Finding my academic rap voice at Oxford

Oxford is hardly the place you would expect to find your rap voice. But that's exactly what happened to me. There I was, I got a scholarship to pursue my masters in one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and I thought I had to choose between the love I had for the sound of a kick drum when the beat drops and the serenity and the calmness of studio study. And all the expectations were that I would pursue the path of becoming a regular Oxford academic . But something stuck in me that I couldn't kick. I kept listening to Hip Hop and I kept writing rhymes even though I knew I shouldn't, I should be studying and pursuing my studies. And the more I rubbed shoulders with future prime ministers and presidents, Nobel laureates and scientists. The more I realized that the only way to make an indelible contribution to world. The only way to do something which will leave you truly remembered is to do something different. Is to take all of yourself and pour it in to the creative pursuits that you produce.

And so I began to think about an ambitious project. What if I could do both? What if I could write something that had the lyrical panache of a Teju Cole essay, but had the flow of a Drake verse? What if I'd write something that had the technical flair of a Zadie Smith novel but could get you moving like a Nicki Minaj flow? And that said about an ambitious project; a book and an album, to be released at the same time, about the same things. But that's all well and good. What was it gonna be about? Hip Hop is oftem materialistic, misogynistic, but it's true origin lies on the reflection of social issues. And as I sat at Oxford and looked back home in South Africa; the political situation was taking a turn for the worse. Corruption was on a rampage, students were calling for a more affordable education. Racism was running wild. Could I take all of myself the seemingly contradictory parts and put them together in a project that would change the South African political conversation for young South Africans? And as I stand before you, three years after that idea germinated that project is just weeks away from release. Democracy and Delusion the book and the album. And you will be the first public audience to hear the creation of one of the songs from that project.

So having told a little bit about the journey that brought this project about. In the next part of my talk, I wanna take you through how I built one of the songs and then drop a verse for you. Can I kick it? [Crowd responds]
Thank you!

So I build the beat that I made in a song about free education called Amasoja. And after the beat is built, I'll then rap the verse for you. So I'm gonna have to go into producer mode here, which requires some concentration but I trust you'll stick with me.

Now... [test keyboard]

Oh, we have sound!

I wanted to start something simple, but powerful. So the first melody went something like this:
[starts playing the instrumental for Singamasoja]

Really simple; Hip Hop, but I felt it captured the grit of student protests at the time and you could feel it building. But then I wanted to add a layer of musicality. So then we came through with this...

[Music]

And you could just see the protests, as it was happening in the way students were intent on getting their demands heard.

[Music]

But we had to add a number of different layers to make it more musically intense.

[Music]

But you know this is Hip Hop, right? So you can't just leave it at that. You've got to have a beat, right? So I started thinking, how do we bring this together and [?].

[Music]

So I felt like it was moving nicely; you can see the students protesting, you can see history unfolding, you can see a new struggle building. And all that was left was just a final drum.

[Music]

Yeah, so, instead of just writing an essay, I felt putting it musically would capture how people were feeling at that time. And then I wrote these verses that went along with the song.

[Verse 1 & 2 of "Singamasoja" performed as one verse]
Check it
This is our future Ubaidah
Look at the freedom charter
Sent the police in armored V's
But our fathers were martyrs
See the greed that you harbour
See the seed that you planted
This university is lying to me
See what you started, started
So much for liberation
We were never born free of decede and desperation
They say we sat fire to the nation
But all we want is decolonization
So mbokodo please lead us
Ain't got time for these leaders
All they do is mistreat us and all they do is mislead us
Fess must, fees must fall
Education is freedom but what's the point in this freedom
If there's no one to believe in
I said, don't tell me about the minister
The whole cabinet sinister
So listen up
G'dala skhalasa, g'dala sizabalaza
And we'll never finish till equality is administered

You can clap...

[applause]

And that's really what I wanna talk to you about today. Sometimes it's the parts of us that give us the most agony. The parts of us that we think we have to change to conform to other people's expectations which are actually the gateways which allow us to make an impact on the world. So it's my sincere hope that this project changes minds, changes people's views on politics on South Africa and the world. But you don't have to be an academic rapper, you just have to embrace every part of yourself and understand that the way you can change the world is becoming one with all the different parts of you that people think can't come together. And it's my sincere hope that you and I achieve that together as we pursue our journeys in life.

Thank you.