Chippa Legodimo

Hip-hop has caught up with us. It is no longer that thing for the African-Americans or those who like imitating 2Pac Shakur or Slim Shady.

You cannot afford to ignore those who have ventured into the genre even if you are not an ardent follower of that type of music.

That a lot of these upcoming locals are trying to make the sound feel very exotic even makes it more exciting because it makes it easier for many people to relate to Hip-hop which many believe is not just a type of music but a culture.

Take nothing away from the likes of Real Magosi, Kast and others who have revolutionised the sound, going for Setswana lyrics instead the popular explicit content. However, there are still a lot of youngsters who like the hardcore type of hip-hop composed of the street lingo and explicit lyrics.

Most of the Americans who are into that type of hip-hop often claim to express their real inner feelings about certain situations and the tough life they have gone through in the streets of Los Angles or Philadelphia. But what about a young Motswana who comes from a middle-income family in a semi rural Kanye, free from the gangsters and drug infested locations like Old Naledi?

Okay, six youngsters from Kanye have formed their own group, Black Raw Streets, a hip-hop outfit that has just dropped its first album called Black Raw Mansion. The six youngsters fall within the category of those 'hardcore' hip-hoppers who are determined to tell their story in a 'real way'. They really want to sound American even in their speech. Words such as 'Yeah' dominate their conversations.

"We are keeping it real, tackling real life situations instead of talking about money and big cars, like limousines, when none of us has a car. All of us like hip- hop, but we draw out inspiration from low profile international artists instead of the big heads who often talk of huge mansions and their big cars," Osenotse 'Slash' Mabote.

Like they say, these youngsters live for hip-hop, they way they dress in baggy pants, caps, Timberland leather boots and those big Jack Parcel Sweaters clearly explains how deep they are into it.

The sleeve of their album illustrates the kind of lifestyle the would like to lead. It has a big brown boot posing with some headphones. On the back of the CD cover the credits are written in that street lingo.

For instance, one of the nicknames is supposed to be 'Young Thug,' but it is only written as 'Yun thug'. Now read this: "Special thankz to Mox kip them Bitz rollin, Alakafe u know yah sound Dawg". But while they claim not to glorify crime and immorality in their music, the youngsters have put a big 'Parental ADVISORY, Explicit Content' cautionary and even talk of nine mm revolvers.

"That is the nature of hip-hop, at times you find yourself really getting emotional and you have to express your feelings otherwise you would have failed hip hop itself," Mabote said.

Onkgopotse 'Crack' Sabobi said the reason they have a track a bout a mansion when they do not have a house was just "to have people join us in our movement. Black Raw Streetz is not just a music band it is a movement and we were just using parables in that track. Like we said we are not going to talk of big mansions in real terms because we do not own any, we are keeping it real," he said.

Mabote chipped in: "We want to reach out to the youth, we believe for hip-hop to grow to another level and for our movement in particular to move up we need to introduce it to even primary school pupils and that is what we are going to do."

Though the boys sound a little too ambitious, they have the talent and the passion for what they are doing. The first track 'Blood For Blood' is reminiscent of those American guys rapping, the lyrics coming in quick succession.

Jump Off is another song to get those who are fond of the music rushing to the music store after hearing it from next door or on radio. Perhaps their fluent English makes it much easier for the youngsters to flow in their rap. They are just new in the market, but are already talking of going international one day and though it is still early days, some of their lines remind you of some international stars and the sky could be the limit for them.