The sky’s the limit for ‘DIY’ Ea

The young rapper dubbed ’Africa’s greatest artist’is blazing a trail for his fellow indie musicians

Shane Eagle is the latest rapper to receive the coveted best hip-hop album trophy at the South African Music Awards (Samas). “It was about fucking time,” says the rapper when asked by Fred Kayembe, the former editor of Hype magazine, what the award means to him.

Eagle and the former editor of South African hip-hop’s only print publication are chatting at the Kulture pop-up gallery in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on a Saturday afternoon. The 22-year-old rapper is hosting a pop-up store of merchandise — hoodies, T-shirts and prints of customised photos of him — themed around Yellow, the album that won him the award.

Towards the end of the event, Eagle, Kayembe, Rudzani Netshiheni (the current editor of Hype) and Vaughn Thiel (Eagle’s manager and business partner) gather for a Q&A session in front of an audience of Eagle’s fans. Joining them is the rapper Riky Rick, who was up for the same award with his Stay Shining EP and who’s hosting his own popup store next door.

“You don’t do this shit for the accolades or the awards but it does feel good for someone like the Samas to be, like: ‘You deserve this.’ We work hard for this shit, so it’s a blessing,” says Eagle after expressing his gratitude to his fans, who have showed up in numbers today to take selfies, buy his merchandise and spend time with other Eagle fans.

Yellow, according to the rapper, has been streamed more than two million times on Apple Music. He won best newcomer at the 2017 South African Hip-Hop awards, the only awards show that gets close to pleasing the local hip-hop community.

The Samas have, well, a weird history with the genre. In the early 2000s, kwaito star and R&B artist Zwai Bala won best hip-hop album. In 2012, the hip-hop category was renamed best street urban album (like, WTF?) before reverting to its original moniker.

The hip-hop albums that have won the award have mostly been made by established mainstream rappers — the likes of HHP, Flabba, Khuli Chana, AKA and Emtee have all snatched the trophy in past years, with left-field and less mainstream rappers such as Zubz and Tumi Molekane only making it as far as being nominated.

Enter Yellow: an album that’s sentimental lyrically and moody sonically, boasts no radio hits and was released by a small, independent company, Eagle Entertainment, which Eagle owns with Thiel. The rapper is the only artist on the label and has managed to build a name for himself in just two years. In 2016, he appeared on Vuzu TV’s rap reality show The Hustle, which he didn’t win — but he made sure he used the clout that he gained to build his name.

“I feel like my job isn’t that hard, because I work with Shane,” says Thiel when his turn to answer questions comes.

“Eagle is the greatest artist in Africa. I’ve been saying it for a long time. I think it’s really dope that an organisation like the Samas can also see that. We all know how awards shows go, and all the politics involved. And us being an independent label, to compete with some of the biggest labels in Africa, and for Shane to walk on that stage and represent the kids and the people that ride with him and understand the vision, I feel that was the most important thing for me.”

Being an independent rapper in South Africa isn’t easy. Radio airplay, which is still important here, is hard to come by. Bigger independent labels such as Ambitiouz Entertainment and Mabala Noise, alongside majors like Universal and Sony, own the majority of South Africa’s hip-hop market. Their rosters boast artists such as Emtee, Nasty C, Gigi Lamayne and Zakwe. We’ve seen artists such as Priddy Ugly, who was a torchbearer for independence, signing to labels because it seemed impossible to break through on his own.

Independent artists such as Cassper Nyovest and AKA are among the select few prospering in the mainstream scene. Things are rapidly changing, however. Rapper A-Reece, who left Ambitiouz Entertainment more than a year ago, celebrated the fact that his single Meanwhile in Honeydew reached a million YouTube views last month.

YoungstaCPT, Dookoom, Stogie T, Dope Saint Jude, and Solo and the Betr Gang, as well as Yugen Blakrok, have all managed to score European tours without the backing of any major label or large indie label, despite only amassing niche fan bases in South Africa.

Being an indie artist only started making sense in South African hiphop recently. Yellow bagging a big