Joey Bada$$ - 1999

This past Sunday at Jam That Session Vol 2 I was chilling with the homies, Quest Maguire, Mike from Mellow Vizion and Ill Duce , when suddenly I hear "who da f*** passed you the mic?" and suddenly everyone went buck! I looked at Quest like "yo, who da f*** is that yo?" "You don't know Joey Bada$$ shun?" he replied. I didn't respond and pretended I knew who he was talking about. I Googled the young'n and this is what I found! Sit back and enjoy....

SARINOAH

I have been saying this for the whole of 2012 and it seems further than it really is: BOOM BAP IS BACK! I discovered this producer whilst checking out some BOOM BAP sounds off Soundcloud. It's on some jazzy tip though.

Swag VS Suave

Swag, an abbreviated term for the word swagger ‘.Swagger, verb (swaggers, swaggering, swaggered)” to walk or behave in a conceited way or strut”. (OXDORD Dictionary, Joyce M Hawkins, Andrew Delahunty, Fred McDonald). Swag, “appearance, style or way one presents themselves”. (urbandictionary.com) So once again Popular Culture is responsible for the mutilation of the English language. Usually I wouldn’t have a problem with giving the Queens’ English a wee kick in the bollix but when it comes to the word swag I’m straight beefing! I have said the word swag many times and meant it for what it was, a term of acknowledgement that the referred subject is considerable as stylish, fashionable or cool. I missed the point where swag became its very own sub-culture within a sub-culture. A sub-sub-culture, a genre. A genre of childishness, flamboyance and ignorance. Maybe that is why people are coming up with synonyms creating their very own “sub-sub-culture” to combat the already existing one. This I think is completely pointless and waste of time. If “popular culture is an authentic culture of the people” (neo-gramscian hegemony), authenticity is the source of a persons’ swag. So conforming to the criteria of a “sub-sub-culture” cannot be swag. People say swag is for boys and suave is for men, I ask what is the difference? So moral of the storey is let’s stop flattering these lames by calling then swag any things. They’ll never have swag no matter if they print it on a t-shirt to promote their reality show or no matter how many fake TISA snapbacks they buy. Being authentic is true swag. Or suave!

Xola X & Quest Maguire - My Backpack

Xola X The Xilaman & Quest Maguire - My Backpack (Prod. by Envy The Loop Digger) Finally they this project is starting to gain steam. Two of the hottest mcees in Cape Town, Xola X The Xilaman & Quest Maguire have come together to give us a hot collaborative project titled, The Adventures of Mr Maguire & The Xilaman.

THE CORNER

NXR MAGAZINE presents THE CORNER in association with Boaston Society. I'm sure you have seen this on blogs and other website, the corner is where it's at. Quest Maguire, Ill Verse, Snarks Ou, Celeste Mitchell, DJ Zaui and a whole lot more. This promises to be one of the hottest underground hip hop gigs to happen in Cape Town in a while. With the hottest acts to come out of Cape Town on the line-up, you do not want to miss this!

Jam That Session 2

Word is "Cape Town Hip Hop is dead" or "The Cape Town Hip Hop scene is non existent". That is a load of BS. Jam That Session brings us a show using the know and loved "park jam format" where artists take turns to perform. This surely will be a night to remember, I will be gracing the stage too so it should be ONE HELL OF A NIGHT!

OBAMA WINS!

Today, 27 November 2012, the leader of The Democrats and president of the United States, Barack Obama, has won the 2012 national elections which sees him reign for yet another 4 year term.

Weave Us Alone!

Now…we all know you don’t have to be an elite writer or columnist, or whatever the hek you aspire to be, or better yet, get asked by a mate to be a once-off freelancer for a new idea of hustling a magazine that might not even be published, to remain relevant in this demanding world we live in. I say this with all the niceness in me, which varies from time to time, based on my “how do I make today more significant than yesterday” moments or why I chose to wear a yellow t-shirt instead of a clown suit? Awkward moments consume even the best of us at times. But in this day and age, we channel all those “awkward moments” into something else and somehow let our weaves do the talking.

Yes, this could get ugly. Much like the awfully painful-looking weaves we make a part of our daily lives. It’s become a serious matter, an awkward cause for concern; because as young children, growing up, I’m pretty sure we were taught to surround ourselves with greatness. Or at least, that’s my hopefully accurate conclusion. And if we struggle to be amongst the best, we often resort to forcing notions of conforming and trying to perfect the almost impossible, which can be quite tricky. ‘Tricky’ could very easily lead to “tacky” and guess what, people who fall under that category really couldn’t care less.

That so-called “tacky” weave definitely tells a story about you, by the way, just in case you didn’t know, which often screams “cheap-ass, broke-ass, and skanky hood-rat”. These are the ‘kind’ words society has dubbed on their fellow African sisters. Funny, sad, but more realistically, true.

In the spirit of beauty, the weave fascination has become a sensation to many females world-wide. It has managed to blast our African female beauties at large lengths (excuse the pun. It really wasn’t intended. Well, maybe just a little bit) and more so, our black South African sisters at even greater magnitudes. Divas, hustlers, ghetto-barbies, ladies, honeys, babes and dolls all miraculously united in the weave war-front. Okay, maybe that was a little too dramatic, but in essence, each of these characters have their own perception about how to go about making their weave the best in S.A. It’s become a battle of judgment and prejudice confrontation, without saying a word. The weave does the talking.

Rock-hard, busted, ‘rotten’ hair has become popular, in a world of its own, believe it or not. More and more South African females are content with the tarnished brands they choose to consume and have somehow created their own niche in the weave hustle. Make no mistake, they know for a fact that they are indeed purchasing one of the worst products in their entire lives, but for the love of conforming to what they hope is the best, the doubt and painful regret becomes null and void. Strange people out there hey…

Then there’s the lavish, pretty, goal-orientated (which honestly isn’t as relevant as society makes it out to be when it comes to which weave brand they prefer) and sassy black South African woman are in a league and class of their own, apparently. Society has its way of creating labels for its fellow citizens and strangely enough, they accept those almost unnecessary yet awkwardly relevant attachments to define their amazing hair. Oh sorry, I mean…weave? Yes, that! My kindness tends to get slightly ‘retarded’ at times, so don’t mind me. Pardon instead.

From 8 inch to 24 inch pieces and packets of Indian and Brazilian human hair (literally), men are making wives out of these beautifully weaved-up divas. How refreshing is that? Err…rather arbitrary and corny, I’d say. The slick and sexy weave ends up becoming more worthy of mature daily life traditions and happenings than the actual purity and soulful spirit of a natural South African beauty. The things we do to be the greatest woman, is the story told by our weaves; Astonishing.

‘Afro’, what is that? ‘Natural’, who are you trying to insult? ‘Bald’, I refuse to be cast as an alien in my awesome circle of friends! ‘African’, I know who I am okay!? This is the reality we are scared to face. Man or woman, young or old. We live in a nation and society where we just let things slide. Makes people talk less. Show off more. It’s that weave that makes “them” real. Sure.

Nontombi "Mini" Mdlalo is a bubbly and charismatic young lady with a wit sharper than Debora Patta's nose. Mini is a lover of all things alternative. A marketing student who is truly passionate about her work.