Minister for Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie made these promises as he strolled through the SA Hip Hop Museum.
Like any politician on the campaign trail, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has promised to do the right thing for South Africa's hip-hop community.
“We can't just do a concert like Back to the City (BTC) once. We need about 12 people a year,” he said to cheers inside the South African Hip Hop Museum.
Mackenzie strolled through the Hip Hop Museum, where she was welcomed by the space's founder, Osmik Menoe.
Mr Menoe is also the founder of the BTC Festival, which will be held at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg New Town on October 12th.
BTC is a one-day hip-hop festival held annually at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg's New Town. It has been held since 2007.
“I make a promise here from my department: I believe we should have 12 concerts a year. There are 12 concerts scheduled and we will pay for those concerts. There is one condition before you can raise R1 million a month for “.
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hip hop unity
The minister said the Achilles heel of the local hip-hop genre is that it is fragmented.
“The main message is that we all have something to learn, but especially hip-hop people in this country. There's never enough of a fight for your space. Your space is It's being taken over by different genres.”
McKenzie said that by taking the helm of the sports, arts and culture department, the landscape of the hip-hop community is about to change.
“There's the beef, you know. You have to fight to get your own space. This is a very tough industry. I know there are expectations. I know there are people who are ignoring you. That’s about to change.”
“While we are fighting for you, you should fight for yourself. You don't want to fight for someone who doesn't want to fight for themselves.”
“We want to know how many people are working and how much they are paid. We don't want to fund exploitation, and we want you to share it with us. You all need to come together and say, this is January, this is February.”
The minister reiterated his love for the genre, saying, “If I were to be reassigned, imagine not doing anything for hip-hop. I have to do something for it.”
Mr McKenzie, who was recently announced as one of this year's Feather Award nominees, said the South African government was grateful for Mr Menoe's work at the Hip Hop Museum.
“[What] I just want to say to everyone here, first of all, I think we owe you a huge debt of gratitude. You literally paid your own way to do what we needed to do. You kept the culture alive and made sure we never forgot it. ”
The SA Hip Hop Museum is the world's first permanent hip hop museum.
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hip hop fan
The minister said he was a fan of hip-hop and talked about how he founded the nightclub ZAR because he wanted to make a good impression on the woman he admired. He said that he was actually inspired to start the club because the owner of Tabu insulted him when he was trying to impress a woman.
“I left the club and said I'd show you. I said I'd build a club like no other that had ever been built, but it would destroy that club. [Taboo]. This is how ZAR was born. ”
The minister said ZAR was too “upmarket” so he hired Menoe to decorate the club with graffiti to give it a more street-like feel.
“There's a cat in town and it's very difficult to get him out of town, but he can do the perfect graffiti,” Mackenzie said. Although initially reluctant, Menoe came along and did the artwork at the nightclub.
“When he came, he painted the best work I've ever seen.”
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