Hip Hop Culture
Here is a quick lesson: Hip hop is a cultural practice, within Hip hop lies fundamental elements that cohesively complete this culture. Rap (Mcee) being the most influential of all the elements, there is also break-dancing, Beat-boxing , Graffitti and DJ’ing.
The culture has come a long way since the days of Afrika Bambaata, Run DMC and DJ Kool Herc. I have very little graffiti and Break-dancing history but the culture has grown to be the most loved and respected youth sub-culture worldwide.
Sprite managed to seamlessly house all the elements of the culture under one roof. Dance and graffiti were given the same amount of love as Mcees usually do, music usually gets a huge chunk of the attention even in the line-ups on the previous Sprite events.
Touch-Points
Sprite leaves no stone unturned , in many events and parties the good stuff aka goodie bags are usually reserved for the VIPs , not Sprite. There was an estimated 3000 people in attendance at this year’s event and no one went home empty handed, Sprite as a brand are like the Oprah Winfrey of SA hip hop in my humble opinion , “everybody’s getting one”.
So back to the touch points, Fresh Kicks touch point, the tagging touch point, and recording booth and get this even a nail bar for the ladies. After collecting your Sprite bags, caps, tees and all sorts of goodies inside. There was an activity for all sorts of lovers of the game, the place had been revamped to suit the market. We were treated to a stellar show.
The Contenders & Winners Of The Day
The competition was as stiff as a live battle of skill and talent goes. The graf artist had been at since early in the day, they were tagging the walls by the pool area outside. The dancers weren’t to be outdone by the rappers/Mcees, they left everything on stage. The Mcees were the heart of the entertainment, this left me feeling rather easy about the future of the music in hip hop.
Dance:
Darim Da Paixao –
Lesedi Mpho Mabena –
Raphael Tambwe – WINNER
Sibusiso Zwane –
Sinenhlanhla Mbatha –
Mcee:
Lungelo Ntuli aka Da Zeeology
Katleho Sekonyana
Mesuliwezinyembezi Ntuli – WINNER
Pakiso Maserumula
Graffiti:
Justin Catto
Kevin Schiffer
Mduduzi Tshabalala – WINNER
Senzo Nhlapo
Performances:
The competition went on smoothly to the crowds’ delight, DRC born choreographer was ready to remind the audience how important dance was to the culture and he worked with 32 dancers to bring us 30 minutes of the best story told through dance, we couldn’t even flinch let alone scratch an itch when the dancers took to the stage.
Reason who served as a judge owned the show, bringing his fellow rap artist Blaklez to join on stage and “real” hip hop had finally won, this is the stuff record execs warned would never succeed in this country because of the conscious lyricism encompassed in their style and overall delivery.
KO aka Mr cashtime aka Skhanda King, came to the show prepared. KO is a perfomer and a star at that, he had the crowd eating from the palm of his hands. This man introduced KidX while wheeling himself around the stage in a hover-board ladies and gents. It looked incredibly well, seeing the amount of effort the rapper put into his whole performance.
Mobb Deep , to be fair I had my doubts about how the crowd was going to react to this veteran hip hop duo, the infamous Mobb jumped on stage and the electricity in the venue was “Turnt” all the way up, all the way…
Hip hop aficionados from back in the day were in the building to cheer their high school idols on. When their DJ dropped “Shook Ones” Zone 6 venue’s roof was on fire, they then dropped “Quite Storm” featuring Lil Kim of cause. This banger was a throwback even for me, I just could not contain myself.
I have to say having attended all the previous Sprite Uncontainable events at Zone 6 venue, this one hands down was the ultimate showdown, from dance to the last performance of the night by the Infamous Mobb Deep.
Much respect to Sprite for always showing love and bridging the gap between international superstars and local talent. Big up!