Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

Domestically, he finds it hard to convince his family of his future in the music
scene. His mother has been sceptical about his interest in music, pressing for him
to find a job with a more stable career. Since recently performing at his uncle’s
wedding and seeing some of his group’s performances, her attitude is less negative,
especially with the impending release of fellow crew member Shaun’s solo album.
X is twenty-one years old living in Mowbray, having spent most of his life in
Gugulethu. He left Gugulethu due mainly to social pressures and the poverty
surrounding him, both out in the streets and his home environment. He had lived
in a small over-crowded house, with a complete lack of privacy.
“And besides that it’s more poverty like poverty in the streets like everybody
tryna get everybody tryna get something / and when there’s nothing at all /
they end up gonna start eating each other because there is nothing to get.”
His decision to move out followed the murder of a friend and fellow group member
in Gugulethu. Moving away gave him the opportunity to find himself; he felt he
needed to become somebody, though he did not quite know how he was going to
achieve this. He listened to hip hop, and began to think that if he could surround
himself within the hip hop culture, this could be the way to realising himself.
At present he is studying mercantile law. He dropped out of high school, thinking
the education being offered was irrelevant for what he wanted from life, even though
he was not sure in himself what it was he was looking for. Later he attended
business school.
He started listening to rap music in 1996, especially 2Pac. Later, he discovered
more artists and became attracted to the whole hip hop culture. At fifteen he
started writing his own material and became a member of the U.N.I.C. group. He
finds hip hop an escape, offering a stage from which to express his feelings.
At home, his mother was not enthusiastic about his passion for hip hop, having a
prejudice against rap music with the opinion that all rappers were continually using
bad language, and that her son wished to portray himself as a gangster. She is now
coming to respect what he has achieved, appreciating the effort he has put into his
musical talent, and enjoys hearing people praise his performances.
El Nino is twenty-one years old and has lived in Gugulethu all his life. He is a
founder member of the Driemanskap group, established alongside Bad Luck and
another person in 2001. In 2003 Redondo joined the group replacing the third
member who had left. The name Driemanskap, an Afrikaans word, came about
during a freestyle session they were having. They thought it sounded good, and