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Woebot did some posts on his blog and later on Dissensus about kwaito. He's been buying stuff from South Africa, but alas I can't remember what, or what was the name of the website/dealer he was getting stuff from.
When I saw the Mahotello Queens here in Washington D.C. nearly 2 years ago, the d.j. played what I guess was kwaito after their set. It brought folks to the dancefloor.
― steve-k, Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:55 (nineteen years ago) link
i read a post or two on dissensus about where to buy it, they suggested www.musica.co.za. you could also try www.lookandlisten.co.za, www.kalahari.net and www.reliablemusic.co.za, if yr looking to purchase.
― m. (mitchlnw), Saturday, 22 January 2005 09:00 (nineteen years ago) link
I bought that one Kwaito compilation last year (I'm sure there's way more than one, but it's the one that everyone wrote about) and liked it a lot. It got me especially interested in Brenda Fassie (who predated kwaito per se but then had some big kwaito hits - before she died, RIP), so I got a compilation by her too.
I keep meaning to go to Stern's here in NY and see what kind of selection they have. It's otherwise kind of hard to find. So what does actual S.A. hip-hop sound like? More like American hip-hop, less housey?
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 22 January 2005 09:20 (nineteen years ago) link
(dammit, my pc just ate my two paragraph response. so sorry if this is hurried).
gypsy, was the comp the one that was subtitled something like "south african hip-hop"? i never actually saw that one, though i remember looking at the tracklist and thinking it was alright, if a little dated.
sa hiphop intially sounded very much like rawkus-y american rap - sample based, lyrically conscious. and the surrounding press encourage the view of that this was the youth music that'd serve as the medium for politically and culturally progressive narratives, as opposed to kwaito's dance party hedonism (though kwaito always had it's share of morality tales and such, really). lately sa's rap's getting.. rappier (synthier, bouncier, hotter)(i'm thinking of skwatta kamp here, specifically. but still in a way that's derivative of accepted US rap styles (tho the mc's swap between english and other local dialects - zulu, sesotho - when rapping). but any nods to local musical heritage tend towards the superficial - a sample of a s. african folk hymn or somesuch, as opposed to a 'deeper', formal integration. the other day i was flicking through radio channels and heard two consecutive tracks (unfortunately unnamed) that seemed to offer a genuine middle path - a leaner, trackier rap at dance/club tempo (faster than kwaito even, which often runs at 80bpm, torpid by 4/4 standards), with non-english mcing. and hooky too! i must find out what's going on.
― m. (mitchlnw), Saturday, 22 January 2005 10:15 (nineteen years ago) link
mitch are you at all able/willing/interested in doing some kind of mix of the newest good stuff? if so, we should trade--email if you want.
― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Sunday, 23 January 2005 08:13 (nineteen years ago) link
matos: not immediately able - i've got some older sa hiphop on cd and a couple of stray, old kwaito mp3s, and really that's it. but i'm working on it! if i get something together, i'll let you (and this thread) know.
― m. (mitchlnw), Sunday, 23 January 2005 10:26 (nineteen years ago) link
one year passes...
eleven years pass...