaning towards trap except for the jazzy smoothie “Campaign.”
Overall The Code is coherent project that displays the crew’s diverse skills set, and nothing is forced. It’s evident that the dudes had a great time working on the music, and that always translates to a great listen.
On the interview below, Contra Gang discuss how the group was formed, and take us through the EP.
Stream the EP below and download it here.
Twitter: @ContraGangSA
AKA’s Supa Mega Show Rocks Cape Town
Words by Sabelo Mkhabela
Last weekend, South African rapper AKA brought his Supa Mega Show concert to Cape Town, his city of birth. On the bill were his allies Kwesta, Da L.e.s, JR and Yanga. AKA kicked the weekend takeover with a pop-up shop of Supa Mega Show merchandise on Thursday and a meet-and-greet on Friday.
Lost Property shop, Cape Town, Friday 16 September
Two young women are having a conversation with AKA at Lost Property, a sneaker shop in Cape Town, where the rapper’s pop-up shop is held. They are telling him they flew all the way from Joburg for the show happening the following day. AKA is flattered. However there’s a small problem. “But I told you guys on Instagram: I said, ‘Guys, it’s going down.’” he retorts when they tell him they don’t have tickets, and the show is now sold out.
T-shirts and sweaters hang on racks in the small shop, where only about four people are allowed in at a time. His crew is in there, so it’s busy and crammed. “Let me sell you guys some clothes,” the rapper says to a group that has just walked in. He goes through the racks, taking the fans through the merchandise. There’s a pink long sleeve sweater with a line from his song “Dreamwork”: “Dollar sign got me in a good mood”. There are black and white Ts and sweaters with a low-light image of AKA on stage, facing up, arms open wide.
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AKA is a down-to-earth sweetheart today, far from the asshole everyone thinks he is, because of his relentless Twitter persona. He makes conversation with and thanks and hugs everyone who buys something as he signs their shopping bags. While I was in the queue earlier, a group of girls asked me if AKA is in the shop, to which I said yes. One of them couldn’t contain herself; she screamed and jumped up and down, her face gleaming with excitement. The queue is long; fans have come out in numbers.
Shimmy Beach Club, Saturday 17 September
I’m late for the show – I’ve missed performances by Kwesta, JR, Yanga and Da L.e.s, and it’s all good. I’m only here for AKA, and I walk in a few minutes after he takes to the stage. He is Him and the crowd are performing “Composure” as I walk in. it’s the savagery that follows that cracks me up. When he gets to that “I’m the reason everyone had ‘The Saga’ on repeat/ Now you wanna go and charge me 80 000 for a beat,” line he repeats it over and over, and his band transitions to “The Saga”.
The energy is insane. The trendy cool kids in the crowd are rapping and singing along to every word of the rapper’s array of hits. The beach sand outside Shimmy, where the stage is, is not allowing me to be great as it finds a new home in my Chucks. I catch a few elbows as I make my way to the front row to film and take pictures – my efforts don’t yield the result. No one is willing to retreat from the front row. It’s a difficult event to document, but I persevere.
Da L.e.s, Yanga and JR come in and out to join Supa Mega on stage for songs they are featured in. One thing I don’t like is that AKA’s mic is on autotune throughout his set. So even when he speaks or raps, it sounds like he’s singing. But the band, though, is the meaning of life. Master A Flat’s face contorts as he strums keys on the corner. DJ Fanatic is on the wheels of steel, and doubles as the hypeman. There’s a drummer and an electric guitarist. So, when you are told the Supa Mega Show is a production, believe it.
The sound quality could have been better, but AKA is bringing it, with a never waning energy.
I catch the Holy Ghost when he performs “I Want It All”, one of my favourite AKA songs, a song which he said he was performing for his day-one fans. Not many of them here, judging from the response.
Bottom line: AKA is still one of the best hip-hop performers in South Africa, I’m just really not sure about the autotune..
Meet The Muffin Man, Youngsta’s Performance DJ Since 2010
by Sabelo Mkhabela
Midway through his performance, be it at Rocking The Daisies, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, or some show at The Assembly, the rapper Youngsta will pause for a few seconds. His performance deejay, a petite figure behind him, whose face is shadowed by a baseball cap, will tap the pads of his MPC drum machine robustly. Beat heads, and music connoisseurs will catch the Holy Ghost.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Youngsta will say to the crowd, “this is The Muffin Man. The beat you just heard now, he made on the spot. He is freestyling.” The rapper will then tell people in the crowd to lift up some objects, and he will bust a freestyle about them.
Youngsta and The Muffin Man have come a long way, since meeting in 2009 in an event in Ottery, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. “I had my first mixtape with me – it featured various artists. I played him the CD, and two days after, we started recording,” says The Muffin Man, in a soft baritone. He has a few minutes to spare and chat with me, as the producer Arsenic is setting up the sound system at SAE in Woodstock. DJ Switch is chatting to Youngsta about the deejay’s latest rappity rap single “Now Or Never”. The guys are here to rehearse for Youngsta’s upcoming Skyroom Live performance.
