Youngsta CPT is the voice of the Cape, a lyrical genius and he also happens to be unapologetically Coloured.
Last Friday, the Cape Town rapper released his debut album ‘3T – Things Tak3 Time’, a project that took time, guidance and precision to produce what is one of the best albums released so far this year.
As much as it is a project of musical brilliance, ‘3T’ is also
particularly important to the Cape Coloured community and its diaspora.
To the community often sidelined, disregarded and stereotyped, Youngsta offers a history lesson with his music, touching on subjects such as the Coloured identity, colonialism, slavery, gangsterism, drug abuse and the elevation of Coloured people in and around Cape Town.
A message that is raw and honest, Youngsta takes listeners on a tour of the Cape, offering glimpses of his life while interrogating where his community fits in in the post-apartheid era.
A project that took the young rapper years to make, ‘3T’ was completed with a personal touch – narration by his grandfather, Boeta Shaakie Roberts, a wise man who shares his knowledge after each track, adding reverence, essence and depth.
The 22-track album starts off with a seven-and-a-half-minute-long intro, ‘Pavement Special’, that introduces the audience to the setting – a vibrant Cape Town that can be heard through the street vendors selling fruit, voices of the city and Cape Malay tunes in the background.
Youngsta is especially talented in the way he weaves his words together, mixing English with Afrikaans and Cape slang while delivering punchline after punchline.
Appealing from start to finish, there are a few tracks that stand out from the rest.
‘VOC’ (Voice of the Cape), the introductory track after ‘Pavement Special’, showcases the rapper’s influence of US West Coast hip-hop during the 90s. ‘To Live and Die in CA’ and ‘Cape of Good Hope’ continue the trajectory with Compton’s musical vestige nuancing the Cape sound.
The track is filled with cultural anthems that will surely stand the test of time. Some of these would include ‘Kleurling’, ‘For Coloured Girls’, ‘Pallet Gun’, ‘786’ and ‘(CA) Crazy Arabian’.
The message in Youngsta’s music is of utmost importance for his community in that he urges them to decolonise themselves and be free from mental slavery.
Coloured, a term that is offensive to a lot of people in the Cape due to its colonial attachment, is reclaimed by Youngsta as he waves a flag high and unashamedly – a crucial act for the young people who look up to him.
Like J Cole, Youngsta saw no need for features on ‘3T’. This is his album, his people’s upliftment and his message is definitely not lost in translation.
‘3T’ is a significant tribute to an oft-marginalised community and is a cultural treasure as much as it is a musical masterpiece.
– @jonathan_sasha on Twitter;
@jonathan.sasha on Instagram
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