K.O rebuilds fallen empire Martin goes for 2nd launch, ‘under pressure’
IT was a grand occasion in South Africa last week when Martin Sibanda and the Ndolwane Super Sounds launched their much awaited second album Konke Sizokulungisa at a packed Hillbrow Theatre.
Pictures and videos that have been circulating on social media sites show that fans were having the time of their lives at the launch.
The second launch is on today at the Amphitheatre in Bulawayo which has become the popular venue for musical shows.
The big question is: Will Martin and his band now popularly known as Amajongosi maintain the the momentum that they set in South Africa?
Martin and the Ndolwane Super Sounds are the first group from the Southern region to be the headline act at the imposing Amphitheatre.
With his last album being Bakhuzeni released five years ago, this launch is poised to whet the appetite of his legion of fans and prove that artistes and music from this region sell and have a following.
The line up for the launch features one of the best live performers in the form of Clement Magwaza of the Kokotsha makokotsha fame and Man of the Moment Madlela Skhobokhobo known for his runaway hit Ngamnanka. The others are hard hitting Mas’kandi artiste Zinja Ziyamluma and Zimdancehall artiste Linx Kariloss who both bring a different flavour to the line up.
The Big Boss, as Martin is fondly referred to by his fans, said the South African launch was awesome with many turned away as the venue was full to capacity.
“Taking from what I saw in Johannesburg I think izogcwala ngoba (Amphitheatre will fill up because), what I discovered is many people were pained by the leak of my music before the release,” said Sibanda.
He said many of them had pledged to support his music as a way of fighting piracy and as such he was looking forward to a full house at the Amphitheatre.”
Sibanda promised a show people won’t forget any time soon.
“When I’m on stage I know that I’ll be performing for my pay masters who are my fans. So I can only offer them the best. I’ll first give them yester year hits to warm them up before dishing out the album,” said Sibanda.
He said after the show he would embark on a tour around Zimbabwe and South Africa and hopefully overseas.
“From here we will take the album around the country, have other shows in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg in June. I hope I’ll be travelling the world,” said Sibanda. Tickets for the show are pegged at $5 or 100 rands, with a limited number of copies of the album being sold at the
venue today. THREE years ago South African rapper K.O was on top of the world.
He had just released his blockbuster album Skhanda Republic and was in a fierce three-way tussle with fellow wordsmiths Cassper Nyovest and AKA for the number one spot in South African hip-hop.
Out of the three, some believed that K.O had the better album, as the musical vision which he had pioneered with Teargas was on the brink of full realisation under his star-studded Cashtime Life record label.
In a year in which Doc Shebeleza, Phumakim’, All Eyes on Me and other countless hits had obliterated the charts and finally managed to nudge house music from the top of the charts, his single Cara Cara was widely acknowledged as the most impactful.
If there was any song that best characterised the Skhanda movement, it was Cara Cara.
Over a laidback, swaggering beat, K.O and Cashtime Life’s resident lyricist Kid X traded fun but compelling verses. A catchy chorus ripped from an old Trompies classic gave the track a sing along quality that attracted young listeners while also managing to woo diehard kwaito lovers.
Kwaito was not dead, but instead it had been reborn with K.O and his troop of Skhanda priests playing midwife as it was reborn from the ashes.
In a matter of months bucket hats, gold chains and all stars were back in vogue as South African hip-hop’s heart was snatched from the fancy malls of Sandton and delivered, its heart still pounding, into the dusty streets of Soweto.
The trend was followed in most major urban cities around Africa.
Three years late, however, the tables have turned on the man they call the Skhanda god. A raft of newcomers have pushed him further away from the top spot while the feuding pair of Nyovest and AKA continue to dominate.
Nomuzi Mabhena, Kid X, Ma-E and Maggz have all left Cashtime Life, leaving K.O as the solo artiste on a label that many thought was poised to takeover the industry.
In an interview with Saturday Leisure, the rapper revealed that the blame for the collapse of his empire should be heaped on artistes who were satisfied with merely hitching a ride on the Cashtime gravy train without actually contributing anything of substance.
“Everyone right now is focusing on themselves because before this we put the label in the forefront. We saw how some of the people who didn’t have music out when the label was hot were benefiting by default. These were enjoying or benefiting because of association.
“That was crippling in the long time because they didn’t get their chance to shine. But that was our way of compensating for their failure to put out enough music. So at least they got to eat even though they were not making a lot of moves or they were not forward thinking. So we told everyone that they had to focus on themselves,” said K.O.
On Friday, the two men that many thought were K.O’s rivals, Nyovest and AKA, released an album and single respectively, earning the adulation of both fans and critics.
Freed of the burden of carrying other rappers, K.O believes that it might be time for him to release another album and rewrite the blueprint of South African music.
“That is why I have Cashtime Life which is my baby and I’m focusing on my own album. I can’t really be focusing on someone else’s talent right now. I just want everyone to step up and do the same because sometimes when you reach out and offer your assistance, it’s not appreciated or reciprocated by the very person that’s not doing what they’re supposed to in the game.
“It all come back to you. You’ve people blaming you for not doing this or not doing that, overlooking everything that you have done out of the kindness of your heart. I’m trying to avoid going through that with another artiste,” he said.
Many hip-hop insiders have accused the self proclaimed Skhanda god of being a snob, something they say is typified by his refusal to work with certain artistes. Nyovest is one of the artistes who has been rumoured to be on his blacklist in the past, with K.O remarking that they was a style clash between the two which prevented them from collaborating.
His decision to pick and choose the artistes that he works with has led some to conclude that he has isolated himself, leading to his current decline.
“I never said I don’t want to do features. I don’t want to do features with artistes that don’t have a business plan around their own music. Especially if we’re collaborating on a particular song I just don’t want to throw away my time and my talent and waste it on a record that doesn’t even go anywhere.
“At least if you’re going to do a collaboration you need to somehow utilise it and not waste other people’s time and talent. So it’s just a form of appreciation. I don’t charge for features so the least you can do is work the actual record because at the end of the day it has to be a win-win situation for both artistes on it,” he said.
With time, the foundations of his Cashtime Life label have proved to be nothing more than dust and with new rappers appearing on the scene, K.O has softened his hard-line stance on who he chooses to get into the recording booth with. For all his failings in the last few years, a K.O verse is still worth its weight in gold and according to him he will be handing out a few gems to other rappers in the next few months.
“I’m definitely looking forward to collaborating with more organised people. You’re going to hear some features on my album and you will hear more stuff I did with other outsides outside my own work,” he said.
When K.O’s Skhanda rap exploded on the scene, it held the promise of providing more than music. The movement came with a complete lifestyle of its own, transforming the fashion outlook of many youths who identified with its kwaito influenced style.
Despite the explosion of Cashtime branded fashion on the streets, K.O says that ultimately the label gained little in monetary terms.
“We learnt the hard lesson with the Cashtime Life merchandise. We saw the fake stuff spreading across Africa. We had made such a huge impact that the kids wanted it all over the continent.
“At the same time we were losing out on our own intellectual property and not cashing in on some serious revenue. This time around we’re more organised and our copyright is in order. We haven’t put it in people’s faces yet because there’re some things we need to lock down in terms of distribution locally and throughout the continent,” he said.