Pioneer Unit

We just got a copy of the new Cape Town Beats compilation CD on Jarring Effects in France.

Pioneer Unit licensed four tracks for this compilation which features others artists such as Sibot, Constructus Corporation, Markus Wormstorm and Felix Laband.

We’re really proud to represent Cape Town to an international audience on such a prestigious label. The compilation has already been getting airplay across Europe and we’re looking forward to breaking ground in new territories.

Front cover (click for larger image).

Back cover (click for larger image).

That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrroll!!

Check out channel 89 on your nearest DSTV-enable TV this Saturday at 7pm for an interview and live performance by one of the hottest new artists coming out of the Cape Flats, the one and only Terror MC.

Terror MC is featured on Planetary Assault so you know he’s an artist to keep an eye out for.

Stiek uit!

That’s how we rrrrrrrroll!!

Crosby recording How Could It Be (click for larger image).

Go to the Pioneer Unit Myspace page and download How Could It Be by Crosby aka DigiAnalogue for FREE!

How Could It Be is super tuff Dancehall/ Dubstep/ Hip Hop mash up featuring the heavy vocals of one of Gugulethu’s finest.

Click the Download link under the track’s name on the Myspace music player (it’s the first track)…

It’s a free ting!

That’s how we rrrrrrrroll!!

Ben Sharpa in Cosmo magazine? Yeah, you read it right - the one and only Ben Sharpa aka Oh Kaptin My Kaptin is elevating South African Hip Hop to new heights (and his solo album ain’t even out yet!).

Support local Hip Hop and go and buy yourself a copy of the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. Our very own Ben Sharpa is featured in a piece called SA Stars Going Global. It’s on page 49 of the Cosmo Rocks section. There’s a nice photo of Rhianna on the cover, you can’t miss it :)

Rhianna on the cover (click for larger image).

SA Stars Going Global (click for larger image).

Sound Ambassadors (click for larger image).

Article text (click for larger image).

Going global. That’s how we rrrrrrrrrroll!!

Photo courtesy Leon Botha.

R.I.P. to a true pioneer of South African Hip Hop and a Cape Flats legend.

We salute you.

Check out the Mr. Fat Facebook group to leave a tribute or message of condolence.

This issue really makes my blood boil. South Africa does actually have a 25% local music quota but according to the South African Music Quota Coalition, it is regularly ignored, “due to loopholes such as playing local content in the early hours of the morning, non-enforcement, and being allowed to use gig guides and interviews to offset their quota.”

The government needs to wake up and realise that without a strictly enforced local music quota (personally, I think 70% would be good), they are promoting and sustaining a culture of inferiority around local music and creating conditions that make it almost impossible for our talented industry to grow. A quota imposed on our media would force the majors in South Africa to invest in our local product.

We have been conditioned to believe that ‘local’ is inferior because we are brainwashed by foreign concepts of what constitutes good music. It wouldn’t be so bad if niche music was being imported, but we are subjected to the worst kind of lowest common denominator pop music from overseas.

The local music industry takes the path of least resistance. The ‘big four’ aka the ‘majors’ (Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner) are more than happy to keep subjecting us to this barrage of foreign mediocrity because it’s easy money for them. All the hard work has been done overseas (the slick production, the expensive videos and the marketing campaigns). They are simply maximising the return on their investment and who can blame them?

Total domination of our media is ensured by the fact that our media relies on the major’s content to survive. In effect, the South African media works for the majors. Impose quotas on the media and the majors will be forced to invest locally or die.

The foreign domination of our media also means that South African niche music is effectively marginalised out of existence, distorting our local music industry and killing creativity. Only the most mainstream and superficial South African music has any chance of competing and surviving.

The more effectively you copy the foreign imports, the more likely you are to gain acceptance in this paradigm. Just look at two of our most popular RnB singers, Danny K and Loyiso - they are simply imitating a tried and tested formula from the US.

When the majors do get involved with local music, it is often done with no vision or commitment. Look how ineptly Pro Kid, one of our brightest South African Hip Hop talents, was treated. Gallo half-heartedly marketed him (only producing 1 video for Heads and Tales) before putting out DNA, a rushed second album with even less promotion - no video, no tours and limited radio play (I still haven’t heard one track from that album). Pro Kid is now signed to TS Records, an independent label, where hopefully he will enjoy more success.

It’s a vicious circle of the most simple and effective kind. Our artists struggle to get their music played on radio or TV, therefore the potential fans don’t know their music is out there, therefore they don’t buy it. Distributors won’t support local music because ‘it doesn’t sell’. It doesn’t sell because people don’t know it exists. Only quotas will break this circle.

