Former Teargas rap member K.O had a few things to get off his chest concerning the current state of South African (SA) Hip-Hop.
K.O speaks on the decline of South African Hip-Hop
Fresh off the release of Shimmy‘s music video, the Cara Cara rapper is one of the few Hip-Hop artists active in these unprecedented times.
We would not be befuddled to say that K.O is in the tier of South African super rapstars, a class occupied by the likes of Cassper Nyovest, AKA and Nasty C.
It seems, though, that K.O has caught wind of the decomposing state of affairs in the globally dominant genre.
His argument was not backed up by any facts but the points he raised rightly substantiated his notion that South African Hip-Hop is in a state of decline.
“SA hip-hop, I hope we’re all cognizant and taking notes from the constant decline of our impact as a fraternity – coz [sic] I am ♂️. Amapiano still moving things, Gqom and House are reserging [sic]. We’re not a threat to no one cos our sound/attitude doesn’t resonate anymore…” the rapper tweeted.
Mr Cashtime was not naive to ignore the contributions his fellow tier-mates have made in keeping the pulse of the genre alive. However, this, he said, is not enough to push the culture forward and a clear indication of this can be found on the Apple Music/iTunes Top 100 most-streamed songs in Mzansi.
Numbers don’t lie: How SA Hip-Hop is charting on Apple Music/iTunes
We took the courtesy to check out the iTunes chart and this is what K.O meant.
A scroll down the chart makes it abundantly clear that South African Hip-Hop has taken a nosedive over the years. Apple Music/iTunes updates this list daily to properly represent the most-streamed songs on the platform in South Africa and Nasty C is the only rapper who appears at the 76th spot.
Ignoring the international acts, the chart is largely dominated by Amapiano and Gqom contributors.
K.O provided no further comment on the remedies needed to revive the genre except for stating that the onus lies with rappers to “make music with our people and their stories in mind again.”