The Muffin Man, real name Brandon Court, is an ordinary 25-year-old from Landsdowne. He says one of the reasons he got into music production was to help guys in his ‘hood who were “going through things.” “Not everyone plays sport,” he says, “so the music was an alternative outlet.”
Youngsta had no “things” to deal with, however – just a hunger to rap. The Muffin Man was the very first engineer to record him. They recorded about 18 songs in the nine hours they spent at his studio, on their first session. His equipment at the time wasn’t up to standard – he tells me they recorded some of Youngsta’s material with a karaoke microphone.
Youngsta's work ethic and hunger was outstanding. “At the time, he was doing verses in one take,” says The Muffin Man. “I could see this was what he wanted to do – he’s gonna die a rapper. There was nothing else that was gonna interest him.”
The Muffin Man backing Youngsta at Sneaker Exchange Cape Town earlier this year. (Image: Sabelo Mkhabela)
Youngsta, who has made it a point to shine in every song he’s featured on, is one of the most promising rappers in South Africa currently. He’s on songs with Tumi, Stilo Magolide, DJ Switch, but he tells me he will never desert The Muffin Man. “He is so humble,” says Youngsta, “I’m always telling him that without you, I couldn’t have achieved what I have.”
When Youngsta recorded about 24 mixtapes in a period of 12 months, between 2010 and 2011, it was mostly with The Muffin Man. “When I met him,” says Youngsta, “he already had a name in the ‘hood. One of the things he did was he would deejay in these R10 parties. Everyone in the southern suburbs knew this guy. And people in school were like, ‘there’s this guy, you must meet him, maybe he can help you.’”
Youngsta and The Muffin Man’s first street hit was “G Spot”. It was the first song they had a professional video for.
The Muffin Man became Youngsta’s performance deejay by default. When the rapper opened for Lil Wayne in 2010, The Muffin Man was the one on the decks. Youngsta reminisces about their early days. He’s more proud of the shows they did while still trying to get their names out there. “The shows where we used to come on stage and people would laugh at us because of our names. I mean, ‘Youngsta and The Muffin Man,’ it sounds like a cartoon show. When we went to (DJ) Azhul and (DJ) Eazy’s show, they were like, ‘That sounds like something my daughter watches on a Saturday morning.’ I will forever cherish those moments.”
The duo’s early performances were a matter of trial and error – testing out songs, setting the popular ones aside for the next show. “We had two songs that we were absolutely sure about,” says Youngsta. “Songs we knew that no matter where we performed, they worked.” He laughs when he tells me they have performed in weddings and birthday parties, before he continues, “But two songs is too short. So I said after those two tracks I’m going to freestyle to engage the crowd. So by the time I do the last track, they’re with us because the freestyle has won them.”
The Muffin Man is currently on a recording hiatus. It’s been three years since he recorded. He’s focusing mostly on his haircutting business – Mobile Cutz, which has been running professionally for two years. You’ll normally find him in events, like the Sneaker Exchange, with a chair and a portable kit bag.
He has been cutting hair since high school. After working at a barber shop for sometime, he had an epiphany that people aren’t always keen on going to the shop to get their hair cut. “So I took the barber shop to them,” he says.
Just before The Muffin Man joins Youngsta, DJ Switch and Arsenic for the rehearsal he’s at SAE for, he reveals he will be making a return to the recording business, but for now he’s focusing on elevating Mobile Cutz, because it’s his main income. And of course, he is still Youngsta’s main performance deejay.
Kideo is just trying to make spaza sound fresh, but not everyone is pleased
by Sabelo Mkhabela
written by Sabelo Mkhabela and Sipho Fako
Kideo, though menacing on wax, doesn’t talk much in person. When I’m not asking him any questions, he’s mostly silent, passing a blunt back and forth between him and one of his boys. The rapper’s going through a transitory phase, as he’s steadily working on his first solo mixtape, Spunk Reign. As he moves on with the times, not all his fans are impressed with his new sound.
Circa 2008, Kideo was a deity of some sort, in spaza (Cape Town Xhosa rap), which was popular at the time. The rapper, the youngest member of the then-popular five-man group Backyard Crew from Cape Town’s biggest township Khayelitsha, had struck a balance many emcees spend a lifetime pursuing.
Hip-hop heads respected Kideo for his clever wordplay and slick delivery. So did the casual listeners for his humor and “swag” – a concept that was frowned upon in the subgenre that was built around social consciousness and street-centric rawness.
