Arts Review

Written by: Tiisetso Tlelima

Hip-hop is often sold as music that is extremely political, opinionated and most of all, as a genre that remains true to the struggles of the poor. Words like gangsters, poverty and ‘ghetto’ have become synonymous with hip-hop. Most hip-hop heads from rap stars, emcees and deejays to beat-boxers, b-boys and graffiti artists will tell you some depressing story of how tough it was growing up in the ghetto and how they led a life of drugs and crime until they found solace in hip-hop and miraculously changed their wayward lifestyles. It gives them what they call ‘street cred’ and moves them a notch up the food chain in a highly competitive industry. While some of these musicians’ personal anecdotes are indeed true, surely they can’t all have had a despondent and misguided upbringing? We caught up with the godfather of South African hip-hop and founder of Black Noise, Emile YX to unpack his life story and it’s nothing like the rags-to-riches tales we’ve heard from most hip-hop musos.

He was born into a family of teachers in Grassy Park – a neighbourhood that boasts a rich musical background and is the birthplace of unique Cape Town forms of break-dance and jazz. Emile grew up in an environment where playing musical instruments was a common thing – his mother played the piano and his uncle played the guitar. But his interest in playing an instrument only developed about a decade ago when he started doing the Brazilian martial art, capoeira. During a trip in Sweden, he learnt how to play the berimbua, a Brazilian bow that is played during capoeira, but he opted for a more dramatic and fast sound which he now uses as backing beats in his albums. Although music was the heartbeat of Grassy Park, it wasn’t considered a manly thing to do. So music lessons were not an option for him. Instead he took up boyish activities such as soccer and acquired a teaching qualification. Nonetheless, he remained active in hip-hop culture as a b-boy, MC and a graffiti artist throughout high school. He had been teaching for three years at Battswood Primary when he decided he would make a bigger impact if he taught through hip-hop culture.

Emile says the perception that hip-hop artists are from poor communities is a myth – ‘it’s the romanticizing of hip-hop’. In South Africa, for instance, the first kids who were exposed to hip-hop were from the middle-class and the so-called coloured community because there was a cultural connection to that style of music and it was prescribed as something they listened to, as their background, their history and culture. “Our parents listened to all types of music because we are of mixed origin and that’s how we got exposed to hip-hop,” he explains. He tells me that many people don’t realize that information usually gets to people who have access to information first and that hip-hop musicians romanticize what is poor because it’s sexy to sell that image. “Yes, there are people who are struggling who are involved in hip-hop, but the majority aren’t,” says Emile. According to him, the majority of South African rappers have the vocabulary to be able to pull it off and they probably went to Model C schools. “Even in America, if someone is like they had to steal spray cans because they were poor [that’s not completely true]. You steal bread, something you can eat if you are really poor, you don’t steal spray cans,” he adds. “People sell hip-hop as ghetto, underground, hard, gangster, poverty…I didn’t come from that background so it didn’t make sense for me to be singing things that are not from my background. I could associate more and connect more with Will Smith because of what he was rapping back then.”

When Emile founded the hip-hop group Black Noise in the early ‘80s, the intention wasn’t to be political. They were just b-boys. But with the escalating political tension in the country at the time, it became increasingly harder for the group to stay out of politics and eventually the inevitable happened. “I think because of the irritation of being involved in politics at school, coming to the gig and then hearing someone say something that’s got nothing to do with the political situation really pissed us off,” recalls Emile. “That was the inspiration to write rhyme for some of us. We were b-boys who felt the need to say something. [I remember] we were listening to people rapping about political situations over beats in the U.S and we thought why can’t we do that with the situation here?” So they bought a rolling 808 drum machine used for the base in hip-hop music, added samplers and keyboards and joined the resistance movement. Their first song was titled “Apartheid Sucks” which skimmed the surface of the political situation because even though they knew apartheid was wrong they didn’t know how to change it, what political party was needed or what concept was needed to make this change a reality. Their first few albums tackled the drugs and gangsterism problems in the Cape Flats and spoke about the history of who we are as Africans. The group relied heavily on doing gigs at malls and school carnivals because radio stations didn’t play rap music back then, so performance was the only way to get their music out.

