Shugasmakx: Open Letter To Hype Magazine

An Open Letter To Hype Magazine  - From Shugasmakx

Greetings,

To some this is old news and might go unnoticed, however I feel it needs to be said and documented as are the stats in the 50^th Hype Magazine Issue. Documenting Hip-Hop in S.A. is a big task and with such, comes great responsibility as to many this is not a part time job or hobby but the reason for ones being.

At first I was going to ignore whatever stats came out and keep mum on my opinions but after much hype, controversy, word of mouth, various radio discussions and interviews I listened to, I felt the need to say something and went on a “twitter rant” on the night of July 26, 2012.  After which I got a hold of the magazine, they’ll be examples about me, some others about others, I might have forgotten but you’ll get the gist. Here are some of my thoughts in not too much detail…

• For a South African magazine I felt there was too much biased towards American music. As American as hip-hop is, your magazine is consumed by South Africans and should reflect the growth of the culture in South Africa. Not saying that you should not include the Americans but a more balance approach should have been considered for the home grown. This very point leads to the reason why a lot of SA acts were not considered at some very crucial points throughout the magazine.

.

Missing Top 50 Hip-Hop Moments;

•  The birth of Le Club
• YFM Rap Activity Jam
•  Ikapa vs Jozi event in Cape Town, mid 2003, where an underground hip-hop scene filled the 3 story upmarket Dockside nightclub. BVK, 5^th Floor, Mizchif, Godessa, ProVerb, Ramesh, Skwatta Kamp, Zubz and Amu. Brought to you by YFM and UCT Radio.
•  Zwai winning best hip hop SAMA in 2002
•  Skwatta bringing home the 1^st real Rap SAMA with Khut en Joyn in 2003
•  Battle of the Pro’s: ProVerb vs Pro Kid at The Rand Show
•  Inqaba hip-hop sessions in Durban

Missing Top 50 Most Important Songs in Hip Hop ;

(Songs I consider to be “game changers”)

•  Amu “Skillz”
• Pitch Black Afro “Pitch Black Afro”
• H2O “It’s Wonderful”
• HHP “Tswaka”
•  JR “Show Dem” / “Gata Le Nna”
• Morafe “The Whole Thang”
• Ramesh “It Rocks”
•  Spex “Hizo”
•  Mizchif “Fashionable”
•  Skwatta Kamp “The Clap Song”
•  Tuks “Senganga”
• Teargas “Chance”
• PRO Kid “Woz’ Uzababona”
• P.O.C. “Neva Again”
•  Da Les “We On Fire”

Missing 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time;

• Various Artist’s “The Muthaload” The 1^st hip-hop compilation to be released by a major.
• Jack Parow “Jack Parow” The impact of this album on the Afrikaans Rap scene cannot go unnoticed
• Pitch Black Afro “Styling Gel” 1^st rap album to go platinum
• Amu “The Life, The Rap, The Drama” Long awaited 1^st offering from Rap’s god father

Missing Top 50 SA MC’s;

If this list was based on feelings and opinions I wouldn’t step to it but you stated that your reasoning is based on impact thus the below

• Skwatta Kamp (2x Gold Albums and with members sitting on 5 out of your 50 covers, that’s 10% of the material you put out, not worth considering?)
• H2O
• Pitch Black Afro
•  Spex
• Mizchif
• Kwesta (2x SAMA Nominations, Channel O Awards Nomination, Voted Grittiest Rapper in the World by SOHH.com and a Hype Mag Cover)
• Shugasmakx (Over 40 000 downloads sold on “Numba 1” and a Hype Cover)
• Loko a.k.a. LokoMotion

 

I don’t claim to know it all but having being in the mainstream for a decade I believe my opinion and views will resonate with many.

This issue might sell a lot of copies but let’s hope it is not the issue that takes away from your credibility.

Over and Out

Shugasmakx

Buttabing Entertainment  (Record Label of the Year – Hype Awards 2008)

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