 | I’m broke as hell and the dreams are barely flickering. Maybe it’s time to grow up. Maybe it’s time to get a real job. But I’ll be dammed if I don’t go down guns blazing. One of my favorite rappers is landing in Jozi – the great Qwel of Typical Cats – and I gotta be there. But I’m broke. So, I hook a lift with The Trees for zero money like a free rider, and that’s it. I’m heading ...read more |
Big City Thunder
Monday, January 7th, 2013 by Samora Chapman
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Best of 2012 | What Do They Know?
Saturday, January 5th, 2013 by Andy Davis, images by Sydelle Willow Smith
 | Originally published 14 June 2012 So it’s a Zaki Ibrahim listening session at the Red Bull Studio. She’s just signed to Motif Records, the label started by Tumi Molekane and long time friend, collaborator and manager, Bradley Williams. Zaki’s been in the ether for a while now too. We featured her track “Money” produced by King Britt, a few years back. Since then, she’s left Canada and is now based in South Africa more permanently. Every Opposite is ...read more |
Best of 2012 | Solid Steel
Friday, January 4th, 2013 by Ts'eliso Monaheng
 | Originally published 05 July 2012 Sea Point is not only a sea-side Cape Town residential area known for its high concentration of Jewish and Nigerian residents, but also a riverside township in Maseru, Lesotho made infamous by knife gangs and rampant crime in the 80s and 90s. It is a ‘final frontier’ of sorts, barricaded to the West by the Caledon river which separates Lesotho from South Africa. I am here to meet Kommanda Obbs in his four-roomed-flat-cum-recording-studio-cum-office. ...read more |
Best of 2012 | Fake American Accents
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 by Ts’eliso Monaheng
 | Originally published 07 May 2012 “In defence of artists who ‘sound American’, when I first started rapping, I had a fake East Coast accent,” said Slug of the group Atmosphere at an Urban Music Workshop leading up to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. “I grew up listening to East Coast rappers, and I thought, that’s what you’re supposed to sound like. So for many, many years, that’s what I sounded like.” ...read more |
Best of 2012 | In Dust We Trust | Part 1
Sunday, December 30th, 2012 by Max Barashenkov, images by Tyrone Bradley
 | Originally published 14 August 2012 The Coherent One About Selling Out I had decided to murder both the videographers even before they got in my car at the Winelands Engen that Wednesday morning. Not that they were bad people, in fact they turned out to be stoic and amiable fellows, but because over the 17 hour drive to Oppikoppi, I needed something to think about. If I was going to the grittiest festival in the country to shoot a video ...read more |
Best of 2012 | Jack Parow and The Nature of Inbreeding
Thursday, December 27th, 2012 by Max Barashenkov
 | Originally published 20 January 2012 The Patriarch pulled his cock out of his son, slapped the hairy ass and said, “that’s it, Jack, you’re ready for real stardom now.” The younger man hitched up his shorts, wiped the snot from his moustache and vacated the place for the next sibling to receive the blessing. Fame Under The Mountain is hard earned, the family demanding and merciless to those that stray beyond the caravan park, but, as the Patriarch likes to ...read more |
Best of 2012 | Without LSD, I see Rainbows
Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 by Samora Chapman
 | Originally published 17 May 2012 I hate disclaimers but I’ve got an itch for self-deprecation and I am no charlatan so… please note: This is a rock and roll review by a hip hop head. If I make any ridiculous references, misnomers or outright errors… please forgive me. As my man Q-Tip said: “This aint rock n roll, cos the rappers in control.” But Poison City has recently given birth to a seriously kak-ill rock and roll band. And they ...read more |
Outshine the Moon
Thursday, December 20th, 2012 by Samora Chapman
 | If you ever get sick of the same fifty hipsters (including me) that frequent the Poison City nightlife, do yourself a favour and take a little sojourn to the Jazzy Rainbow in Morningside. It’s a small venue packed with big leather couches, and moody lighting that makes you sink into a blissed-out jazzy stupor in no time. On Saturday night I filled my stomach with a flaming roti and went to watch Skye Wanda and the Rocket Men, brand new ...read more |
Night of the Side Projects
Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
 | One novel concept deserves another. Last week five of Cape Town’s more established bands: Bateleur, Beach Party, Christian Tiger School, Beatenberg and Voicetag / Bteam got together to showcase their side projects at a kitsch nightclub in the city. So we sent Hugh Upsher along to draw the review. ...read more |
When King Shango came to Town
Friday, December 14th, 2012 by Ts’eliso Monaheng
 | “The way SA Rastas fosta that Patois accent :’D yes I.” flashed one retweet across my timeline last week. Descending upon the Blue Waters beach in Cape Town, my mind temporarily tried to find solace in that tweet; hearing the MC over the speakers, I half-mockingly, half-seriously grouped him into that same ‘questionable patois’ bracket. But sense prevailed, and he proved himself the perfect candidate by the end of the night. When Capleton came to Cape Town, Rasta people came ...read more |
