Music
In his latest EP, Stogie T reflects on the country’s past and makes declarations about the present
In the recently-released deluxe edition of his latest EP, 'The Empire of Sheep', Stogie T revisits the stories of apartheid struggle heroes. “It all came from conversations with veterans of the struggle and particularly my mom and her family,” says Stogie T. “It all just feels like a personal family history.”
It all just feels like a personal family history.
A family story it is. The rapper was born in exile in Tanzania to parents who were fighting in the struggle against apartheid. The interviews he mentioned above yielded an EP that tells stories of the past and contrasts them with the present.
In the project’s lead single “Love and War”, Stogie T contrasts the heroic actions struggle heroes are celebrated for with their failures as humans. Failures that only affect those closest to them while they enjoy the reverence that their legacies entitle them to. “Love and War”, according to the rapper, speaks of the strange state of heroism and delinquency. “How our heroes who achieve the most magnificent feats spectacularly fail with the simplest things. It is personal, political, triumphant and deprecating,” he says.
He raps in the first verse: “The radical militant womanizer/Save the movement turn a blind eye to/And sanitize stature/All the structures that might fracture/When the sculptures of icons are patched up after”
The visuals for “Love and War” are the work of Cape Town-based director Motion Billy. “I come from the township, and I relate to most of the stuff he raps about on the song,” says Motion Billy. “I had to create that dark scene and put the kids on the video, that’s like a space of healing and we’re already fortunate enough to have an artist that speaks on how the past continues to affect us, years later.”
The video’s narrative fits the song, as it tells the story of a man who dies in the line of the duty leaving his work uniform in his wife’s arms. “When I look at the Marikana Massacre,” says Motion Billy, “it hurts me to this day. Those images are still stuck in my head and this felt like a perfect opportunity for us to show love and support to those families that lost fathers and sons. We are with them.”
The song “PTSD” is a first-person narrative of a former struggle veteran who in present-day lives with the trauma of the war they were involved in. He wakes up from a nightmare that recounts those days only to face his current proverbial nightmare (“Wake up in cold sweats, apartment low rent”).
The present state of South Africa looks gloom to Stogie T. That’s if his bars on songs like “Nobodies” and “Strength” are anything to go by. Reflecting on the country’s working-class, Stogie T raps in the first verse of “Nobodies”: “Nobodies meet nobodies and have nobody children/ Cohabit in those shantytowns, no property shields them.”
But it’s in the EP’s closing song, “Strength”, where the rapper makes his declaration. After weaving ills such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and murder to create a dingy montage of byte-sized stories in his verse, he concludes the song with the lines, “Stogie T scared for the laaities/ Strength to my country/ We are now The Empire of Sheep.”
Asked about the concept of the empire of sheep, the emcee prefers to leave it to the listener’s interpretation. “I’d be giving away too much, don’t want to go out on a lamb,” he says.
The heavy content on the EP is evened out by songs like “Kill The King”, “The Last O.G.”, “All You Do Is Talk” and “The Making” in which the rapper reflects on a life well-lived and pops bottles in invite-only parties. It’s how an OG does—share some food for thought and take time to bask in their own legacy.
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