There is a message in rap
prophet Mo might have produced the theme song to next year's polls
IT ALWAYS has had a breathless intensity about it, a Hear me now, or forever lose this opportunity” attitude. A street sass that had a political consciousness at its heart.
Hip-hop wasn’t just rapping, it was a movement that encompassed music and social activism.
Then the big music industry bared its greedy fangs, and took a huge debilitating bite at the art form.
Big industry infected it with what I call IUV, or Intellectually Unfriendly Virus.
Hip-hop has been turned into a form of prostitution a money-spinning game with no social consciousness. Nas was one of the first to admit defeat when he rapped: I can’t sound smart cause y’all will run away.”
After that, hip-hop saw black people being reduced to cardboard characters who were oversexed, intellectually shallow, immoral and violent.
The videos became pornographic. Sadly, there was little or nothing countering these images.
Because South Africans embrace anything American, we usurped hiphop (unfortunately, the bad aspects of it).
We created kwaito, which, at the outset, was a heady brew of social commentary and groovy music. But almost overnight it, too, degenerated into pornography.
In their current hit, Inazo, my homeboys Big Nuz wax lyrical about their sexual prowess. “I like this one, ’ cause she’s slender; but fatty here is also nice.”
Maybe I am a spoilsport, but I don’t derive fun from the objectification of women ’ s bodies.
I was mourning the lack of rebelliousness in our art when a friend suggested I listen to Prophet Mo. So I watched Prophet Mo’s Andisoze Mna on YouTube.
Driven by an infectious beat, the song is an imagining of what Thabo Mbeki would have said about the state of affairs in this country.
Speaking as the Mbeki persona in the video, Prophet Mo says: Years later, now people want to hear me speak. All of a sudden they forgot they called me names. London boy who wants to be African. A quiet diplomat who is pushing this latest nonsense disguised as African Renaissance. All of a sudden I matter. I am the best this movement has ever had. Hhayi bo. Nilibala msinyane (you forget so quickly)… In the interests of a peaceful and progressive Azania please ngiyekeni (leave me alone). I dare wish not to talk. Never. Hhm, BMW, hhayi, andisoze mna (No, I will never). Hhm, hhayi, andisoze mna.”
In as much as I love music and the arts in general, I am by no means an expert on popular music, but I think
Andisoze Mna will be one of this summer s hits. It will also possibly be an anthem in the build-up to next year s election.
Maybe I am just an idealist, but it’s my humble opinion that art should stimulate, educate, irritate while still maintaining its entertainment content.