NEW VID: GIGI LAMAYNE FT. KHULI CHANA…

Sipho Ramaru

Lady G is here to jack the game and possibly claim the best female emcee in the game as well. . .Ice Cream is one of the doppest joints from a female emcee I’ve heard in a while. Dope beat, Nice hook and ohhhh The MotswakOriginator never disappoint! Khuli’s wordplay is just out of this world. I’m still to see a local artist who’s yet to outdo Chana’s skill.

Gigi LaMayne is definitely climbing up the ladder. Nice Joint!!!

ASAP ROCKY ON SWAY IN THE MORNING. . .MURKING IT!!!

Sipho Ramaru

Starting it off with that Snoop kinda free flow and going in hard and taking a play-short at Fitty. . .Yo Fitty, don’t take it personal hommie. Nice playful freestyle.......

CONGRATULATE HIM. . .BET NOMINEE: BEST INTERNATIONAL ACT

Sipho Ramaru

“Starts out with a pipe dream/ White Tee and an ice cream/ All day on MySpace/ MJ tryna buy face/ I had to pay dues, had to make moves on faith. . .Even got booed on stage"

I’m sure it did seem like a pipe dream at some point! A BET nominee???. . .Very few South African acts dream of a BET award. But I guess this goes to prove that no dream is far from reach if you put the work in and keep your eyes on the ball!!

He might not be a “GOLDEN BOY” as yet but the boy is definitely MEGA!!! After that BET nominee. . .The controversial AKA a.k.a Kiernan Forbes has been nominated for Best International Act by the Black Entertainment Television network that celebrates African Americans and other minorities in music, acting and other fields within the entertainment industry.

This comes as no surprise though, especially after that “All Eyes On Me” joint went global. . .I dare you now to show me that individual who’s not feeling the track! #LEVELS has got to be one of the classic hip hop albums to come out of our local scene in 2014.

Tweets came in flooding after the rapper tweeted: “To God be the glory. I’ve just been nominated in the best international act category at the BET Awards.” Congratulatory messages came in multitudes from fans when AKA broke the news on his twitter account.

Even his fellow rap peers congratulated the homey. Cassper Nyovest who tweeted: “Congratulations on your nomination King @akaworldwide.”

The three-time SAMA Winner and nine-time SA Hip Hop Music Award Winner has been nominated for a BET Award in the best international act: Africa category. . .Let that sink in.

“Now this is the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life/ Didn’t believe it till I seen it with my own eyes/ I’mma need a black tux and a bow tie.”

That congratulate me track was like a prophesy no doubt. . .Congratulations hommie!!!

THE EVOLUTION OF HIP HOP CULTURE. . .”TRAP MUSIC”

Sipho Ramaru

Just like everything else in life. . .Hip Hop will also evolve, especially now as a genre that’s starting to be dominated by new skool cats, whom are also known as cool kids.

Well it isn’t necessarily a bad thing it’s just that with some people, it takes time to acclimatize to modification of any form…I’m one of them!

Old skool rap will always be the closest to my heart and be an instrument of education in a way as back in the day, it was more about lyrical skills and dropping knowledge.

Now it has changed to more of a platform for hommies to brag about swag, hitting girls, blowing money and popping bottles.

I’m not the one to judge though, we now live in an era where one can express themselves through channels they are comfortable with and however way works best for them. Even back then, you would find rappers that used to rap about such things but then there was more of conscious and underground rap than today’s popular “Trap Music”.

Trap Music is a genre that originated back in the early 1990s in the States…Where almost everything starts. This is that one genre that is epitomized by its aggressive lyrical content and sound. It is your typical 808 kick, heavy bass lines and hi hats and cinematic stings.

Rappers and groups like Bobby Shmurda (for now things don’t look too good for the hommie), Young Thug, Migos and Rae Sremmurd just to name drop a few….are growing the Trap music culture and definitely raising that flag up high! Again, I’m not the one to judge, times have changed. This genre has the youngsters bobbing their heads whenever they hear that kick and snare drops! It has its target market and people who love and can relate. Because at the end of the day…That’s what matters.

Just like in our local scene…We have our very own rappers, originating their own genres within the Hip Hop fraternity.

The first I remember is Zulu-Boy with Skhandi-Hop, a mixture of Maskhandi music and Hip Hop, then the likes of KO came with Skhanda-Rap, which is classified as Hip Hop mixed with your classic old Pantsula culture.

And you now have your BOYZNBUCKZ with Umswenko and other very cool stuff…It’s all about moving and keeping up with the times and keeping it fresh! Trend-setting is what it’s all about.

Old skool lovers aren’t necessarily captivated by this genre and these innovative approaches but one needs to understand that just like everything else, there will always be changes, expansions and progression.