The problem is definitely not that we don’t have the talent. We have artists on Pioneer Unit whose music is played regularly on the BBC in the UK, and who have performed at Glastonbury (amongst other places). Influential radio DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who has been likened by many to the legendary John Peel, described our own Ben Sharpa and KONFAB as “two of the most inspired and agile lyricists in the world today” yet neither can get their music played on SA radio because it ‘doesn’t fit the format’.

So what can be done?

You can go to the South African Music Quota Coalition website and sign their petition.

You can also join their Facebook group.

After a long time I finally had the honour of getting Crosby aka Digi Analog in the studio to bless up the mic.

If you don’t know Crosby you better ask somebody! This Gugulethu-born reggae artist has been spending a lot of time in Europe lately, hotting up stages with the likes of Busta Rhymes, Capleton, Morgan Heritage, Black Eyed Peas & Kelis. Believe dat!

Don’t even get me started on why the South African music industry (and the media that supports it) can’t recognise its own talent, but rest assured, we’re gonna force our way into it even if we have to do it via the rest of the world first.

Anyway, back to the recording session… Gugs represent. Cros murdered the Driemanskap Go and Ask riddim. Keep it locked. It’s coming soon.

Check out Crosby on Myspace.

Crosby in session (click for larger image).

Crosby in session (click for larger image).

Crosby in session (click for larger image).

Crosby in session (click for larger image).

That’s how we rrrrrrroll!!

Mary Anne Hobbs played Statement by Ben Sharpa (featuring KONFAB) on her BBC Radio 1 Experimental show last night (well, very early this morning actually).

Mary Anne Hobbs has been compared by many to the legendary John Peel. She is one of the biggest supporters of underground electronic music and is becoming well-known as a champion of Dubstep (a hybrid of Dub, 2-Step and Techno).

Anyone who’s into any form of electronic music (including experimental Hip Hop, Grime, Glitch and pretty much anything else you can imagine) should tune into her show on BBC Radio 1 between 02:00 and 04:00 every Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning.

For people who can’t stay up that late, or people outside the UK, each show is available online for a full week after the show has aired - Ben Sharpa’s track will be online until 20th November.

It’s always an honour to be featured on her show so please go and check us out!

www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs/

(Just click the ‘Listen to the show’ link under the ‘Listen again’ header.)

Mary Anne Hobbs - Photo courtesy Merlijn Hoek under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.

Who is The Realist? That’s what everyone has been asking me.

Pioneer Unit is in the middle of contract negotiations with Cape Town’s best kept musical secret. We’ve reached a stage in negotiations where I am pretty sure that we can make something happen, which is why I feel confident enough to blog about it.

The Realist is a trio consisting of two rappers (Kid Kleva and Sinister Dexter), and a producer (The Triplet of Belville). Their sound is an eclectic blend of dark lush string arrangements, sub-splitting electro and sinister, hard drums. It’s Hip Hop, but not as you know it.

These boys definitely have a bright future ahead of them with their genre-defying sound.

Watch this space for more news as it happens.

That’s how we rrrrrroll!!

Showbiz Report titles.

Showbiz Report’s lovely presenter Sara Chitambo.

Me being interviewed at the Planetary Assault launch party.

Archetypes’ Hyphen performing at the Planetary Assault launch party.

Driemanskap performing at the Planetary Assault launch party.

Anne-Sophie talking about directing the video for How We Roll.

KONFAB & Jaak in the How We Roll video.

KONFAB & Jaak in the How We Roll video.

That’s how we rrrrrrroll!!

Check out Showbiz Report on ETV this coming Saturday (3rd Nov) for a feature on the Planetary Assault launch party.

That’s how we rrrrrroll!!

Last sunday Pioneer Unit was in full effect at the Hype Magazine park jam in Gugulethu. The sports complex grounds were full as an all-star line-up of Cape Town’s finest provided a full afternoon of entertainment.

My highlights of the the show were Ben Sharpa and Rato performing Trash Talkers on top of the sponsor’s vehicle, Jaak’s set and of course Driemanskap holding it down in their own back yard.

It was a great day but I have to be real, we must get these sound systems sorted out - these tin pot sounds are not allowing our artists to shine! A stage would have been good too.

Anyway, like I said, I had a great day and I don’t want to be negative. Big up to Mizi, Simone and all the artists that represented to the fullest. This has definitely inspired me to step up our game and do more shows in the hood. It’s about time these Cape Town brand managers woke up and realised that they need to start investing properly in our growing culture.

Check out these photos by Anne-Sophie…

Jaak and Mizi

Ma-B and me

Having fun

Jaak

Driemanskap hype up the crowd

Ben Sharpa & Rato perform Trash Talkers

El Nino from Driemanskap

The crowd watching Driemanskap

The crowd watching Driemanskap

Sharpa’s crowd

Ben Sharpa & Rato perform Trash Talkers

To see the full set of photos from the day at full size, click here

That’s how we rrrrrrroll!!