One of South Africa's most profound mc's notto mention arguably one of the hardest workers to date, who is this individual? Well , he's better known as TERROR MC and this is a recap of the future of SA hip hop.IN THE BEGINNINGKraaifontein, Capetown, South Africa 1985, born during a period of political turmoil this 27 year old would face various challenges before becoming known as the straight talking stage tearing machine gun motor mouth we know him as today. He would experience death {and yes, he actually died}and rebirth with after effects that would break even those amongst us of the strongestwillpower, this was due to a tragic accident which left him with severe swelling in the cranial region and an imbalance on the left side of his body. Following this was a series of frequent visits to juvenile detention centersand a brief stint in the country's nefarious Polsmoor prison only to be found innocent onall charges, all this before the age of 17 how did he survive this hell? It's simple, a hunger for knowledge, a keen sense for reading people, a sharp tongue and an ever burning passion for hip hop.A REASON TO FIGHT AND THE TOOLS TO BOOTFresh out of the "rehabilitation network" and sufficed to say displeased with the state of affairs and the futile struggle of the blue collarpopulace he reassumed his alter ego {by now widely known thanks to the classic track"kaapse vlakte"} Terror mc started his journeyto the top of the food chain. Armed with only a backpack, a few beats he'd gotten from fellow rapper and producer HIPE {Wayne Lee Robertson} he threw himself into a world where it's every man for himself. In a short period terror would be seen on every stage and in every club even if his name wasn't on the lineup and heard on every campus and community radio station including campus stations in Canada.A TITAN AMONGST MENWhat's next up on the menu? Mixtape a la' terror mc raw and hold the salads, that's what you get when Angolian dj and producerdi cavera and a raw unfazed afrikaans mc {note to "Afrikaans legends" this was the first project to unite the two cultures and that's a FACT} get together. What followed was a feeding frenzy, everyone wanted a piece of the terror but it was aevenger camp that got the prize, anyway back to what matters, this would see the mc playing a very important part in the elevation of the rymklets phenomena as a founding member of the Afrikaans super crew rapbels along with partners in rhyme PHOENIX ,one half of infuse,and sonz of azguard member BRACE {then known as EDDIE SCABZ} and brainstormaz members CREAM and BITTER. Subsequently each of the members went off in search of greener pastures giving terror time to reflect on his career as well as perform at the fire on the mountain festival, bootleg driveby, decks education and the African hip hop indaba. Which would lead him to SA based uk producer D PLANET {Damian stephens} and a spot on the highly anticipated PLANETARY ASSAULT mixtape which featured BEN SHARPA,DRIEMANSKAP, RTX, KONFAB AND JAAK {anotherafrikaans virtuoso} with a full album that droped 15th November 2008 andstarted producing aswell he produced rappers like Phoenix and a groupcalled C 4 under a independend label called Cap Col entertainment thathe started.He performed with the thelegendary dj's the Beat Bangaz at the nite of the Beat Bangaz heres alist of shows he did performed at Stones KuilsRiver,StonesParow,Stones Mossel Bay,Club Vibraitions Mosselbay,Club La traxMosselbay,Club Nitro Goerge,Zula Sound Bar CapeTown,Club LareferancCape Town,Mystic Boer Stellenbosh, Club NightShift 2 ,EesteRiver,Armchair Teater Observetory,Good Hope Centre Cape Town terror mc is proving to be aforce to either align yourself with or avoid if you value your ego.
Hip hop have always thrived on Cape Town’s Cape Flats; that vast expanse of coloured and African working class neighborhoods on the periphery of the city’s mostly white and wealthy center.
Rap pioneers Prophets of da City (the subject of a recent documentary by Dylan Valley and Sean Drummond), Black Noise (reinterpreting Afrika Bambataa on African soil), and Brasse vannie Kaap (probably the closest thing to hiphop rockers; their song ‘Cape Flats’ a romp with reggae rockers Nine the best example) are all products of the Flats’ townships.
The success and visibility of these bands — inthe days before Youtube, MySpace, MP3s, streaming and the partial democratization of technology — was tied down by legal apartheid or uncertainty about how to accessthe post-1994 mainstream music industry more dependent on television and radio spins. A group’s popularity and success was also dependent on how fanatical their local followings were (I saw Brasse in civic centersand school halls all over Cape Town). Finally, a band or artist’s impact or success was measured by their mainstream breakthrough(playing at overwhelmingly white venues or festivals was the key to mainstream media pick-up) or international recognition (mainly in Europe). These artists often got plenty of attention (and got paid also), but also struggled to be artists in their own right.
Artists like the late Devious present a transitional case: Attuned to the new technology (but with limited access), Devious faced up to a skeptical record company environment (kwaito’s bling guaranteed huge returns, so did Pop Idol-type ‘bands’), but seemed to make a breakthrough using new technologies. Unfortunately he was murdered before he could really take advantage of new opportunities.
The new artists and bands — as varied as Jitsvinger , Ben Sharpa , Konfab and Kallitz — may want all of that, but could care less.
They can make music, despite and at the expense of record labels, commercial (and what’s left of community radio) or mainstream acceptance. For one, technology has changed. They’re all over Youtube, MySpace, Mp3, flickr.com— and some put all their music online for downloading, while others sell online to fans from Reukjavik to Brooklyn.
The most exciting exponent is Terror MC , set to emerge as the representative of the genre’s hard-core. Rapping over dancehall beats, full of braggadacio, and doing so in hismother tongue Afrikaans, this 21 year old MC from Kuilsriver, to the northwest of Cape Town, seems to have the farthest reach and agrasp of the technology and access to Cape Town’s mainstream and underground artistic set