Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

attitude, and live a more positive life. Thus, the things he sees are his source of
inspiration.
When he is older and his music and messages are heard all over Cape Town; he
wants to set up a project to help homeless children, and to enhance the conditions
in his neighbourhood.
“Accompany kids / because I see they’re struggling in this streets there’s more
struggling / like day after day it’s like you struggle / (…) let’s do this you saw
I could do it so can you / like we more taking the poverty out of the streets
there / there’s gonna be street kids / you wanna help those / exactly / that’s
what I wanna do / those are my dreams.”
For now, by providing himself a positive and crime-free life, he wants to prove that
you can have a good life when you live or used to live in a township.
“I can change the situation like do something good / so people can see it’s like
/ no man this kid is not a gangsta / he can also do good to people / that’s the
main course of my rap.”
Mayja, part of the U.N.I.C. group does not see hip hop as a one goal perspective. On
the contrary, rap music is the perfect means to combine fun issues along side
giving out a more serious message to younger people. The latter is very important
for Mayja. Spreading a message is a necessity.
He thinks the way to be sure a message gets across to people, is to wrap it up in
something amusing; to get people in a thinking mood in a relaxed kind of way.
“But being creative and passing a message now that’s something very difficult
to do / you have to make sure that your audience don’t get bored when you
saying stop using drugs stop criming / you can’t just stand there and say hey
guys stop crime don’t be a criminal no man / you have to say it in a way that
you make the people wanna understand why is this guy saying this.”
As can be derived from this preceding quote, Mayja is against violence and drugs. It
is important to know that individuals always need to be who they are, to be
themselves. This is when they feel best about themselves, and that lifts your selfesteem.
Sometimes it is hard not to fold under peer pressure, and get involved in
negative things. Mayja himself had to deal with it at a young age. That is why he
incorporated this topic in his songs.
“What actually stopped me from going all the way was the fact that I had a
couple of guys / who were like conscious guys / and as I used to be like this