Music
Slaghuis Joint Elements documents Mzanzi's most impactful Hip-Hop movement
A conversation with SPeeKa on Kasi rap and documenting South African hip hop
As it enjoys arguably its most successful period, documenting the history of South African hip hop has never been more necessary. As the artform itself reaches wider eyes and ears, so do the lost and forgotten stories that helped shape it into the force it is today. This happens through insightful threads on social media, enlightening podcasts, traditional literature and, of course, illuminating documentaries. On ‘Slaghuis Joint Elements’, Thapelo “SPeeKa” Modiela takes a deep dive into the communal hip hop hub popularly known as Slaghuis - a space that celebrates the founding elements of hip hop. We speak to him about his documentary and why he felt the need to tell this story.
What’s your role in hip hop and how did your journey in it begin?
My first encounter with Hip-Hop came when I was around 8 or 9 years old when my mother bought me the album “The Score” by The Fugees. She bought me the album because she knew I liked the track “Killing Me Softly” and assumed it was a soul album. I only got into Hip-Hop as a culture when I got to high school in 2002 through a friend of mine, Keamogetswe Motsepe, who used to share albums and mixtapes with me. He would later bring me along to Slaghuis for the first time in 2004 when we were in grade 10.
Where did your love for film making and documenting the culture start?
The love for filming began in 2008 while studying sound engineering at Birnam Business College. One of the subjects we had was Video Theory and Video Practicals. We were given a task to pick any product and create an advert for it. Ironically, I picked Red Bull and that was the first time I had ever written and directed anything. Before that, I used to make extra cash by shooting weddings, funerals and birthday parties. The first time I shot anything related to the culture was when The Soil - the award-winning a capella group - hosted poetry sessions in Protea Glen called “Poetry On The Soil” that same year.
What attracted you to documenting the Slaghuis story?
Earlier this year on the 2nd of March (which happens to be my birthday) I attended an event hosted by Slaghuis alumni 985 where I was set to perform with a friend of mine. At the event I bumped into Jury and I didn’t know at the time that he was one of the original founding members of Slaghuis. He made a comment about the Slaghuis t-shirt I was wearing. At that time I had already established a working relationship with Enzo and told him about the incident a few days later. Enzo then told me that Jury was one of the guys he had started Slaghuis with all those years ago. That’s when I got more curious about the story because I had always assumed he started it all alone.
There’s a few revelations in the doccie, any information that particularly surprised you?
The fact that Slaghuis was started by a group of friends! I had always assumed Enzo started it from scratch all by himself, so learning of the involvement of the other crew members was completely new to me. The incident involving his arrest also caught me off guard!
What do you think made Slaghuis so special and do you think we’ve lost that communal spirit we once had in hip hop? ?
I think the fact that anyone could come through and spit. There were no VIPs and all the artists that performed were on the same social level so got a fair shot. Everyone was judged purely on their skills. I won’t say we completely lost it, but it most certainly isn’t as strong as it used to be. It’s every man/woman for himself/herself now.
Who are some of the most important artists you’ve witnessed come out of the Slaghuis scene?
Some of my favourites are F-Eezy, Molly, 985 and Siya Shezi. But PRO is easily the most important artist to come from Slaghuis. His influence on rap in South African is monumental and undeniable.
Where is Kasi Rap today and who are some talents we should look out for?
Kasi Rap is still steadily building – with a few cats in the mainstream, like Kwesta, representing it well. Artists that I feel are definitely on the right path are Infektist (who recently won the 10K Challenge at Back To The City this year), an incredible rap duo called Bantu Speaking, Mreja, Jef, Darkie, Sjovo, Anzo, another dope duo from the Vaal called Leverage, Teq Problem, Dangerbox (a Kasi Rap supergroup consisting of Maseven, Froz and Axe-Ray) to name a few. More of them can be found in our ‘SOTRA CYPHERS 3 YEAR ANNI-VERSE-ARY’:
On that note, was establishing SOTRA CYPHERS an attempt to build on the foundation of Slaghuis?
I didn’t consciously set out to build from Slaghuis, but the same spirit of putting dope rappers on is definitely there. I started Sotra Cyphers during a recording session I had with MaseVen, Anzo, Zwes Tornado, NubianQueen Masisi and Big Zulu back in 2016. It was as a result of waiting for some of the guys to finish writing for the songs we were recording that day. Before anything, I am a fan of the rappers I invite onto Sotra Cyphers, so the thought that I’ll potentially be introducing them to their new fans always excites me. The reception so far has been pretty dope!
Back to the doccie and lastly; there seems like a need for Black Sunday and even Sipho Sithole’s side of the story to be shared, were they contacted for inclusion in the documentary?
We only managed to get a hold of Lesiba from the Black Sunday guys and considering the amount of trouble we went through to get a hold of everyone, honestly, we assumed a sit-down with Dr. Sithole would be impossible. I guess when we couldn’t get others we figured there was no way we’d be able to get to him. In hindsight, I wish we had given it a shot.
