Technology
A new Khuli rising
‘The Rise of Us’ sees Khuli Chana, the Motswako-originator, criss-cross South Africa to meet social entrepreneurs who are having a mammoth impact on the lives of those around them.
1 min
The Rise of Us
Meet four South African trailblazers who are creating a better world for those around them.
The residents of Mamelodi West and its surrounds gathered at the Solomon Mahlangu square towards the end of May for a screening of Red Bull Amaphiko's ‘The Rise of Us’ documentary. It’s presented by the heftily influential emcee, Khuli Chana – a breaker of many records and maker of even more hits.
Khuli, in his avant-garde rapper, dapper gentleman outfits, navigates through four social entrepreneurs' lives in the film. He learns about the different aspects of their operations in the process. From the principles that inform their daily business dealings to the hard, harsh lessons they've had to learn from in order to keep moving.
By the end of it all, as a cool and reflective Khuli speaks to the camera about his take-away(s) from the experience, a nagging feeling, triggered by something he speaks to at the beginning of the film, keeps recurring: Could it be that Khuli's leaving this rap shit for greener pastures?
Khuli with Thato Kgatlhanye
© Lindsey Appolis / Red Bull Content Pool
We haven't had a new album from Khuli since 2012's ‘Lost in Time’, the first South African hip hop album to win in the Album of the Year category at the SAMAs. ‘One Source’, the campaign with Absolut Vodka on which the rapper collaborated with artists from across the African continent to record music, is an EP, and hence doesn't count.
But it's hardly the case. Music’s still very central to Khuli’s life.
When we link up, it's some six weeks since that Mamelodi West screening. People stood in the nippy, early winter weather to watch a man who called Pretoria home at a point in time being projected on a giant screen erected temporarily at a location named after a South African Freedom Rights Activist.
Take a moment to appreciate the significance.
He'd arrived, the previous day, from engagements in Europe: An award ceremony at Cannes Festival in France where the Absolute campaign won under multiple categories, and a performance at Sweden’s Midsommarfest with his right-hand man Kaygism and Beatmochini, DJ (and renowned Pretoria- based producer).
Khuli sets me straight during the interview. There is music coming in the form of a compilation, a possible collaboration album with his DJ, and ‘One Source’ part two, which’ll be a long player. But his heart's in a different place. Or rather, he's found another avenue.
Thabang Mabapa (left) with Khuli
© Lindsey Appolis / Red Bull Content Pool
“All good things come to an end until you start a new journey,” Khuli responds, his yellow-coated shades (could be gold) the centerpiece of an equally-elegant outfit. He continues, in-between taking a few bits from the sliced fruit in front of him, that the film has presented him with unimaginable possibilities, and opportunities. “Where I was – over the week in France – it's so aligned with this ‘Rise of Us’ documentary, and this (social entrepreneurship) movement. So much so that I feel like had I not taken this first step, I don't think that would've popped off. It was like I had to do this for all these things to happen.”
Sure. And so how did Khuli, whose previous contributions to South African hip hop include being a member of Morafe, an influential trio with two lauded albums to their name, end up at social entrepreneurship?
“I know entrepreneurship. You know, when you're an indie label owner, you're constantly thinking on your feet. But I honestly did not know what social entrepreneurship was. I had an idea of what it could be. Thanks to Ben (Benjamin Overmeyer, the film’s director) and the team. They were like listen, you're an artist, you don't know much about this world, so we're bringing you in. What we want is for you to learn, absorb it. We want to see your reaction; we want to get you going 'oh shit, oh so that's what it means!' I went into it really blank.”
And viewers witness his reactions as he experiences four characters and their projects. One of them is Thato Kgatlhanye, whose business idea to build school bags equipped with solar-powered reading lamps was given wings at the inaugural Red Bull Amaphiko Academy in Soweto in 2014. The others are Lady Liberty founder Samantha Ngcolomba who offers mobile legal advice to those who need, but often can’t afford, it, Soweto-born Thabang Mabapa who produces an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel out of castor oil and the founder of tree-planting social enterprise Greenpop, Misha Teasdale.
Khuli tells me the hard and fast rule everyone who’s supposedly an entrepreneur is taught, that you’ve got “to be shrewd”. He continues: “You have to be tough, gotta have this thick skin, gotta kick down doors! And then there's another side, where people do meaningful stuff.”
Business isn’t for everybody because, he reasons, “you can't be too soft”. So, is there an alternative to this seemingly toxic take on a beautiful endeavour?
“Social entrepreneurship is for people who wanna affect and change the world in a positive light. It's not really driven by big numbers. But yes, it's also about scaling the business. There's a lot of things in the business world that don't resonate with me,” he says.
One of the wildest, dopest experiences as a follower of any one artist’s music, is to see the artist transcend labels and expectations put upon them, and become versions of themselves that present well-rounded views of them as people. Khuli’s ascended to that status, and it’s a wonderful thing.
Watch ‘The Rise of Us’ on www.redbull.tv now:
1 min
The Rise of Us
Meet four South African trailblazers who are creating a better world for those around them.