The original legendary South African hip-hop crew. This is where hip hop began in South Africa.
In 1982, way back when, five dudes from Cape Town came together. Originally breakdancers and graff artists, they became MCs and formed the group Black Noise in 1990 - the golden age of hip-hop culture. Five albums later, and these five dudes from the Flats have become living legends.
But here's the thing. I could discuss their albums, their lyrics, the tightness of their flow, but I'm not going to. What makes these boys legends, in my eyes and the eyes of many South Africans, is what they do when they are not on the mic. I'm not going to bother to make this short and simple, because it isn't. I'll just try to give you an idea of just how much this group means to the South African community.
Let's start off with the group itself. Frontman Emile is a qualified school teacher and the South African representative for Bambaata's Zulu Nation. Raycliff, another member, is a volunteer comunity worker and playwright who's productions run nationally. The rest of the group are currently studying things like mechanical engineering and graphic design. A quote from the group's rationale (It's long, but read it. Please?) goes like this:
The youth here in South African have been faced with immense challenges during the Apartheid regime. To many of them 'the struggle' came first and being young and carefree was merely a fantasy world that only existed in the movies. The effects of the past have created many ills in our many townships, which we now have to face. A factor that adds to the problem, is the lack of facilities and activities for the youth, which allows the youth to be tempted by the negatives that our societies have to offer like gangsterism, drug dealing, crime, violence etc.
Black Noise aims to encourage and lend support to other individuals and groups who are active or interested in expressing their creativeness through music , dance, spraycan art and learning knowledge of self. The group also encourage people to educate themselves not only within the formal (western) structure, but also by alternative information and therefore encouraging people to be free-thinking , open-minded and understanding individuals.
Not convinced? Here's a little description of what the band does when they're not in the studio. Black Noise headlined the Voter Registration effort and organise the Do-For-Self Project, which organises concerts for up-and-coming talent. They edit and publish several magazines, play a huge role in anti-drug, AIDS, environmental and literary campaigns, help run the SA branch of the Global Youth Project...are you beginning to see what I'm talking about here?
Of course, it doesn't hurt that they've got some of the tightest songs in Africa. Their albums have done incredibly well here, and they've got a stage presence to rival the best. To be fair, there are some SA artists out there who are more skilled lyrically, have better production and have bigger hits. But none of those artists even come close to Black Noise in terms of value to South Africa and it's people.
Fine, but does that mean they're responsible? Do they embody the theme of responsibility in terms of Hip Hop Appreciation Week? Can they go the distance? Etcetera. The answer is: of course. I thought hard, searched high and low, but no artists, in my mind, fulfilled the criteria of responsibility more than Black Noise. End of story.
In a world where most rappers are only interested in sales, TV ratings and getting more $$$, it's heartening to see that one of the most responsible groups in the world comes from my home country. In terms of fulfilling the theme of this write off, Black Noise fit the bill in every possible way. Local is Lekker, ekse!
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