Final Blog Post

Hip-hop’s influence on Kwaito

Hip-hop has had major influence on the world and the perception of America globally. Hip-hop originated in New York in the 1970’s and is comprised of graffiti, breakdancing, disk jockeying, and emceeing or rapping. This genre of music is very important because it gives people the ability to express themselves freely, whether it is politically, lyrically, or just to dance. The globalization of hip-hop has been important in its influence on kwaito because “as hip-hop travels globally, particularly in the African diaspora and Africa, the music and dance resonate across cultures” (Osumare 28). Kwaito is a South African musical genre. This genre of music started emerging in the 1990s—with South Africa’s freedom and break from the oppression of apartheid, kwaito was created. The word kwaito is derived from the Afrikaans word kwaai, which translates to "angry" in English. Kwaito took shape in the townships of Soweto at the same time Nelson Mandela took office.

 Kwaito and hip-hop are similar in their origin. Both began in lower class geographies. Both display misogyny.  Both genres incorporate dances; hip-hop incorporates breakdancing and kwaito incorporates pantsula dancing. With just one listen, both are capable of lifting people’s spirits. South African producers and artists have a different take on kwaito though and while they say that kwaito is comparable to hip hop, what they mean is that kwaito, like hip hop has become more than music. They believe, “It has become an entire youth sub culture, and provides youth with the means for creating an identity, establishing new societal norms and economic opportunities” (Swartz 4). This genre became the voice of the black youth that rose from the townships. It gave those who were underprivileged an opportunity to be heard and become successful. Kwaito tells the story of the township’s in South Africa and not the ghettos of America, which innately makes it South African. This is expressed through the pantsula dance which does share similarities with American pop and locking but was not influenced by it. Junior, of the group Boom Shaka, says: “The mpantsula era was like the breakdance era whereby it was the only culture we could relate to, it was what everybody wanted to be. It was like the B-Boy of South Africa… it’s the only culture we can relate to that’s ours, that’s local” (Swartz 4). As these local traditions became more and more popular, the youth yearned to express themselves but were not able to do so because of Apartheid. Collective freedom of African Americans occurred first within the U.S. Therefore, hip-hop was able to spread as an expression a lot sooner than kwaito was. Other factors like commercialization and globalization aided the global influence of hip-hop. Although kwaito has been influenced by many past genres such as marabi, kwela, and bubblegum music of the 80’s, hip-hop has had the most influence on kwaito artists.

Tsotsitaal is the slang and street terminology used in Kwaito. Similar to Ebonics in American culture, tsotsitaal is spoken among the youth and in the streets of South Africa. Tsotsi, which means ‘thug’ or ‘thief’, has a negative connotation in South Africa. The portrayal of a tsotsi’s life was made popular in an award winning movie titled Totsi.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX20lzOQwUo. Nevertheless, a lot of tsotsi’s continue to struggle and succumb to drugs, gangs, and crime. The tsotsi has a place in kwaito like the gangster has a place in hip-hop. West coast hip-hop where gangster rap originates, has had the biggest influence on kwaito in terms of any genre of hip hop. West coast hip-hop influenced the dress and the lifestyle of kwaito artists. The ‘spotti’—a floppy sun hat turned into an icon of street culture is an example of how hip-hop influenced the dress code in kwaito.

Kwaito’s similarities to west coast hip-hop are tight because west coast hip-hop shares the culture of people in a disadvantaged area who want to become successful and make it out of their community, which is usually plagued with violence and drugs. Kwaito artist’s relate to this because they understand they are less fortunate than other people and use kwaito as a way of becoming someone. It is a trans-Atlantic circulation of the America dream through music. For more clarity in how west coast hip-hop has influenced kwaito, Akhara an aspiring kwaito artists elaborates 3900cd3d393a26c1d1949ebbd370b40c.caf .

