Is hip-hop dead?

With amapiano music dominating the music scene, not one rap single or album has topped the charts locally or internationally so far this year.

According to the Billboard report, it is halfway into the year and no hip-hop project has achieved a number-one spot on either its Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard 200 charts.

Following this announcement, local hip-hop artists have shared their sentiments on the matter, saying they have resolved to releasing music for “fun” rather.

“Rappers in South Africa are suffering. Amapiano artists are touring the world, while new hip-hop artists are doing high school tours. Here in Namibia, no rapper is doing anything.

“Even the well-connected ones are not doing shows any more. Show promoters have given up on us for now due to what’s going on everywhere else . . . But I’m okay. I’m just having fun,” rapper, better known as DJay, says.

He says he will stick to hip-hop as he believes the genre is bound to bounce back.

“I love it. I think I’m having more fun with music than I ever have. I’m not expecting a pay cheque from it, it’s just fun now. I drop when I want to, I shoot when I want to.

“There is no pressure at all … I am not changing to amapiano or Afro-pop like some artists have,’’ DJay says.

Meanwhile, award-winning Namibian rapper and songwriter Jericho Gawanab, also known as J-Twizz, is currently working on an album to revive the genre.

He says the rating comes at the right time when he is just about to release an album.

“I don’t want to say too much, but my next album will be a two-phase project – one is Cypher-like, and one looks at the standard influence and standing of hip-hop in our society.

“Basically, I want to contribute to the future perspective of the game interacting with young MCs, upcoming MCs, understanding their perspective, and making them understand their responsibility towards society, to the culture and to the consumer.

“Musically, I’ll be releasing new music definitely. Hip-hop could top the charts again soon,” he says.

Rapper Ghetto Ballerina believes the downgrade is due to the genre’s sound changing too often.

“I am an 80s baby. So I grew up with music that has weight and content. But me and music . . . It’s a love-hate relationship. Some days I write, some days I don’t.

“But I’m working on my EP, titled ‘Perge’. It’s bound to drop some time this year,” she says.

– unWrap.online

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