Yeah every music lover had a stereo-cassette back in the 1990s and it was the coolest invention because it was portable and was convenient to travel with. You could bump your favorite music in a cab or wherever you were, but you had to have a collection of your cassettes with you…and now things have changed and other great inventions took place and people are now rocking music from their ipods and smartphones without carrying cassettes with them. We cannot avoid modifications and modernizations…They will always be there.

GOLD ON THE 1ST DAY OF RELEASE!!!

Sipho Ramaru

iFani aka Haymani selling GOLD on the first day of release! . .This has got to be the most controversial saga hip hop heads ever had to witness after AKA and Cassper. . .

The second offering from the Eastern Cape rapper has finally arrived, titled “I Believes In Me: 2ndQuadrant”.

It’s no surprise that iFani did sell GOLD because it is something he’s been preaching ever since he started working on this second studio album. But in the hip hop world, locally. . .It does come as a surprise!

This is the first of its kind and one could say that iFani did very well in pushing and marketing his album before the day he were to release the hard copy of the project. But the problem transpired when AKA went to twitter to question this accomplishment.

AKA didn’t waste time to take it to twitter to question iFani’s achievement on selling GOLD on the first day as the Milli hit maker had predicted. Twitter went ablaze when AKA started making accusations that the local cider brand, Redds had something to do with this whole thing.

In a very sarcastic tone, AKA tweeted:

@akaworldwide: “iFani has dropped a slew of hit records throughout 2014 and 2015 … Who am I to argue?! GOLD IN A DAY!!!! WOW!! Big Up To His fans!”

iFani fans went for AKA’s head, calling him names and saying that the Congratulate hit maker is hating on the young talented Xhosa rapper. Redds also went to twitter to clear it’s involvement in the story.

ReddsSA: “We support local talent & we are proud of @iFani_Haymani. The brand did not have any involvement in buying copies of the album”

But AKA wasn’t pleased with this tweet and went further to “expose” the deal made by Ifani and Redds, implying that the two parties are lying to the fans…he went on to tweet:

@akaworldwide: “MY ISSUE IS NOT WITH THE DEAL HE MADE! I APPLAUD AND RESPECT HIM THAT! The issue is that they are now saying that they didn’t buy any copies”

Even more celebrities got involved in this. One of them being, Siyabonga Ngwekazi, saying that AKA made the right move by uncovering what the public didn’t know, and he would have also done the same if he was a rapper.

@ScoopMakhathini: “I AM GLAD AKA IS SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. IF I WAS AN ARTIST IN THE HIP HOP FRATERNITY I WOULD NOT LET HIM SLIDE…I AM JUST A JOURNALIST”

However, Ifani denied all of these accusations and assumptions that he went for short-cuts in achieving his “GOLD IN A DAY” dream. Haymani says he understands why AKA is doing this. The hommie is probably depressed since has been in the game for quite some time, but is still yet to sell his first gold! And that must hurt…

Well, in the constitutional court, one is innocent until proven guilty and with that being said……CONGRATULATE the hommie for achieving his dream. He prophesized his success and spoke positivity into his dream and it did come true! We need visionaries in the game. Big Ups to the hommie iFani_Haymani!!!! Hashtag#GOLD_ON_THE_1^ST_DAY

Ifani Being Honoured With A Gold Plaque!!!

KANYE WEST HONORED WITH A DOCTORATE in fine arts…

Sipho Ramaru

“I’m sorry is something you can use a lot…It gives you the opportunity to give your opinion, apologize for it, and give your opinion again”_said Dr. West.

The “College Dropout” maker has finally “Graduat(ion)ed” after his “Late Registration”. . .The Chicago born rapper and Jesus Walk hit producer, Kanye West received an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on Monday the 11^th, 2015.

“Kanye, you joined us today to be recognized for your transformative and genre defining work across music, performance, film and fashion design”…I couldn’t have agreed more with these aspects Kanye is being recognized for. Despite his dramatic character and his reputation for stealing people’s spotlights at award shows, West has been a hard worker way before he blew up, “I now confer upon you the degree of honorary doctorate of fine arts. Dr. West.”
Before getting into it with his speech, he made a brief remark, “I’m a pop artist”. Kanye West is one of the biggest influences of street culture within the vicinity of pop culture, if you know what I mean. Yeezy, a name which stirred up controversy, especially after the his album which he titled “Yeezus”, I guess that means he’s the new school version of Christ. so if the devil wear Prada, Adam and Eve wear nada, i'm in between but way more fresher!

Doctor West has finally reached that milestone that many of us, so wish we could reach, and some could only dream of. “My medium is public opinion and the world is my campus”, he further uttered. “This honor is going to make your lives easier. Two reason; You don’t have to defend me as much. And I’m going to make all of our lives easier.”

I don’t know what it really takes for one to be honored with such an accolade, but the big hommie has done a lot for the pop culture and this one is well and fairly deserved. Big Ups to Dr. Kanye West.