Talking Motswako with the OGs

“We cant’s say Motswako started at such a particular place by a certain individual. What I can say is that it started in different places around the same time. By then we already had people mimicking Americans rapping in English and there was a need to start rapping in our own language that people around us understood,” said Towdeemac. Tuks Senganga believes that as Batswana people they were already accustomed to poetry, which they loved so much and with time they decided to fuse it with some beats and melodies to come up with Motswako. Even though Tuks Senganga is one of the genre pioneers he cannot point out to a specific individual or group that originated the genre saying it is a group effort by Batswana.

Most established Tswana rappers have been pointed out as the pioneers with some such as Khuli Chana claiming they are the pioneers. “It can’t be Khuli coz the time we came into the scene there were already people that were into Motswako,” Towdeemac who is in Morafe a Motswako group with Khuli Chana said.