Sizwe Moeketsi , aka Reason, talks to us about expressing himself through ‘rhythm applied poetry’.
Reason was a guest presenter on Club 808 (Fridays at 12PM & 7:30PM) last week and has been nominated for two MTN SAMA awards this year -Best Rap Album and Male Artist of the Year. We interview the man behind the music.
When and how did you start off in the music industry?
When I was in Grade 11, I used to cut school to go and make jingles for DJ Freshwhile at YFM. I then got to spend a lot of time with ProVerb as some sort of an understudy of his. As soon as I left school, his manager Bexta brought me in as his hype man, and the rest is history.
How did you know this was what you wanted to do?
When I heard rappers like Nate Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Masta Ace and Gang of Other I was like, "WOW! This is so cool, I wanna do that!"
Which musicians do you admire and who inspires you?
There's a lot but for now I'll have to go with Hugh Masekela. He was one of the first to do very well in South Africa. He got challenged by politics and left to do it overseas where he became an international star in the late 60's. Currently he is still here, doing what we do. That’s big.
Who, in your opinion, is the greatest rapper or hip hop artist ever?
I don't think there is only one. There are a lot of great rappers but I can't say which one is better than all the others (I'm going to change my mind within 10 min's of answering this).
How would you classify your music style or genre?
It’s "honest" for the most part but "creativity" is the angle really. Even if something’s been done before, I try to do something else to it. I find that this is what really entertains people when it comes to my music.
Which one of the artists you have collaborated with is your favourite and why?
I know it sounds cheesy but Tumi. I find making music with Tumi is always more pleasure than it is business. As serious as the work may be at that time, it always feels like we're just rappers rapping. It’s fun.
Hip hop and rap used to be about social injustices, it used to stand for something. Today this genre gets a lot of flak for being superficial – what are your thoughts on this?
Well, i think the entire world used to be more concerned about social injustices and that reflected in the music. Today, the entire world has become a little more superficial and unfortunately, hip hop is reflecting that. I'd say that the reason for this is that we have a lot more to say in one song than in any other genre. Our music is based on our commentary or point-of-views of the (or at least our) world through "rhythm applied poetry". However, if you listen to my album Audio3D, you might realise that it’s not all rappers that are superficial.
