The voice of a thousand griots

By: Coretta Gorases

Anew breed of rappers has just hit the Namibian Hip Hop industry, ready to change the scene in ways never imagined. Although the three rappers – individually – are not new to the game, they have joined forces to form, Black Vulcanite.

The talented trio have aligned their individual talents – consisting of solid poetry, jazzed-out vocals and diligent and articulate rapping that translates into a new local sound of true international appeal, they have dubbed themselves, ‘geeks’ of their individual arts.
The trio describe Black Vulcanite as, “a new generation redefining the young African identity as more cultured, sophisticated and multi- faceted”.
Listening to one of their tracks, it becomes quite obvious that these young men stand out from your typical Namibian rapper. Theirs is a sound of consciousness, coupled with rhymes that make you actually want to know what they are saying. With a beat that infuses fun elements of rhythm over an otherwise thought provoking sound.
Meet Nikolai TNB, the writer and poet ‘geek’. AliTHATdude, the lyrical geek, rapper, singer and all round Hip-Hop head and last but definitely not least, Mark Mushiva, who calls himself a ‘geek’ of all arts, be it poetry, rap, instruments and music in general.
All three have done solo projects before and plan on continuing to do so. Both AliTHATdude and Mushiva, have individual EPs coming out in the next three months.
In 2011, Nikolai TNB joined the Cape Town Street CPTSTREETMAG’s poetic expressions Blog. He was also a contributor to The Ground’s Ear, a Contemporary Verse from southern Africa. In the same year, the young rapper did two more performances for LIVE in Cape Town, where he was joined by AliTHATdude. Mushiva has also had his share of performances with the local performance poetry initiative, Spoken Word, as well as at Kapana Soul Sessions. The Hip Hop head even had the chance to show off his skills at the Jazz Festival last year.
A power house of talent and the result of hard work and an all round solid reputation, their ambition to move and stir the crowd is never half- hearted and straight comes from the core.
They have identified a number of platforms for future gigs and Hip Hop lovers are urged to look out for the trio’s second single, which will be released very soon. Their first single can be heard on SoundCloud and is also on the South African Hip Hop site: www.rapzone.co.za

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