When Black Noise first started, the fact that they called themselves Black Noise was a very touchy issue especially among the black community. People couldn’t understand why the group called themselves black if they were coloured. “The irony of that is that what we rapping about at that time was extremely pro-black, very Steve Biko and black consciousness music,” says Emile. “For me it was an awkward situation to be in because we had been telling our communities to stand up and accept that they are black meanwhile in the Xhosa community people were telling us we’re not black.”

In post-apartheid South Africa, Emile believes the situation hasn’t changed. South Africa is a very racist country and it will take more than fifteen years to break free from the shackles of apartheid and to decolonize the minds of South Africans. Although people don’t frown at the band’s name anymore, it’s still extremely difficult for coloured musicians to make it in the industry. For instance, radio stations still don’t play hip-hop music from the Western Cape and record labels aren’t interested in coloured rappers. “There are brilliant MCs in Cape Town but I doubt any of them will ever be signed by a big record label because [their] English is tainted with Afrikaans flavour and for a lot of people it isn’t something interesting and new. It’s just like ah shit…he speaks Afrikaans as well,” he explains. “This country is extremely racist…that’s just how it is. People speak about the mix, the interaction and how we are a diverse nation but they don’t really mean that shit.”

For groups like Black Noise, their music is hardly featured on TV or radio even though they address pertinent issues which we need to engage in if we want to grow as a nation. According to Emile the main reason for this is that South African media is still owned by white people and they’re not willing to air music that’s too political. “When we speak about black upliftment and black collective action it’s seen as anti-white,” says Emile. “You see all these artists on TV and you think imagine what kind of impact we would have on youngstas in the Cape Flats if they saw us, we from their community, if they saw themselves presenting on TV. To this day there is absolutely no television show that represents the Cape Flats or Cape Town or the coloured community which is a sad testament to the diversity and the so-called rainbow bullshit. The truth of the matter is that all people are mixed anyway, but we like to cling onto this cultural purity [idea] which isn’t true.” Prior to 1994, the band was still hopeful because of the change in the country, but now they’re aware of the reality that political songs don’t get airtime on radio. “Back then, we were still young and naïve and we thought we could change the world,” he recalls.

In an effort to relieve Black Noise (whose music is still predominantly dance-driven) with the burden of politics, Emile released his first solo album, Who Am I in 2000. “I had a lot to say about the politics of the country and I felt that part of me needed to come out more. So I thought I should do something on my own and get it off my chest,” says Emile. “Sometimes I don’t bother playing a beat, I just read a verse because once the beat kicks in people want to move, and they don’t listen to what is being said.” Who Am I deals with the complexities of the coloured identity in a South African context and it was born out of a need to understand who he is. In one of his songs, “Cape Flats Uprising”, he calls out to the people of the Cape Flats ‘to not be so docile about the political situation in our country because they are again being left to struggle on their own’. Emile urges them to take advantage of the democratic processes and make their grievances heard. In 2007, Emile released a more musical album ROAR which is more experimental and innovative with subtle social commentary. “I chose beats that aren’t normally associated with rap music,” he explains. “There’s a lot of drumming, jazz influences and a house riff [here and there].”

Apart from his music Emile has released three books: “What is Hip-hop?” published in 1995, “My hip-hop is African and Proud” in 2004 and in June this year he released his new book “Conscious Rhymes for Unconscious Times”. He also contributed and assisted the NPO and Heal the Hood Project with creating a book of rhymes, articles, poetry, sketches and short stories for the youth of the Cape Flats called R.A.P.S.S.

For more info on Emile YX and Black Noise visit www.emileyx.co.za