Hip-hop star Eureka has found it - at home

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Wednesday November 7, 2007 00:00

 

He was right, just two weeks ago Scar scooped a Channel O Award to prove that the genre is really growing in this country.

According to Dargie, Rhumba, which had been dominating for the last decade, was declining and disco music non-existent. 

The number of artistes joining the hip-hop bandwagon is also growing and most of the time the youngsters are not only adding up the numbers but also releasing quality music.

The latest in this fast-growing list is an artiste called Eureka. He is not new to the music world anyway, having worked in South Africa before. He is now back in Botswana to start all over again. As they say charity begins at home.

'I did not want to be a visitor in my own land, I just had to return and establish myself first here at home before I could export my product,' Eureka said.

It is an open secret that hip-hop music is still struggling to find its footing not only in Botswana but in the whole region. Many people are skeptical about it, they still associate most of it with America.

For this reason, it would not be easy for hip-hop artistes to break into the market let alone make as much money as musicians doing other types of music like Kwaito or Afro pop. Eureka, whose real name is Tebogo Motsie had this in mind before he decided to venture into this tough industry.

That hip-hop originated in America, and is sang in English, has left misconceptions that it is better in that language than any other and some people do not even bother to listen if the lyrics are in any other language. But Motsie argues that language is not the key when it comes to music.

'It is just poetry and what language you use does not matter. I have stories to tell and it depends on whether that story is intended for the international community or if I want to communicate with the local people,' he argued. When he grew up in Francistown in the 90s, he was hopeful yet reluctant to start a career as a hip-hop artiste but for some reason he decided that it was his duty to shame the skepticism and prove that hip-hop had a future on African soil.

In 2003 he decided that one way of realising his childhood dream of one day being a big hip-hop superstar, was moving to a place where it was more appreciated and Cape Town was the obvious choice, as for a long time it was perceived the capital of the genre in Africa.

'At the time I thought the only way to make it was by moving to Cape Town but it turned out that if you want to make it big the place must be Johannesburg,' he said.

His fortunes changed after he took that bold step to move to Gauteng as he started to perform at various clubs around Joburg. The highlight of his seemingly short career was when he shared the stage with award winning South African groups, Skwatta Kamp and Brown Dash during this year's East Rand Show. Here at home, many hip-hop followers are still to hear what he has to offer. But he is happy that even before his songs can go on air, he performed at the President's concert at Maitisong recently.

Eureka got the nod to entertain outgoing President Festus Mogae after the organisers of the event listened to his CD and were immediately impressed. Currently fans have only been able to get a taste of his stuff on radio but he is hoping that his single titled Almost Famous will leave the same impression when it hits the shelves next week.

The 24 year-old believes in exploring and working with different artists for a mellow piece.

His coming CD has been touched by among others.