KRS ONE! yes my son...
The Temple Of Hiphop is Hiphop's preservation society and international ministry; it is not a place! It is a society, a community, a family of people that grew up in a movement called Hiphop and are prepared to assist one another in the establishing of Hiphop as a legitimate community of peace and prosperity; a nation. Organizationally, the Temple Of Hiphop is a Ministry, Archive, School and Society. Although there are a variety of Temple of Hiphop facilities, archives and schools, in essence the Temple of Hiphop is a vision. It is located a Perfection Street and Victory Road.
Its true address is 1, Victory Road. Such a vision is reserved for the truly committed and serious Hiphoppa. Are you Hiphop?Our very existence as a conscious body of attuned Hiphoppas balances Hip Hop's image in world history. It is our very existence as a Temple for Hip Hop; that actually preserves Hip Hop internationally. Our belief in ourselves as a specialized group of human beings (Hiphoppas) insures Hip Hop's actual preservation. Our philosophy is that Hip Hop is correctly preserved through the preservation of the Hiphoppa. The Temple of Hiphop's objective is to be a loud voice for the advancement of Hip Hop's cultural existence.
Our aim as Temple Members is to exist as an active Hiphop preservation society that inspires the Hip Hop community to be a community. It is our duty as responsible Temple Members to insure that this happens. The Seventeenth principal of the Hip Hop Declaration of Peace states that: "Hiphop is shown the highest respect when Hiphoppas respect each other." Can we get there? Can we, the Temple of Hiphop, do just that? Realize this: we DON'T even have to like each other to get our work done! But we DO have to respect each other! The time is now to begin taking yourself seriously as a citizen of the international Hip Hop community. So at this time, "WE" welcome you to the Temple Of HIP HOP and remind you that we are not just doing Hiphop; WE ARE HIPHOP!
ENDORSE HIP HOP'S DECLARATION OF PEACE NOW!
ARE YOU HIP HOP? Do you see the value of preserving Hiphop's culture? THEN CLICK HERE. Have you ever invested in any of its billion dollar industries? Furthermore, are you concerned with how Hiphop will be documented in world history? Right now, Hiphoppas around the world are working to change the way governments, businesses, security organizations, media, religious, educational and civic organizations and institutions view Hiphop; as consciousness, culture, elements and expression. However, everyone does not see the vision of a unified, self governed and prosperous Hiphop Kulture. Most people can only understand and accept Hiphop as rap music. Some people prefer to only use the elements of Hiphop to satisfy their own self interest.
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Mayor of Detroit Honors Hiphop Appreciation Week 2007
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The state of SA rap
Rap is a billion-dollar industry worldwide, but in South Africa it still has a way to go, reports Thami Masemola
yth: country music outsells everything in the United States. Fact: rap music is the biggest selling genre in the $6-billion annual US market, capturing close to 15% of it.
Myth: only black inner-city youth are into rap music. Fact: close to 70% of rap music purchased in the US goes to white hands. These are staggering figures, considering that African-Americans account for only 14% of the 260-million-strong US population.
But what is this rap anyway, what is hip-hop, what does it mean to you and why are Tommy Hillfiger and Calvin Klein so taken in by these words? Who are Dr Dre, Puff Daddy, Russell Simmons, Tupac and Notorious BIG?
Names like these may not mean much to many a South African but in the US they translate into mega dollars, mega clothing merchandise and mega advertising revenues. Clothing designers Hillfiger and Klein use a lot of rap artists for their advertising campaigns. They design streetwear that these stars and their fans adore and aspire to be seen in. Real estate Machiavelli, Donald Trump, frequently hangs out with Puff and his girlfriend, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez.
Names like these may not mean much to many a South African but in the US they translate into mega dollars, mega clothing merchandise and mega advertising revenues. Clothing designers Hillfiger and Klein use a lot of rap artists for their advertising campaigns. They design streetwear that these stars and their fans adore and aspire to be seen in. Real estate Machiavelli, Donald Trump, frequently hangs out with Puff and his girlfriend, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez.
Tupac and BIG are probably the most successful murdered rappers of all time, selling millions of albums two and three years after their deaths respectively.
