by Ncedisa Mpemnyama
One of the most exasperating issues that makes my blood boil is the blaming of artists for issues that are structural in nature. A few days ago I ran across a rant session by former Spaza rap fans and artists. They were asking themselves why most, if not all, Spaza rap formations and artists never "blew up". 'Blew up' seemed to denote making a career out of hip-hop in the dog-eat-dog but narrow terrain of Johannesburg. For a minute I got annoyed and screamed obscenities.
I couldn't believe that these cats, as they used to call each other in those giddy days of All Nyz and uDaba losiba etc, still entertained these questions in this simplistic manner. They all pointed to what they referred to as “lack of seriousness” with the business side of things. Others spoke of lack of unity, while others spoke of poor sound quality and others just said the music might not be good enough. All these reasons could be close to the issue but not the answer. For instance, groups like Backyard Crew seemed to have grasped how to get money and gigs early on and had a team pushing them. Some of us had long ago seen the need to bridge the gap and connect us all across different townships and formulate plans to strengthen Spaza and make it more national.
On the other hand, groups like Driemanskap had superior sounding music, and quality of music was found in the likes of Kanyi, D.S.O and Ndlulamthi, DAT and Jargon holding it down at this level. It then forces one to think what might have been the issue here. Others would from early on claim that Hip-Hop cats from ‘coloured’ areas held sway in Cape Town and the Western Cape and didn't share the pie. Even this assertion is partly true but doesn't show the whole picture in its depressing totality.
The scene was and is still constructed under the heavy weight of complete neglect from the governing party and the corporate sector. It wallows in a muddy place. If one is to be a success they must trek to Jozi. Even when they do that they are often found aimlessly chasing gigs in Jozi without a permanent abode. Some turn to drugs to ease the pain and the hunger. Some move to do other things and never return to music. The few that come close have a few cameo appearances on SABC every blue moon.
What is never asked is: "Why is this so?" Why blame artists for their generalised neglect by society? Why has the music industry operated in this manner for hundreds of years. For instance, when Emtee left Ambitious he was lampooned on social media for "falling off". It was never asked why all the wonder-kids of Ambitious, 12 or so, eventually found themselves anxiety-prone on their own. Why have the four majors never accounted for robbing artists of millions and continue to do so? Why have they not transformed enough? Why did people like HHP die in the manner they did if we have a healthy music industry? A few days ago I watched an online program called Catching the Waves hosted by Scoop aka Siyabonga Mngwekazi. In this episode he had one Super Mega aka AKA. AKA was celebrating his new shoes range with Reebok. I had a flush of anger as I watched these two. I waited for them to ask each other the question Hip-Hop celebrities ask each other ad nauseam in their incest build interviews. "Where do you think the game is going?" And the glee faced answer from the friend who is also being interviewed by another friend is always something like this. "I think the game is in a good place, artists just need to be more professional and take themselves seriously. Ain't no big corporate gonna fucks with you if you ain't professional dawg".
Apart from the annoying American accents, what's more disturbing is this over-reliance on corporations coming to save even old and established artists like AKA. The issue is why have these artists, established as they are, not been able to do as the JR joint once said, make the "circle bigger"? Why are we still outside and not dictating terms inside? Why are we also still flowing in numbers on some latter-day Jimmy-comes-to-Jozi fashion?
The answer is that we have not been able to grapple with the governing politics of the music industry. We have naively thought we will all be scooped out by the established order and made into stars overnight. We have not tried to organise, for instance, an artist union that protects the rights of artists inside and outside the purview of the state and it's arts and culture department and an ignoramus of a Minister who in the language of Bantu Holomisa, "doesn't know whether his coming or going". The structure is the same and new and fresh artists emerge and hit their heads against a stubborn established order that robs and steals from them. A form that allows a few like AKA to trickle in as examples of success while millions and thousands are outside. Til’ we understand and appreciate the gravitas of this issue we will continue to suffer and not know the source of our suffering.
Ncedisa is a man of ideas. He lives to see Black people humanized. He has been a member of pro-Black formations like Blackwash, September National Imbizo (SNI), and currently Black First Land First. He has a deep-seated commitment to understand the relationship between art and politics and how these function to show power and also keep Black people sane.
Comments