Kwaito is something for people who are not as advantaged. It gives people hope of making something of themselves and represents a struggle through lyrical and physical expression. The township is being celebrated by the youth of South Africa in kwaito music; this is interesting when one considers that the township was created to keep a ready supply of cheap labor under control by the apartheid government. We see a similar scenario in hip-hop culture where the ghetto is celebrated and acts as validation for a rapper because it proves they have also struggled to get where they are. Welfare is associated with the ghetto because there are many poor people who live there. One of the more popular rap anthems by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in the 90’s exemplify this logic in their chorus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpBP9dALcWw

Both of these scenarios provide credibility to both the kwaito and the rapper. Another major similarity kwaito and hip-hop have is the ability to turn a negative into a positive. The genre’s name Kwaito is an example of this. South Africans were able to alter the connotation of a word which means angry and mold it into something positive. In hip-hop this is expressed through the use of one of the most vile words in the English language, nigger. This racial epithet possesses a lot of emotion and history for blacks in America. It is a term that was originally meant to demean and hurt blacks. Although it still does in some cases, the use of nigger amongst blacks as a term of endearment has managed to take a negative word and within a certain context, make it a positive. Kaffir is not used in the same way in kwaito and even within South African society. Black South Africans would never call each other kaffir, even if the intentions are positive because the wounds of apartheid are still recent in the memories of many. Slavery has been over for so long in the United States, that the use of nigger with a positive connotation was a way for African Americans to dilute the power of the term. This is very interesting to note because it makes me wonder if kwaito or black South Africans will ever connote kaffir as positive or use it as a term of endearment.

The lyrical content of kwaito has been heavily debated since the ascension of the genre. Gavin Steingo, a PhD professor from the University of Pittsburgh, did state that most kwaito is overtly political, even if it seems apolitical. He said that, “it was more of anti-political situation for the artist than apolitical because the youth of South Africa desire to disengage from the long years of oppression and political protest of the apartheid era. Therefore, the kwaito music represents the refusal of politics” (Kwaito, history 2012). This is very interesting to cross reference with early hip-hop that has a foundation built on lyrics. Artists such as KRS-One, Public Enemy, and Tupac discussed social issues that pertained to the inequality between the black and the white community. This link exemplifies larger societal issues discussed in rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nay31hvEvrY.

Similarly, in earlier years of kwaito there were some political songs such as “Kaffir” by Arthur Mafokate,

the professed ‘King of Kwaito’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF460058UkA,  who depicts a black worker taking orders from his Boer boss. These songs became less and less popular as kwaito grew in popularity. A reason for this may have been marketing. Western pop culture exploded globally. This globalization was important because “many African urban centers and their populations are avidly embracing the opportunities that globalization brings with it” (Kiwan, Meinhof p.51). The new trans-Atlantic surge of hip-hop brought along the lavish lifestyle of ‘money, cars, clothes, and hoes’. This would later influence how kwaito music videos were conducted and what they portrayed in the videos. Kwaito became intertwined with pop because “Kwaito is in fact the de facto pop music of South Africa by virtue of the fact that black youth compromising 80% of the country’s population, are united in their enthusiastic support of it” (Swartz 2). Since kwaito is viewed as the de facto pop music of South Africa, the Americanization of kwaito was only natural. This video depicts similar images shown in a stereotypical rap video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH8L5Tbh54I. This video accomplishes what kwaito is meant to be—fun music that people can dance to but it also incorporates the hip-hop influences of the lavish lifestyle in terms of the imagery in the video. Americanizing Kwaito, as is many artists' opinion, can potentially dilute the substance Kwaito was originally based on.

With all of the similarities between kwaito and hip-hop stated, it is more important to understand why they are related instead of how. The key in understanding this is globalization, technology, and the trans-Atlantic circulation of music.

 

As technology has become more advanced, the spread of music has become easier through the commercial use of television, radio, and global touring by artists who promote their product. This has made the world a smaller place in terms of where and how information is received. People now have access to new cultures and different forms of music through the internet. Streaming music from across the globe has become easier: http://www.last.fm/tag/kwaito.

The trans-Atlantic circulation of music is crucial because it allows cultures to critique each other while learning new forms of music. It is crucial to note that kwaito is historically South African. It did not start as a result of hip-hop; rather it was influenced by hip-hop through globalization, commercialization and technology.  

References

“South African History Online.” South African History Online.http://www.sahistory.org.za/performing-arts/kwaito (accessed December 12, 2012)

Swartz, Sharlene. Is Kwaito South African Hip Hop? Why the Answer Matters and Who It Matters to. N.p., 14 May 2003. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Kiwan, Nadia, and Ulrike Hanna. Meinhof. Cultural Globalization and Music: African Artists in Transnational Networks. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.

Osumare, Halifu. The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip-hop: Power Moves. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.

Falola, Toyin, and Tyler Fleming. Music, Performance and African Identities. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.