South African veteran rapper Stogie T—also known as Tumi Molekane—is a bitter OG according to South African hip-hop fans, some of whom may be familiar with his work as a solo artist, or with his now-defunct band The Volume.
All it took was him, at the South African Hip-Hop Awards last month, mentioning some artists who once recorded at his studio, in an attempt to remind us of the role played by not only him but others of his generation, too.
Cassper Nyovest, who is currently one of the biggest rappers in the country, was among some of those mentioned by T. Probably owing to some criticism the veteran rapper has had about Nyovest’s music in the past, the 27-year-old rapper didn’t take kindly to T’s words. “Tumi, you ain’t done shit for me, bro,” said Nyovest during an acceptance speech at the awards. The audience roared in both shock and amusement
He just made it about him,” says T, a few days after the award show, as he sits for an interview in a boardroom at the Universal Music Group offices in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
After the awards, Twitter weighed in on the incident, with many expressing that T was jealous of Nyovest’s success. The rapper Riky Rick, who’s a Cassper Nyovest affiliate, chimed in. “I got respect for Tumi, but he needs to stop claiming niggaz’ success,” he tweeted.
The line “What happened with Riky?” was singled out by a lot of fans, as a shot to Riky.
Because, you know, hip-hop.
Riky Rick and Reason would then go on to give their side of the story on “Le Mpitse” by Cassper Nyovest and “Flavors” by Big Star, stating why they left the label. T cleared the air on his song “Clean Stuff.”
But if you listen to T’s whole verse on “Way It Go,” you can pick up that he was mentioning questions people kept asking him–for instance; what was up when he released his most criticized song “Hello Kitty,” what car he drives, and of course people were asking why Riky left Motif.
No Place for Nuance in Hip-Hop Commentary
This is where T’s trouble begins. “There is no space for nuance in this social media era,” says the rapper. “It’s either black or white. For instance, you go, ‘I haven’t listened to the Shane Eagle album, and Shane goes: ‘No one gives a fuck, you’re not even verified.’
The veteran rapper is referring to the young rapper Shane Eagle’s Twitter clap-back to respected hip-hop head, radio and TV presenter, Scoop Makhathini from November.
“It’s like, what?!” T exclaims. “He’s not saying, ‘dawg, I will never listen to Shane Eagle’s album, I’m not even bothered.’ It’s because we are kind of wired [for conflict]; everyone is on edge. And also, just the lack of nuance.”
About a month ago, I wrote a scathing piece on how Cassper Nyovest is the poster boy for biting in South African hip-hop. I cited examples supporting my claims. I also mentioned how important of a voice the rapper is in South African hip-hop. I was, however, mostly labelled a hater in the comments section.
Well-intentioned criticism isn’t generally well-received. South African hip-hop is special in this respect. Rappers will blacklist a whole publication for one journalist’s opinion. For instance, AKA swore he would never again give an interview to the City Press after they had mentioned his name in an article about the rapper OkMalumKoolKat, who is still living with the consequences of his actions.
T has always been opinionated about rap–he gives both praise and critique. Recent examples aren’t hard to find. For instance, in November, he insinuated Priddy Ugly‘s E.G.Y.P.T was a contender for album of the year.
In 2010, before Twitter and blogs conflated to sensationalize people’s statements, T released a song called “Victory,” which featured Zubz. On the song, which is a hidden track on T’s sophomore solo album, Whole Worlds, the MC shared his thoughts on South African hip-hop at the time.
