Considered as the most successful art form in the world to date; hip hop music continues to

transform, persisting as a genre that redefines itself as it evolves. It began as a form of music
that people could relate to, as music of the time when it began seemed to be farfetched from
reality. This essay will trace the roots of hip hop. From its early beginnings in Bronx to the
way it travelled literally and figuratively to South Africa, and found its way to be defined as
an alternative media. In depicting the roots hip hop, the idea of conscious hip hop will be
defined and used to explain the lyrics by an old South African Hip Hop group, Prophets of the
City. The essay will begin with a close look at the history of hip hop, tracing its roots from the
1970s to the mid-90s; followed by a definition of conscious hip hop with examples, and a
look at the song Black Thing by Prophets of the City.

It was early 1970, when Disco music was becoming popular. In a small community in New
York, South of the Bronx where drugs, violence and poverty were occurring is where hip hop
was born (Upshal, D, 1999). As songs like Just my imagination running away with me from
The Temptations 1971 album lyrics such as to have a girl like her or but it was just my
imagination running away with me. Such songs did not reflect the hard hitting issues that
were troubling the people of Bronx (Upshal, D, 1999). It is then that in his small apartment DJ
Kool Herc mixed records to create beats that soon become the early stages of what is to be
known as hip hop. This culture that was now growing, began with just the mix of beats and
break dancing which people viewed as the breathe of fresh air(Upshal, D, 1999) and they
could express themselves.

The history of hip hop is filled with people who wanted some form of recognition, no
superficial things. For example, they wanted artists who spoke the truth and were able to
relate to their situations. It is then that the mixing of record beats was merged with another
manifestation or subgenre of hip hop music, emceeing (Upshal, D, 1999). Emceeing began
with DJs making announcements about upcoming parties and events, and then soon it became
Hipty Hop. This is when hip hop in its early infancy became what it is known today.
Goffman (2010:9) mentions Hip Hop/Rap came out of a dance party and club milieu
overseen by a DJ, or Disc Jockey, who spun records. The MC, or Master of Ceremonies, was
the other key figure in early rap, in charge of vocalizing a rapid fire string of rhymed phrases.

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Rap came out of boasting (self-aggrandizement), toasting (long narrative poems that
sometimes bestow praises) and playing the dozens (competitive and recreational exchange
of verbal insults). Hip Hop is speaking freely to a mix of beats. Nevertheless, Hip Hop began
to spread from its birth place and found its place in the mainstream. In 1979 The Sugar-Hill
Delight released a song Rappers Delight, the hip hop community found the song to be
terrible, but it was the first hip hop/rap song that gave hip hop music a chance in the
mainstream media (Goffman, E, 1999: 9).

Hip Hop music began to transcend and grow into more than just one form of genre. It was
mixed with other music genres, such as disco, which initially influenced hip hop, and it
became disco/hip hop. Blondie released a track called Raptures which was a blend of hip
hop and disco. The influence of a white female rapping opened more doors for the hip hop
genre (Upshal, D, 1999). As hip hop grew, it started becoming controversial, with artists
trying to get as much of their work out there. A group called 2 Live Crew released a track
called Me so horny with their gimmick being sex, fun and dance (Upshal, D, 1999). The hip
hop song was first available to a small group of black teenagers, with lyrics like I wont tell
your mama if you dont tell your daddy, if he sees your pussy busted, wont your mama be
mad if she finds out I got that ass. The song was just a simple fun and dance track with not
much focus to the lyrics. But when the tape found its way to the white Miami suburban
teenagers, parents were petrified at the message of the song (Upshal, D, 1999). It was then
they protested that it should get banned. But then the group fought for their music to be heard
and won the case convincing the jury that it was just a simple freedom of speech and
expression. This was great for the hip hop artist as now they could voice their opinions on a
much broader scale (Upshal, D, 1999).

The freedom of speech and expression card by the 2 Live Crew paved the way for many hip
hop artists/ groups. They began using words on their songs as messages to fight against social
injustices (Upshal, D, 1999). Groups such as Public Enemy and Niggers with Attitude released
tracks directed at the police system, songs such as Fuck the police and fight the power
would get them arrested for the night and released the next day because they were viewed as
freedom of speech. But this was the beginning of an idea of changing things when they

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seemed wrong (Upshal, D, 1999). Hip Hop music started becoming about communication. As
Public Enemy mentioned in the documentary they were releasing music that was strong
enough to revoke interest (Upshal, D, 1999: part 1), hip hop was being given a voice. This
was the birth of what would be known as conscious hip hop.

