Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

nigga who was like you know not an SA kind of a person I was all baggy and
all that / and then these guys used to talk and then they’d be like man why
don’t you just be yourself man / (…) but as I grew up I actually knew that I
have to be my own character I had to stop being like someone else / and just
be me.”
When we asked what else his lyrics are about, Mayja said the environment he lives
in gives him a lot of inspiration. It is also essential that people who listen to his
music can relate to it, recognizing the situations he is rapping about.
“Okay our lyrics most of the time they about the life ‘bout we lived and the
things that’s around us in the location / we don’t rap about jeeps and
expensive cars / (…) it’s not about bling bling on us / you know it’s all about
hey how the people in the ‘hood do you know / when you wake up you always
sees this guy goes and buy a crate of Black Label and then he drinks / and
then he gets to be rightful you know like crazy.”
“And then we rap about the guys in our location / guys usually have two to
four chicks / you know so we write about those things you know / we just
write more about people that people relate to that’s why when they hear our
lyrics than they like they love it they just act wild.”
When Mayja is performing, he does adjust the songs he is going to sing for the
audience. With some people he can allowed to say more provocative things than
with others. The content of his lyrics differ depending on the language they are in
(Mayja has songs in English and in Xhosa). People who only speak English, are
most of the time people who do not live in townships. When you are doing a song
about the hard life people live there, they will not be able to relate to the lyrics.
So, for Mayja it is vital to know who his listeners are going to be at that time.
“Sometimes it’s more of you have to adjust / it’s more of you just have to be
make it fifty-fifty / (…) I should at least have a couple of audiences around me
/ so that maybe when I’m doing a show I mean probably there’s gonna be a
whole lot of people from different backgrounds so I must be able to
accommodate all of them.”
Emile YX? is the lead member of Black Noise, which, together with BVK, a wellknown
Cape Town based rap group. Black Noise is known for their politically driven
songs. The first lyric they ever wrote directly reveals the political agenda of the
group, titled ‘Apartheid Sux’. Through their music, the members found a way to
publicly criticise the system, and obtained the status of pioneers together with
another crew called Prophets of da City.