Where did it all start? Believe it or not, rap has been around for over 23 years, evolving from a fad to a street party. Rap music is an element of a larger culture that encompasses rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, vocabulary and a general lifestyle. This popular culture is generally referred to as hip-hop, but the name is also interchangeable with rap at certain times.
Like all things Yankee, rap made its way to our shores in the early 1980s, as early as 1983. DJ Blaze, one of the best known rap DJs in South Africa, first got into it in 1983 when a movie called Beat Street was showing in his neighbourhood. Unlike most other DJs in the country, his repertoire only consists of rap music.
Where did it all start? Believe it or not, rap has been around for over 23 years, evolving from a fad to a street party. Rap music is an element of a larger culture that encompasses rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, vocabulary and a general lifestyle. This popular culture is generally referred to as hip-hop, but the name is also interchangeable with rap at certain times.
Like all things Yankee, rap made its way to our shores in the early 1980s, as early as 1983. DJ Blaze, one of the best known rap DJs in South Africa, first got into it in 1983 when a movie called Beat Street was showing in his neighbourhood. Unlike most other DJs in the country, his repertoire only consists of rap music.
"I began DJing in 1990," he states. "I liked the scratching and the mixing you know, the sound that DJs made when they were playing."
In the US, record company executives only started pumping serious money into it in the early 1990s after the advent of probably the single greatest rap entertainer of all time, MC Hammer. His second CD, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, saw its way to over 10 million homes worldwide. Unfortunately, like most things Uncle Sam-flavoured, rap is yet to cause the tidal waves it's supposed to when it comes to South African youngsters.
Sure, our youths sport the same DKNY jeans, CK belts and Fubu T-shirts as them. But rap speaks about the everyday life experiences of the musician, commonly known as a rapper, whether it's gun pushing, drug peddling, gangsterism, money, sex, social torment or racial oppression.
In the US, record company executives only started pumping serious money into it in the early 1990s after the advent of probably the single greatest rap entertainer of all time, MC Hammer. His second CD, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, saw its way to over 10 million homes worldwide. Unfortunately, like most things Uncle Sam-flavoured, rap is yet to cause the tidal waves it's supposed to when it comes to South African youngsters.
Sure, our youths sport the same DKNY jeans, CK belts and Fubu T-shirts as them. But rap speaks about the everyday life experiences of the musician, commonly known as a rapper, whether it's gun pushing, drug peddling, gangsterism, money, sex, social torment or racial oppression.
The South African experience is somewhat similar, yet fundamentally different. For example, the best known hip-hop act in South Africa, Prophets of Da City (POC), released their first album Our World in 1990. Better known in Europe than at home, the Cape Town group rapped about the struggles of being black in a politically turbulent country. Their primary motivation lay in their deep hatred of the apartheid system.
Such was the content of their material that when their third album, Age Of Truth, came out in 1993, the SABC banned all 21 of the tracks in it. This was just a year before our first democratic elections. Now that apartheid is officially dead, they face the challenge of new themes.
But POC weren't the only ones getting into the fast growing rap game. In 1991, a certain young Zimbabwean named Taps released a rap album called Young Hip And African. It received modest airplay, but served to showcase another side of rap: fun lyrics, light music and a feel-good image. Before then, the only other rapper in the world who could successfully blend the three was The Fresh Prince, now widely referred to as Will Smith.
Another group came along in 1991 and helped create the genre we now know as kwaito. Katlehong Rappers Movement (Karamo) arrived with a rap twist that no one had done before: they fused township elements into their music, even using township slang in their lyrics.
Their single Bra music was greeted with great interest and catapulted the foursome into ghetto superstars who wore the latest silk and viscose attire. By now every township head was aware of this new fashionable sound and was getting into it in droves.
Rap groups were mushrooming all over the townships, miming shows took place every month and the music was all over radio and tv. But South Africa's accountant-run, ultra-conservative record companies were still not convinced. Each time a rapper would hand them a demo tape of their music, it would be "sorry that stuff isn't commercial enough. Perhaps you'd like to try doing kwaito instead?". No I wouldn't.
But POC weren't the only ones getting into the fast growing rap game. In 1991, a certain young Zimbabwean named Taps released a rap album called Young Hip And African. It received modest airplay, but served to showcase another side of rap: fun lyrics, light music and a feel-good image. Before then, the only other rapper in the world who could successfully blend the three was The Fresh Prince, now widely referred to as Will Smith.