Conscious hip-hop refers to rap music that critically engages with hegemonic discourses and
popular culture (Marco, D, 2013). It is a subgenre of hip hop that was inspired by the likes of
Public Enemy and Grandmaster Flash encouraging people to approach social and political
issues in their communities or countries (Upshal, D, 1999). In 1982, Grandmaster Flash and
Furious five released the very first hip hop track that will communicate to the feelings and
realities of people. Their song provided music that spoke to the people about the struggles
they faced on the daily basis, such as poverty, the anger from the segregation and the sadness
that people were experiencing because of this. The track The message spoke to the people
and that is a trait of conscious hip hop.

The use of the term conscious hip hop came about from that need to make hip hop more
appealing to the lives of the common people; that need to make hip hop more than just music,
but music that would address the issues that affected people (Upshall, D, 1999). And in order
for the words in the songs to speak to the people they needed to be of the artists observation
of the issues surrounding them (Haupt, 2008: 144). This idea of conscious hip hop can also be
understood as knowledge of self the phrase that denotes the artists ability to see
himself/herself as part of the community affected. As defined in the (Haupt, 2008: 176)
Knowledge refers to subjects abilities to critically evaluate the different factors and
processes that construct individuals identities. This refers to what Ice T explains as the
ability to be about where you are from (Upshal, D, 1999). Conscious hip hop artist should be
able to talk about things that not only will people relate to, but they can also refer to what they
rhyme about.

Furthermore, it is an artists contribution to political and social context as a hip hop artist,
intellectual or activist. For example, conscious hip hop is an ideal song like Grandmasters
flash and Furious five track The Message that spoke of the many social and economic
challenges of the 1980s. The lyrics went like this Broken glass everywhere, people pissing

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everywhere, you know they do not care to Got no money to move out, I guess I got no
choice(1982). The lyrics spoke to the issues that other people were also experiencing and
thus people could relate. Such songs attempted to make a difference to the way things were
then (Upshal, D, 1999).

15 461 kilometers away from the United States in the late 80s, or rather 1989 to be exact, a
group was trying to make the same difference in an apartheid South Africa. In the city of Cape
Town Prophets of da City (POC) released a track called Boom Style a song that would soon
lead their music to be banned (Kunzler, 2011). After what the country had been through
people wanted to voice their opinions of the occurrences. Though because of the lyrical
content, POC albums were often banned. Their songs spoke broadly against the political
oppression that the country was experiencing and like everything else during that time
freedom of speech was not yet available (Kunzler, 2011).

When hip hop was introduced in South Africa, Prophets of da City used it as a chance to fight
back against the oppression of the 1980s (Kunzler, 2011). In Cape Town, young coloured
people easily related to and identified with Afro-American hip-hop, shring an experience of
socio-economic and political marginalization and oppression (Kunzler, 2011: 28). In a
country like South Africa where coloureds were viewed even below blacks, people needed
role models or a chance for someone to stand up for them and make them want change for
themselves. It is then that POC helped raise socio-political awareness. Their music was a
form of resistance to apartheid this explains why they were banned, they revoked the social
standards (Kunzler: 2011).

In their song Black Thing POC shows the difference between mainstream hip hop and
conscious hip hop. As conscious hip hop is made to bring up issues that are normally
sugarcoated, in Black thing POC raises such issues. Such as apartheids divide and rule
(Haupt: 2008). The group speaks about how people were grouped according to the colour of
their skin, either black, coloured, Indian or white, and often one race was made to feel inferior
when compared to another (Haupt: 2008). Although the POC music was banned for a while
eventually their music helped South Africa become the democratic country it is today.

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The identity therefore does not only disempower but it also creates a sense of non-belonging
in a country that is overtly obsessed with ideas of nation building and embracing identity and
cultural inclusion (Marco, D, 2013: 21). The topic of identity is important in the discussion
of the POC, as that is what they rapped about. Most South Africans have this notion that the
coloured race is associated with apartheid, in Marco (2013) she refers to the ideas that people
have gone on with their lives in the post-apartheid assuming that things are all great when the
notion of the post-apartheid is only filled with media creating the false beliefs that South
Africa is a rainbow nation. Conscious hip hop is meant to create new ways of thinking. But
hegemonic media have brought on ideas of dominant ideologies but conscious hip tries to
fight of these ideologies.

Generally hip hop as a genre has been known to contest mainstream media. But for years
mainstream media has made a place for hip hop only to introduce songs like Wild Thing by
Tom Loc or MC Hammers Cant Touch This, this was hip hop that was just about having
fun (Upshal, D, 1999). Hip hop music was becoming popular and created to just making
money. MC Hammer was quoted in the documentary saying it was fine that I was hated for
producing music that made people dance with no meaning, I was still making money
(Upshal, D, 1999). That is the reality that conscious hip hop was introduced to. As a form of
alternative media, or alternative hip hop, this genre of music like any other alternative media
did/does not conform to the traditional ways of doing things.

