Written by Miehleketo Maluleke
Edited by Nyiko Baloyi (@Nyiko_EMagFirston Twitter)
Photography by Nyiko Baloyi (@Nyiko_EMagFirston Twitter)
21 MIC SALUTE was to be one of those shows where hip-hopers
gather to rock the mic for a good cause. The aim being to raise funds for the
UBUHLE BEZWE REMEDIAL HOME which is an orphanage in Tembisa. If you don’t know
how to have fun while helping out the needy-ask the people who were at
WALLSTREET for this auspicious occasion to show you how.
The heat up in that building was coming from the stage, the
dj booth, the dance floor and the people in general as opposed to the lack of
ventilation. Boy oh boy do hip-hopers know how to party. But then again it’s
hard not to have fun when you have poets, emcees, dj’s and a bar catering to
all your entertainment needs. KILLA KANE and THE BEAT OVEN were on the decks
booming and bapping the raw sounds to the ears of a loving crowd.
Poets for the night included RAS THULANI TWALA (bassist for
BOOK OF LIFE’s band) who gave us a poem titled “bank of thought” which talks about
investing in your mind. We had GRATITUDE FISHER who gave us “her divinity is misunderstood”.
LERATO performed “this here chocolate” which is a poem written by her friend
SHIBOMBI BALOYI highlighting the beauty of dark skinned sisters. LILLIAN
TSHABALALA who was our emcee who also happens to be a poet/singer/actor, gave us
a poem titled “the word” and “the word” being anything from love to God to
whatever the listener wants the word to be. We had MIRANDA who was sort of a
surprise performance due to somebody pushing her on stage -she performed an
untitled piece because it was the only one she could remember.
More acts rocking the microphone were BOOK OF LIFE AND HIS
BAND blessing us with tracks like “pillow talk” which BOOK says is for the
ladies and to show them that hip hop is not all hardcore and caters to the
feminine ear too. My man BLASTA from the FOREIGN TRIBE gave us “open mind set”
reminding the people to think out of the box and go beyond what is being spoon
fed to them by the media. BEN SHARPA also blazed the stage with a sick
performance living up to his reputation of murdering the mic. We also witnessed
the lyrical henchmen a.k.a FREDDY BOSTA along side his TOTAL AFRICAN CLAN crew
member LYRICAL SICKNESS giving us a
joint titled “that boy” which they performed because a lot of cats rap on it
and these ninjas are all about putting their boys on. We had LEXIKON
representing for the fem-cees with “the Mandela song” which she feels is
influential because it “moves” people (and it does because she’s just sick with
them bars). DEVIOUSDEE took us a little deeper with a song that expresses what
hiv/aids would say if it could talk. LAST DAYS FAM were also up in the building
representing 1632 like a lot of our performers for the night including
HI4P-PARADOX-ARSENIC and K-DAWG-VORTEX GRIFFON -16 DIRTY VIEW and many more.
It would be a little tardy to mention all the performers
given it was a 21 MIC SALUTE and there was a lot of them but you can take my
word for it when I say “THEY ALL MURDERED THE MICROPHONE”.I think our hosts
achieved their goal if their goal was to please a hip hop crowd with an
unforgettable line up. 21 MIC SALUTE was an amazing and crazy night which led
to me regretting having to work the next day. 1632 has a way of doing that to a
person. BIG UP TO HIP HOP FOR A GOOD COURSE and the culture doing something for
the benefit of others. It just goes to show that it really is BIGGER THAN HIP
HOP.
Word
is bond to the hosts of 21 MIC SALUTE-all the peeps who came through to
support-and the performers for being part of something as worthy as this. I
wish there was a new word I could use and you could understand to describe what
went down but I think what we have will suffice. BIG UP TO ALL MY HIP
HOPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