Another group came along in 1991 and helped create the genre we now know as kwaito. Katlehong Rappers Movement (Karamo) arrived with a rap twist that no one had done before: they fused township elements into their music, even using township slang in their lyrics.
Their single Bra music was greeted with great interest and catapulted the foursome into ghetto superstars who wore the latest silk and viscose attire. By now every township head was aware of this new fashionable sound and was getting into it in droves.
Rap groups were mushrooming all over the townships, miming shows took place every month and the music was all over radio and tv. But South Africa's accountant-run, ultra-conservative record companies were still not convinced. Each time a rapper would hand them a demo tape of their music, it would be "sorry that stuff isn't commercial enough. Perhaps you'd like to try doing kwaito instead?". No I wouldn't.
Some kwaito artists actually started out rapping, wised up to the situation and switched to kwaito. That was until 1996 when Cube Records braved the odds to release a compilation of the who's who of South African rappers called The Muthaload. It boasted such names as Amu, Bravestar, Dark Seed, Shorty Skillz, Local Crew Metamo' Forces and Ramesh. But instead of spawning a whole new breed of stars, most of them disappeared into obscurity, with the only survivors from the project being Amu and Spex from Metamo' Forces. The former has joined forces with long-time admirer Thabiso Khati, CEO and co-owner of Nativz Media. The relatively small but enterprising recording label signed Amu up and released him on a Nativz compilation last year.
"There's definitely a market for rap in South Africa", states Khati. "All you have to do is look at the playlists of radio stations that cater for the predominantly rural listener. Most of the playlisted stuff there is rap and R&B."
Nativz caters for what could be regarded as non-mainstream music in South Africa: rap and R&B. Spex on the other hand joined forces with Eargasm Records, also a young label. His EP, released mid-1999, got good airplay on a number of radio stations.
Arguably the biggest R&B star in the country is former POC member E'Smile. His groundbreaking debut Mi house, released in 1998, sold a modest 4 000 copies, a far cry from the likes of kwaito stars M'du and TKZee who frequently go over the 100 000 mark.
There's much more hip-hop culture in Cape Town than the whole country put together. POC and Black Noise are products of the Mother City's well-developed hip-hop lifestyle - guns, graffiti, drugs and all.
Nativz caters for what could be regarded as non-mainstream music in South Africa: rap and R&B. Spex on the other hand joined forces with Eargasm Records, also a young label. His EP, released mid-1999, got good airplay on a number of radio stations.
Arguably the biggest R&B star in the country is former POC member E'Smile. His groundbreaking debut Mi house, released in 1998, sold a modest 4 000 copies, a far cry from the likes of kwaito stars M'du and TKZee who frequently go over the 100 000 mark.
There's much more hip-hop culture in Cape Town than the whole country put together. POC and Black Noise are products of the Mother City's well-developed hip-hop lifestyle - guns, graffiti, drugs and all.
Who's to blame for the pathetic state of rap in this country? The economy is probably the single biggest enemy that rap faced in the past, and continues to faces today and in the near future. An uneducated, unemployed population has no chance of contributing towards the rise in CD and tape sales. Dubbing of music is still a huge problem, especially for the majority of black youth where a CD will pass through five or six dubbing hands.
It may yet happen that rap takes over the lives of young people in this country. After all, it's taken South African jazz over a decade to stage the spectacular comeback that it recently has.
Hi-fliers: Breakdancers at Cape Town's annual African Hip-hop Indaba in Mitchells Plain on April 25PHOTOS: NICK ALDRIDGE
It may yet happen that rap takes over the lives of young people in this country. After all, it's taken South African jazz over a decade to stage the spectacular comeback that it recently has.
Hi-fliers: Breakdancers at Cape Town's annual African Hip-hop Indaba in Mitchells Plain on April 25PHOTOS: NICK ALDRIDGE
Getting into MizchifSA hip-hop's brightest star talks to Greg Bowes [28/04/00]
What about What? What?Hip-hop woman What? What? talks to Ben Joseph about her name and coming home this weekend to roost [28/04/00]
Mix meisterQ&A with Ready D from Brasse Vannie Kaap and POC [20/04/00]
Do you think it's possible to categorise Nineties sexuality? Post your comments on our Vox Pops bulletin board
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