Sho Madjozi
St a r puts Tsonga hip-hop on map
Rapper Sho Madjozi will set the stage alight at the Basha Uhuru Music Festival to take placeat Constitution Hill this weekend. Now in its sixth year, theevent showcases contemporaryart, design, film and music and is touted as a celebration of young South African creatives. We caught up with Madjozi, who spoke to us about her journey in music, love for Tsonga cultureand who AKA should be dating: I studied creative writing and one day I found myself broke on my dad’s couch. Since the only thingI can do is write, it got to a point where Iwas like: “Am I going to beaghost writer for a rap artist just becauseI can write rap?” Ilove being a forceful carefree black girl. It’s likea movement standing up against injusticeand, yes, we must fight to be treated with more dignity.
But we must also live– and enjoy ourselves, enjoy our countryand being who weare. I’m always showing off my culture. Iwas in a studio where I was told: “Don’t rap in Tsonga, it’s better if you rap in isiZulu. No one’s going to buy or listen to your music and, if they do, it will only be in Limpopo”. And I said: “I can’t be someoneelse.” Black peoplearen’t just bare canvasses you can chopand change. That isn’t who I am. How canIrap in someoneelse’s language when making my music? And I was, like: “I’d be very happy if I werea superstar in Limpopo.” And weproved that person wrong! I would love to collaborate with Sjava. We have this amazing friendship, and he is always giving meadvice. I think he’s iconic, but we’ve never done anything together. The South African music industry needs more people. There’ s so much space, you know.
The other day my friends and I were thinkingabout who are the big female artists out there. We were even trying to figure out who should AKA date now that he has broken up with Bonang.
It must bea Jay-Z– Beyoncé type of vibe because, after Bonang, who areyou going to date, who are the big female stars? That space is still wide open. We could still havea superstar out there, especially on the women’s side.
I feel like there’s still room for that. In future I want to launch a fashion lineand call it Young Fly Africa. And later on, when we’re really big, I want it to be known as YFA. The Basha Uhuru Festival takes place from today until Saturday at Constitutiona Hill