Expect jam-packed line-ups across SA for ‘Traffic’ parties

HIPHOPmeets house in four regions in the One Way Traffic series of concerts. Brought to you by Hilltop Live and Homecoming Events, the series starts in Pretoria on January 30 before it heads to Durban on February 5, Cape Town on February 6 and finally Soweto on February 12.

In Pretoria, Cape Town and Soweto, revellers will be treated to Black Motion, Riky Rick and Groove Afrika. These acts will be joined by various others in each respective city. Durban, the hotbed of new-school hip hop in recent times, will be treated to performances by the sons of that soil.

DJ Benny Maverick will play and Witness The Funk as well as Aewon Wolf will hit the stage. In Cape Town, electronic producers, Christian Tiger School, will put on one of their awe-inspiring performances and will be joined by locals, Phat Jack and Das Kapital.

In Soweto, house hitmaker, Lulo Café, will play as will DJ Capital. The Vaal’s own, DJ Speedsta – who is only performing at the Soweto leg of this concert series – will also be one of the DJs to look out for.

After attending the 2016 instalment of his Burn, Booze and Chill party at the weekend, it was surprising to see that Speedsta selected DJs to alternate between hip hop and house music sets. So I quizzed the young Speedsta, who is known primarily as a hip hop DJ and producer, about the link between house and hip hop.

“I think that was the best of both worlds,” the producer who was born Lesego Nkaiseng said, “just to give people some variety. I think nowadays, people listen to what they can relate to. Whether that’s jazz or hip hop or kwaito or house, it’s about what relates to them.”

In the past, there was a contentious relationship between hip hop and other genres in South Africa. Especially with South African hip hop and kwaito. The Americanisation of the former was a punchline in kwaito songs. But over the years, that started to change and this change was propelled by K.O’s skhanda rap movement.

So I asked Speedsta if he thinks skhanda has helped to bridge the gap between lovers of hip hop and other genres. “Skhanda brought back a lot of old South African songs,” he said, “the kind of stuff that you’ll remember if you were born in the ’90s.” The Skhanda Queen, Nomuzi Mabena, is featured on Don’t Panic, which is one of the singles from Speedsta’s The Guy: 016 to the World mixtape.

“Nomuzi and I have been friends for years and when she decided to be an artist, I was like: ‘Yeah, let’s go,’” he exclaimed. “The mixtape is doing really well on iTunes and the hard copies will be available at all reliable music stores from the end of this month.”

The mixtape also features Bucie on a song with Kid X. So I wondered if Speedsta plans to work with other artists who are associated with house music. “At this point, I really just wanted to work with Bucie,” he confesses, “but from the top of my head, I think Black Motion would be it.” Both acts will be at Soweto for the One Way Traffic party, so anything can happen…

Catch hip hop and house performers during the concerts at the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens on January 30, at 47th Avenue in Durban on February 5, at FW de Klerk Boulevard in Cape Town on February 6 and Zone 6 Venue in Soweto on February 12. Tickets are R70 at Computicket.