Hip-hop is a revolving art - Tuks Senganga
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday July 7, 2016 15:22
Local new school rappers such as Faded Gang, Ban T, South Africans Cassper Nyovest and Mtee have been labelled as hip-hop killers because of the way their lyrical content and beats are assembled. Most of these rappers are into trap rap, which is different from the foundation that was laid by the pioneers which was more lyrically educative.
“Its an evolution, the youngsters have their own sound they are breaking all the rules and its nice. It challenges the art form. Ga gona gore e ka se chenje (There is no way it cannot change), as listeners we have a choice of consuming what we want,” said veteran rapper Tuks Senganga.
Comparing the pioneers’ and the new school sounds he said the latter is a fast consumed products whereas the former was mainly produced for a niche market.
“I choose to look at the bright side of things despite the negatives. Hip-hop has opened doors for these young people, it has created careers and now people can support their families,” he said.
He stated that hip-hop is a revolving art, giving an example of an era whereby sampling and using auto tune was not fully approved in the hip-hop industry, but practices ended up being accepted in the game.
“Every now and then we get introduced to something new. We will adjust with time,” he explained. A few weeks ago a video of HHP threatening to beat up any new school rapper that talks bad about him surfaced on Internet platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. In the video he likened new school hip-hop sound to the taste of ink. Tuks Senganga has become one of the few pioneers to admit that he does not have an issue with the new school sound.
During his stay in the country Tuks Senganga mentored a number of young Setswana writers in the high-density suburb of Old Naledi and then later recorded a track with local veteran rapper Scar.
He was impressed by the work that the young rappers are putting in with some of them having become multi-millionaires saying, “our efforts tsa maloba (from the past) have created other opportunities to be created by the corporate world.” When quizzed about what was lacking in the local hip-hop industry as compared to the one in South Africa he said technically there was nothing different but the difference is in the market.
“We also facing the same difficulties in South Africa such as lack of support and various issues. As for getting into the commercial world you have to be visible, put out merchandise, quality music and making sure your marketing is on point,” he said.
Talking of his long hiatus, he said life took its course and he decided to take a break to get his stuff right and he is currently working on his sixth studio album Botsie Botsie.