SA Hip Hop has grown in leaps and bounds over the years. The genre struggled to win over the general public at a time when Kwaito and House music were dominating the charts and airwaves.
But as the saying goes “Everything happens at its own time”.
The music industry or should I say the SA Hip Hop industry, is littered with up and coming artists and producers – competition is stiff now, which is a good thing.
You might have the ambitions of pursuing a career as rapper or producer or maybe you’re curious to know more about South African Hip Hop. Whatever the case may be, the following blog post will take you through some of the common questions regarding hip hop in South Africa.
Where can I download SA Hip Hop albums?
First of all I would encourage anybody to support their local artist by purchasing their music. When you buy music you don’t only support the artist but an entire supply or value chain – the recording artist – engineers – record label –music distributors – retailers – The Music Industry
Get the picture?
Having said we can’t run away from the fact there plenty of music websites which allow you to download music for free and so I’ll focus on that.
I’m not going to give you a whole list of SA Hip Hop websites because most of them do not necessarily focus on Hip Hop music only.
So I’ll stick to the ones below:
Hip Hop ZA
Don’t be deceived by the name. Hip Hop ZA was founded in 2017 as a blog /music website. It is your go to source for South African music downloads and the latest news. You can either listen or download singles or full albums.
Slikouronlife
Slikouronlife is an online hip hop publication which focuses on creating content through downloads music videos, interviews and events.
If you are an up and coming rapper this is the perfect platform for you because you can create a profile and upload your music on the site.
SA Hip Hop Mag
SA Hip Hop Mag is an online magazine for all things Hip Hop. This website covers all the latest hip hop news and you can also find interviews, music videos and free music downloads.
How much is a hip hop beat?
That’s a very difficult question to answer because every producer has their own policy with regards to beat sales. But the average price for a hip hop beat in South Africa can cost you anything between R50 to R5000. If you don’t believe me, see beat prices here
But that’s the price you can expect to pay from an up and coming independent producer.
If you want a beat from a well-known/established beat maker, well the price can be astronomical.
For example Tweezy famous for producing for the likes of AKA said he charges 50K per beat. This was in 2018 so chances are his rates have gone up.
Who are some of the most prominent artists?
South African Hip Hop has come a long way and the current crop of artists’ wouldn’t be where they are without the likes of Black Noise, Prophets of da City, Amu (The Godfather of SA hip Hop), Spexx the late Mizchif, and Skwatta Kamp who paved the way for the current generation of rappers.
These pioneers were making hip hop music at a time when it wasn’t so cool to be a rapper in South Africa. It was a slow process but then record labels (especially the majors) started taking notice and hip hop was finally getting a chance to shine.
Some of the notable modern day superstars in SA hip hop include the following:
1. AKA
2. Cassper Nyovest
3. Kwesta
4. Nasty C
5. Ricky Rick
6. K.O
Who is the best hip hop producer in South Africa?
Again this is debatable and it all comes down to preference because everyone has their own opinion.
Every producer has a certain style and sound so it’s not easy to single out anyone as the best hip hop producer in South Africa.
Some of the hottest producers in the game right now include:
Lunatik
He has produced for the likes of K.O, Ma-E, Nomuzi (Cash Time stable), and Emtee just to mention a few.
Tweezy
Tweezy is best known for producing the single Run Jozi by AKA (Levels Album). He has since worked with other established artists such as Ricky Rick (Sidli Kotini), Stogie-T (Formely known as Tumi), Emtee (Five-O) just to name a few.
Ruff
Ruff rose to prominence in 2015 after the release of Emtee’s breakout single, Roll Up. He produced the bulk of his debut studio album, Avery including the follow up, Manado which dropped in 2017.
Okay Africa published a list of some of the best hip hop producers in South Africa. You can read the article below.
https://www.okayafrica.com/south-african-hip-hop-trap-producers/
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