On both his solo and Backyard Crew tracks, Kideo proved himself over and over again that he wasn’t a chancer. For instance, his 2008 track “Iphupha” was pure genius. On the track, which is a gymnastic roller coaster of emotions, he plays around with the concept of death, throwing some humorous similes and metaphors. Towards the end of the track, he asks death to give him more time on earth by starting its mission in another house: “Kuluzizi lusizi ndiziva ndi-dizzy/ kufa asseblief khaw’qale kweminy’imizi.” He was rapping over whizzing pads anchored by a head-bobbing rhythm courtesy of the Backyard producer Mashonisa.
Kideo has always been next-level, and he’s not showing any plans of slowing down. In 2016, now rolling solo, he’s still sharp as ever, as indicated on songs like “Mtye Mali Yakhe” – a cautionary tale of a typical payday weekend in the ‘hood that involves well-off young men drinking themselves to a stupor and humping whores, among other hedonistic missions. The rapper’s storytelling is still unmatchable. Let’s not get started with the slang on “Pizza Zamadoda”, the first official single to Spunk Reign. Or his relentlessness on “Nku Axo”, a diss track to fellow rapper Axo.
The 26-year-old rapper’s on a mission to, in his own words, “make spaza fresh”. The subgenre has lost the momentum it once had. A lot of artists are distancing themselves from it. One reason is because, save for maybe Driemanskap, Kanyi, Pzho and a few others, there aren’t that many success spaza stories.
Given his rapping skills and his willingness to progress with the times, Kideo still stands a chance. “I’m planning to make it big,” he says as we chat in the studio in which he’s recording Spunk Reign, in Khayelitsha. Killa B, the producer of his latest single, “Show Off”, is chatting to a few of Kideo’s peeps, who are also rappers. On the other side of Khayelitsha, people are queueing to cast their votes for the municipal elections.
Kideo is not about that life. He feels voting doesn’t change shit, and he says it so nonchalantly you can tell he genuinely has no ounce of interest. Today’s just another day in the ‘hood for him. He’s hanging around the studio, a backroom shack behind his producer’s house. He’s rocking a high school blazer, knee-length black shorts and black and grey sport sandals.
He chants “Spunkrrrrr” in the adlibs on “Show Off”, which is playing in the background as we chat. Spunk is a subgenre of spaza, he says. “It’s a new colorful lifestyle mixing fashion with music,” he says. “We fuse spaza with crunk – we use 808s and synthesizers mostly.” Well, it’s not really crunk, it’s trap. But the term “crunk” has stuck to spaza heads, since the late 2000s and early 2010s when cats who were rapping over beats that had pattering snares and hi-hats instead of a boom and a bap, were sneered upon. They were known as “iicats ze-crunk” – crunk cats.
Kideo himself, was deemed “uLil Wayne Wasekasi” – the township Lil Wayne. He admits that Weezy was and still is one of his inspirations: “I used to rap over a lot of his beats. I had a hit track called ‘Move’ which I did over Lil Wayne’s ‘Ransom.’ And other songs.” This Weezy influence led to Kideo trying codeine – which he went to use for two years. “I’m clean now,” he says. He tells me that after I ask him about a line from "From The Era" a song by the popular spaza rapper Ndlulamthi – “I’m from the era iBackyard ibizom’lelwa uKideo kwaba bathi uy’parapara” – the line basically insinuates Kideo is on drugs. “Maybe it’s the energy I bring when I perform,” says Kideo with a chuckle. “And I also have a motto: ‘I’m on drugs,’ which means I’m powerful.”
Another trait he shares with Weezy is his consistent music output. His Kasi MP3 and SoundCloud pages are full of albums worth of music, a reasonable amount of the songs “freestyles” and “remixes” of rap hits like Juicy J’s “Benz A Make A Dance”, Young Money’s “Roger That” and others. He tells me now, though, that he is done giving out his music for free. He also plans to sell merchandise with his album. Basically, the only language he speaks right now is money.
Which is understandable. It’s been a long road for Kideo, and not one that’s been smooth, too. He smiles shyly when he relates the tale of how he became a Backyard Crew member: “I started getting involved with Backyard Records in 2003.” He was 13 at the time, having started rapping at eight, inspired by kwaito, particularly the artist Gciwane, who rapped in Xhosa.
“In 2009, while in grade 11,” he continues, “I did songs at Backyard Records, and the Backyard manager asked me to join the crew.” He had met Phoenix, one of the Backyard Crew members, in high school, who then introduced him to Mashonisa, the producer responsible for all the brass-laden bangers which became the Backyard signature sound.
“He was making beats,” says Kideo about the producer, “but they weren’t rapping over them. He thought he was wack.” He chuckles before he continues, “I recorded my first track by him called ‘Nongqause’. It only had one verse. Some guy from Masho’s school stole the track, and it leaked. That’s when I got excited because people started knowing Kideo.”
