Emocracy & Delusion
ANC. I got to watch that process up close. I could never see the [ANC] movement the same again.”
Democracy and Delusion’s pages are filled with research material and interviews with activists and characters featuring in the respective myths. The book cannot be easily dismissed as a gimmick, Mpofu-Walsh said, and rebutting his arguments would require making an effort to understand the content.
Having recently completed his master’s and currently completing his PhD, MpofuWalsh says his research background solidifies his presentation in invalidating political myths, though he admits that changing his academic writing style over the past three years was arduous.
“The album wasn’t any easier than a master’s at Oxford. Do you know how much intellectual thought, melodic ability and technical skill is required?”
Musically, he presents listeners with 12 songs that correspond to each chapter in the book, and begins with a personal tribute to his parents, detailing life as a mixed-race child born on the cusp of freedom. It took him about six months, during which he delicately balanced creating music with socially provocative and conscious material over new-generation melodies and beats.
“If I wanted to reach young people, sometimes with conscious hiphop, the message is good but it just doesn’t sound good from a sonic perspective. The beats are monotonous. On this album there’s a lot of melodic change,” he said. “Sonically speaking, the sound engineer, Bosco Afreeca, took my ideas and brought the sound quality to a level I’m really comfortable with, an international level.”
He features contributions from music industry heavyweights and youth activists, as well as liberation struggle icons such as Chris Hani, who is sampled on Mr President Part 2. Poet Lebo Mashile drops a provocative poem about the urgency of returning the land on Sifun’umhlaba and Fees Must Fall activist Busisiwe Seabe recreates the feeling of struggle on Ma’Soja. Musicians Dope Saint Jude and Solo also come through on the tracks We Don’t Care and Ma’Soja.
When it comes to Mpofu-Walsh’s own lyrical prowess and melodic range, he flawlessly merges socially conscious content with first-class sonic quality that, according to him, can compete with anything being played on radio at the moment.
The project release takes place with revolutionary timing, as South African hip-hop culture dominates mainstream and commercial platforms. It’s no secret that there’s a relationship between political parties and hip-hop artists that brazenly displays itself in election season.
The ANC has been endorsed by the likes of AKA, Da Les and Maggz. In addition to this, the party’s Youth League treasurer, Reggie Nkabinde, has a record label on the side and was accused of money laundering and buying awards for the artists from his Mabala Noise label.
Over the past three years, though, South African hip-hop’s attitude towards politics and social issues has been inconsistent. On the one hand Sidlukotini hitmaker Riky Rick was lauded by the industry when he walked on to the stage at the Metro FM awards earlier this year and, with his prize in hand, gave a shoutout to the artists who couldn’t make it on to radio or win awards because they didn’t have enough money to bribe playlisters or organisers. On the other, when OkMalumKoolKat was charged with the sexual assault of a woman in Australia, hip-hop artists back home failed to condemn him, instead opting to continue to feature him and employ him as a designer.
And then, as if to nail their apolitical colours to the mast, AKA went on United States-based international hip-hop radio show Sway in the Morning and said that, if he ever commented on politics, “the comrades would come for you”. On the same show, before Nasty C dropped his now critically acclaimed freestyle, the Hell Naw rapper claimed never to have experienced racism in his life.
As the son of the national chairperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Mpofu-Walsh doesn’t hide his preference for the EFF’s policies and ideas about the future. He’s not the first artist drawn to the Red Berets. Two years ago, Cassper famously brought out EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema to greet the audience during a concert in Limpopo.
Mpofu-Walsh counts himself among the hip-hop heads in South Africa who are frustrated with the way hip-hop has responded to the state of South African youth and social dynamics. He aims to demonstrate that the culture can be used differently.
“I don’t understand how the artists and celebrities have this huge platform that could be used for so much … and it’s being used for protection of the status quo. We need to show there are different ways to use the medium. This is an album of impact that doesn’t say the same thing that these artists are saying: look at me I’m so cool, I have all this money, etcetera. It’s about where we are in this country,” Mpofu-Walsh laments.
And ahead of the 2019 general election, using hip-hop culture to benefit political parties’ aims is bound to get worse, he believes. “It’s already happening — there is a war for the minds of young people that’s going to be fought towards 2019. The ANC has its strategy and is using the platform of hip-hop. You see it with hip-hop artists posting pictures on Instagram, bragging about being with the minister.”