In eight short years Akio Kawahito, with help from his friends, has taken the Kool Out concept from zero to hero of local hip-hop culture, writes

Kool Out was the biggest hip-hop party in Cape Town and one of the most popular gigs for the club.

“It was quite visionary the way it happened because nobody saw The Waiting Room as hip hop, and now the place is known for hip hop,” says Kawahito. with Reason was cemented.

“He helped build the brand,” Kawahito says. “As time went by I started to DJ for him and became his official DJ and we continued to grow him and Kool Out as brands.

“I liked that he was on the come up and kept the authenticity of what Kool Out was, and a big part of that was rap and the ability to rap because Kool Out is supposed to be a new school party that adheres to the fundamentals of old school.” of the company.

“We are like a family,” says Reason, one connected by the culture of hip hop.

Says P-Kuttah, “What makes Kool Out is being a family — we love each other and sometimes we hate each other and fight but I believe that that’s what makes it work.”

Tseki, mainly responsible for artist management in the company, says Kool Out “is what you do when you bind together with people with similar interests and try to make a living off of it”.

“It’s the perfect balance,” says Instro, who is one of Reason’s music producers and co-owner of the recording studio at Kool Out’s offices. “When I got here, it was like ‘Ya, now I can be myself AND do what I love AND be exposed to cool people.”

At last month’s Koolin’ in the City, the brand celebrated its eighth anniversary and launched its refurbished website, koolout.co.za.

P-Kuttah, apart from being resident DJ and stage manager for events, is the website’s head of content.

He says what makes Kool Out are the loyal followers who keep turning up and embracing a product created from a common love for hip hop. “We gave them a name, we gave them a product, but it was them who made it cool to come to Kool Out.” LS