The track saw a rudimentary but promising Kideo rapping over a pure Fruity Loops beat which barely had a snare. It consisted of hollow strings that had no effects or tweaks – Mashonisa was still an armature. It did however indicate the direction he was taking with his production. Though he hasn’t been on the scene in the past few years, Mashonisa’s name is still hailed with a unanimous reverence among spaza fans.
Backyard Crew had a great run in their active years. According to Kideo, they wanted to take spaza beyond the township by performing in gigs in the CBD, which they did. The crew’s video single “Baby Girl” got some spins on the national channel SABC 1.
Their 2009 album Sebenzel’eYadini is a collector’s item. All crew members – Mashonisa, Pointwo, Phoenix, Van de Merwe and of course Kideo – were exhibiting their diverse personalities but the project was still a coherent body of work with a monolithic sound, and it still managed to elude monotony.
The tragic death of two Backyard Records members Chankura and Van de Merwe, in 2012 crippled the crew. In an earlier interview I had with Kideo, he told me that was some form of a wake-up call to him. It acted as a reminder that he wasn’t going to be here forever, and so he wanted to make the best of his time while still on this realm.
Which is why he’s adamant on releasing his first solo album, which was due in June, but is suffering a major delay, because the hard drive his songs were saved in recently crashed. He was eight tracks deep. He’s now planning to drop the project in September. “It’s a blessing in disguise,” he retorts, slouching on the studio couch, “because I’m gonna work on new music. I feel inspired.” He still hasn’t finalized the features on the project. He told me earlier this year he was planning to work mostly with “new school” producers, and of course Mashonisa who he refers to as “my Dre”.
The criticism for Kideo from staunch hip-hop heads right now is real. It’s mostly on Facebook – fans who knew the rapper since his early days aren’t too pleased with the new direction his music has taken. But Kideo’s a natural renegade. His stoicism can easily be mistaken for defensiveness when he says “I don’t care about those [who don’t like my new music]”. But he really doesn’t care. He tells me his fans, who he stays in touch with via Facebook, have already committed to buying the album when it comes out.
Though he doesn’t articulate it, Kideo is clearly that kind of artist who gets bored with doing the same thing over and over again. Even if it means replicating other artists, which is something one doesn’t get away with in the spaza scene. For instance, his track “Messed Up Nomakhwezi” – released around 2010 – with a rock influence and deliberately off-tune singing, was an obvious lift of Lil Wayne’s “Prom Queen”. It was at this time that the rapper started losing some fans. They started making comparisons between the old and the new Kideo, and consensus favoured the former. He never slowed down, though – he kept on churning out spaza trap bangers.
His latest single “Show Off” indicates that the rapper is aware of where hip-hop currently is. Apart from the burly trap production, on his verse he chants like he has hiccups, he spits his Xhosa bars discretely – adopting that flow made popular by Rae Sremmurd and other modern hip-hop artists from the US. His Xhosa is still intact, his lyrics still lofty and replete with comical double entendres.
He may have changed a bit, but one thing he never did is fall off. Hip-hop heads are stereotypically anti-progress, and Kideo is a victim.
Listen to a playlist of some of Kideo's key tracks. His album is due for a September release. Get at him on Facebook.
#RapShootr | Gettin’ Lost In The Music With Andiswa Mkosi
Words By Tseliso Monaheng
#Rapshootr's a series of interviews with photographers who engage different elements of hip hop culture throughout the African continent with their practice. Some already have their own platforms while others are igniting their own fire beneath the radar of an international gaze.
Andiswa Mkosi is one such and for our inaugural edition, the Cape Town-based cam handler told us about the first photograph she took as well as her thoughts about on-line mediums and the opportunities they present to artists such as herself.
How did photography find you?
I was supposed to study film but I landed up in a photography class and I just did not fight it.
What were your first experiments with the camera?
Pinhole photography. The first image I ever consciously made was with a pinhole camera we made with a box at Varsity as part of an assignment. I think I still have that picture somewhere at home.
What inspired the choice of the set of images you've shared with us?
I love photo graphing musicians while they are performing, generally because I am one myself so I am inspired to make images of them the way I would love to be photographed when I am performing.
What is your favourite subject to shoot? How did you stumble upon it, and why the subject specifically?
A number of them but at the moment, musicians/performers.
It strongly has to do with the fact that I love music a lot, so when photographing performances I get lost in the music and I focus on another level while making the images.
Why: There are special moments on stage, I live to anticipate these, finding the one thing an artist constantly does when performing and freezing that in a moment.
Do you have any people who've influenced your style of photography?
Various people but there is this guy called Nemesis. Ja neh. That guy, his photography, see for yourself.
Have on-line social portals helped you in your photography? How so?
Yes, a lot! Its easy nowadays to put together a body of work on Behance, share it a bit and the right people come across it with opportunity. I mean for me personally nothing major has happened yet but I mean in terms of places to host and present my work to the public a lot.