Skhanda Republic: Longevity, South African Identity and Impact
The Jason Bourne Trilogy illustrated a lethal machine of a man that had partially lost his memory due to a gunshot that left him floating in the shores of the French fishery. Suffice to say, he wakes up with a memory that is as puzzling as a 3 rand coin, and goes on a King Kong rampage, a quest to find out WHO he is and WHAT happened to him. This is no different from SA Hip-hop. The origins of SA Hip-hop are as amazing, and mystifying as the Wolverine's origins. We can try picking it up from here and there, we can reference documentaries like ‘Fede Fokol’ which greatly highlights Joburg and Cape Town based MCs, but there has never been a comprehensive national collation. Where am I going with this? The rhetoric stems from a conversation I had with a friend of mine who uttered in confidence that Skhanda rap is just a ‘Flavour of the month’ or ‘Umlilo wamaphepha’ and that it will not last. I gave him the Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson People’s Eyebrow, where I cheekily raise my eye brow insinuating that, strong, was the opium he was smoking and that he should put the pipe down. Now, please bare in mind that no one really wins a Hip-hop argument, but in this case I tried the impossible, which is basically ALL the time.
For years now, throughout its manifest for gaining respect as a formidable genre of music and overall a culture, SA Hip-hop has been struggling to find its ‘Bourne Identity’. Even with the nuance of vernac in the raps, SA Hip-hop was still pulling struggle bars, as it still couldn’t consolidate a South African identity, moreover an African identity. From its qualms with Kwaito, in the late 90s and early 2000s, the shunning of a HHP for dabbling in Kwaito, to the in-house conflict of English vs vernac Rap, right up to the argument of ‘selling out’ or ‘not keeping it real’ we were not winning. Basically, the likes of Canibus, Chino XL and other countless artists that we listened to on Sway and King Tek’s show had us by the balls. But as the Bourne Trilogy comes to a confrontational climax, Jason starts remembering who and what he is, as he delves and traces his origins and starts finding a voice of his own, where the steps he takes are that of his own choosing. This is what happened to K.O. As one third of Teargas,he has seen a successful run in mainstream Hip-hop, mixing vernac and English raps through ballads and RnB infused sounds with singles like ‘Chance’ ‘Take You Out’ and ‘Champion’ to name a few. It was only inevitable that on a quest for identity as an urban genre, they infused a mixture of South African sounds that would be followed and placed on a Skhanda Republic pedestal.
Thus, ENTER THE SKHANDA RAP! but what is this mantra? Well basically in a poor attempt for academia definitions, Skhanda is a pastige of South African urban sounds, founded on Hip-hop disciplines, that have come together to form an Optimus Prime of a sub genre, a culture, lifestyle and quite frankly an attitude. You find Kwaito elements here, very prevelant in the way the lyricism weaves itself into basslines. The drums and kicks that remind of you of Mdu's 'Check Pha' or 'Lomhlaba uyahlaba' 'Siyajola' or remnants of Joe Nina's sounds or better still, Kyllex and Oude Meesta's classic 'Yizo Yizo' theme song, where songs like K.O's 'Benithini' capture the true grit of kasi lifestyle and the glorious inclinations of 'Amadelakufa'. In a subsequent sequence of events, K.O's Skhanda Republic is born. Now regardless of how he came about it, with accusations that he ‘stole’ the style, the fact is that he ran with it, and together with Hip-hop scholar aka Thabiso Khathi and Ma-E they have consolidated a sound as Cashtime Life and it sounds South African, and is competing continentally, moreover, it is something the international world can call fresh. It has become a tourist attraction. Hip-hop's very origins have borrowed sounds, DJ Cool Herc himself can attest to that, Skhanda was a natural progression, an evolution if you may.
Under the Cashtime banner, you have Hip-Hop Scholar, K.O, Ma-E, Maggz, Kid X, and DJ Vigilante. A solid team of artists and management. Since the release of ‘Mission Statement’ in 2013 we have seen the rebranding and reshuffling of Cashtime, with one album under K.O and a string of singles from Kid X, Maggz Ma-E and DJ Vigilante. Skhanda Republic was released in 2014 and is looking to stretch into 2016 with ‘Ding Dong’ as the latest single. No other artist besides Kid X’s latest mixtape titled ¾ Pace has released an official project, but all of them are out there performing impact singles. Let that sink in. In the immortal words of Sarah Connor (The Terminator 2: Judgment Day) ‘The future is not set’. We don’t know what will happen in the future for Skhanda rap, or even three years from now, but, we do have tools of information; history, accolades, impact, experience and Cashtime Life has all of them, and using these tools, we can gauge that Skhanda rap is not going away anytime soon.
Written by: Sammy Bronze