As alternative media is about understanding what this media is alternative to. Waltz (2005)
defines the term as media that are alternative to, or in opposition to, something else: mass-
media products that are widely available and widely consumed. Going back to what is
known as conscious hip hop, as a form of media that is concerned with social and political
change that is what conscious hip hop is mainly about. Similar to alternative media or
alternative hip hop in this case, the genre did not particularly make a lot of money or money at
all. It was just about getting the word out to people; like in 1991 after the beating of Rodney
King by the police, Ice T released a song titled Cop Killer as a way of consciously
responding to the way police officers reacted at the Rodney King issue. However, the song
was not received well by the mainstream; it was thought to be a bad song that made it seem

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okay for the public to kill the police (Upshal, D, 1999). Cop Killer was a song that was
known to have outraged the mainstream America. Even though change was being promoted
and giving people a voice it still made people turn their heads in awe. That is why to better
understand alternative media or alternative hip hop the question what is it alternative to?
must be answered. As what it is alternative to might not have much of an awe moment as
alternative hip hop.

Alternative media or alternative hip hop is alternative to hip hop genres such as gangsta
rap. Hip hop started becoming so popular it went through so many transformations. In the
mid-90s in the United States gangsta rap became very popular with the likes of Snoop Doggy
Dog who rapped about murder and gangstarism, but then in 1992 he was charged with
murder. Gangsta hip hop became more than just a genre it seemed as a way of living for some
of the artists (Upshal, D, 1999). These ideals took out the illusion of rap; hip hop could not
be separated from real life (Upshal, D, 1999). As conscious hip hop was being disregarded
and put under the carpet this emergence of gangsta hip hop led to an even more awe
moment. Gangsta hip hop became West Cost acts in the United States versus the East Coast
acts. Rappers were dissing on each other, rapping about how one was better than the other and
etc. This was witnessed in the feud between Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. The two were
friends before the first shooting of Tupac Shakur, but when Tupac came back into the scene
after spending time in prison, he was rumored to blame Notorious for his shooting. Hip hop
was now becoming controversial and very personal. This led to their deaths, recognizing
gangsta hip hop as a dangerous culture moving from one understanding of something to
another (Upshal, D, 1999). Tupac Shakurs track Hit-em up was a simple play song between
two hip hop artists but it led to something personal as right after that Tupac got shot.

While in the South African industry the idea of alternative hip hop was brought home. A genre
emerged as South African artist started rapping in their home languages about the way life
was/is in the townships. Although not recognized as hip hop per say but the genre posed
similarities as hip hop (http://insideout.wbur.org). The sound is made up of a mix of South
African jazz and Western Rap, featuring artists such as Ishmael Morabe who released the
track waar was jy and Oskido a now renowned house DJ who began by mixing Western

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house, and Zola to name a few. These artists mention in their interviews that it was the end of
apartheid that gave birth to Kwaito music (http://insideout.wbur.org/documentaries). Like
American hip hop, kwaito was built from the ground up, originating in what its performers
often refer to as "the ghetto." The music has afforded young blacks opportunities they could
only have dreamt of under forced segregation. (http://insideout.wbur.org/documentaries).
Just as the birth of hip hop in the Bronx, Kwaito also began with good intentions. But in the
years the transformation of the genre has led it to become unnoticed and does not even sell
that much. It has become hard for kwaito artist to make ends meet as now people are not
undergoing struggle as they used to. Kwaito just like Hip hop has also been made up of many
other subgenres. It has become about dance and making money. Though South African hip
hop artist such as Khuli Chana still attempt to rap about the struggles that people can relate to,
but he also tries maintain to the standards of mainstream media in his track Tswa Daar that
was a mix of conscious hip hop but also mainstream
(http://insideout.wbur.org/documentaries). That being said, it led to a decline of conscious hip
hop as artists unlike POC were more concerned about making money than getting the word
out there to people. Artist would release tracks, but focus too much on making sure the beat
sounded nice to sell records than to focus on the conscious message behind the track.

To summarise, conscious hip hop is an alternative media as it appeals to the qualities of any
other alternative media in South Africa. However, its existence is very small in the hip
hop/kwaito industry. Artists have been caught up in this whirlpool that has forced them to
overlook the struggles that people undergo, it has just become about survival. While in the
past, from tracing its roots in the Bronx, hip hop started with an intention to speak to the
people because music of the time did not relate to the occurrences of the time. Hip hop grew,
but it also split into who is making money and underground artist who are able to spread
their music amongst a small group of people. Maybe it was more affective for a group like
POC because it was during the time of great struggle for people. Its track Black Thing
showed the beginning and ending of conscious hip hop in South Africa.