Life Through My Hip Hop Lens By Sandile Fanas Masupha

I grew up on hip hop, and as a child, I’ve always wanted to be a part of the movement. That was after I heard Eric Sermon’s verse on Alfonso Hunter’s “Just The Way”, being mesmerized by Biggie’s “Hypnotise”, and A Tribe Called Quest’s beautifully bewitching beats and rhymes on tracks like “Can I Kick It” & “Scenario”. Don’t clearly remember which came first but yeah…that was the start of my journey.

Daluxolo, thanks for being my dealer and giving me my first shot at no charge. How could I ever forget the day you did a rendition of Biggie’s “Hypnotize” for me at grandma’s lounge…you’re that dude! Now that’s my older brother, the guy who baptized me into the game, the preacher…We spent long days and nights vibin’ to this stuff which back then in the early 90’s sounded angelic. I remember he would school me on the names and voices and that immediately made it easy to identify an emcee’s style. He was the person that made me aware that Biggie was from New York. Our journey of learning together hit a brick wall on the 5th December 1997 and that was the beginning of my hiatus.

Years passed and I lost my grip on reality…hip hop! This was the same time when I moved to Mafikeng, It was the summer of 1997. They didn’t have the Metro’s and YFM’s that playlisted hip hop at the time so I shunned the culture until I got into high school.

Got to high school and I tried being an emcee but I couldn’t commit cause I was scared. I just couldn’t see myself in a cipher tearing it up but I had an undying love for the craft. I was into Eminem at the time and so was everybody else. His dark rhymes were an inspiration to most of my material, it quite was simple, I channelled all my frustrations and issues of life into a boulder and vented using my pen. I had a book modelled after my friend’s (Tiisetso Nthwesane), I called it Book Of Life. It served as a journal, mini memoir and rhyme book where most of my material stemmed from. I was industrious in my writing but was too afraid of criticism and varying opinions, that kinda blew the wind off my sails and took the focus away. I had the words but not the look so I quit.
I still immersed myself in the culture though…clothing, music, critiquing and teaching. It was the dawn of the millennium and the same time that Ja Rule and 50 Cent were in their prime and their music was flooding the market like ants for sugar. I’m not ashamed to say it…I was rocking their stuff BIG time. I still playlisted The Roots, Outkast, Eminem, Canibus, Busta Rhymes, ATCQ and DMX but DAMN! 50 was a hell of a drug!

I was lost through that era and my turning point came after I started goggle searching old school albums and classics. It was then that I started collecting groups like, Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Slum Village, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, The Roots and artists like 2Pac,’KRS One, Nas, Mos Def, and MF Doom extensively. This also meant that I had to make up my own opinion of albums if they were real and fit the “classic” billing based on the foundations of hip hop…I went back in time to understand the present and that was my rebirth. The craft has become my telescope to apprehending my immediate environment through audio input. 19 years strong and I don’t regret ever meeting her.

I made my way back into the writing foray, briefly again…writing a verse to positive reviews by the older well- rounded heads who I later formed close ties and made friends with.
As with everything else,there comes a time for change, evolution that redefines your position in the universe and lays forth a new path for you to follow. I don’t think I was defeated, I simply felt like It was time for me to take on a greater responsibility in the craft. In 2004 I laid to rest my ambitions of blessing the mic and took on the roles of researcher,teacher and preacher. It was close to my heart to share and with that said I took it upon me to share the culture whether through music,dress, and literature. It has been great,still is and I won’t trade that for anything.

Between then(2004) and now I have discovered a lot of other acts: Little Brother, Jean Grae, Pharoahe Monch,Big L, and Mobb Deep, Canibus, J. Cole,Common,Rapsody, Madlib, Blu & Exile,MED,Nitty Scott, Black Hippy…the list is endless. The other reason I made these discoveries was partly because of web forums, mutual desire to learn and brotherly bonds .
Through the art I made friends as far as Germany and the US, true to the statements that “music connects” and “music is universal. No matter the skin pigmentation, creed or culture,we all fall under the rainbow of hip hop. I got teased, branded and sometimes bullied because of her but I never backed down. I kept doing what I loved and shunned the negative vibes and hypes. The music part of it has been therapeutic and motivational towards my upbringing. When times were hard and the dark abyss came calling it was always there to save me. To you, a thousand cheers!

I’m growing with the stalk of hip hop, more than 19 years staring at paintings scribed through words by the brightest of minds writing the future yesterday today,feels great knowing I made a positive contribution to the craft. It is immortal and will forever live and spread out like the branches of a palm tree. Many years from the present, we her preachers, teachers, scholars, children, and soldiers will reflect eternally through life’s mirage.
She’s my drug and I’m a fiend, imma profusely inject and get high.

Hip Hop, it started out from the heart!