Jaak_
Bio
Jaak is Afrikaans. Jaak was born and bred in the home of Afrikaans. In the town where Afrikaans got official recognition as a respectable language - Paarl. The place where the Taalmonument stands erect on Paarl mountain like a big, fat middle finger, telling the world, "Up yours! Afrikaans represent!"
In this town of extremely divided human ideologies, Jaak was destined to become one of the most free-thinking artists in Afrikaans Hip Hop. Growing up on the 'wrong' side of the Bergriver, in the projects of Paarl East, Jaak was quick to realise the huge discrepancies in Paarl's social structure.
Using Hip Hop as a vehicle of truth and social justice, Jaak found his identity through the artform. He also found a way to voice the concerns of his people - not just the people from Paarl but all overlooked 'brown' people of South Africa.
Being part of an overlooked section of the population has given Jaak the time and space to train and educate himself about the true nature of Hip Hop. An avid collector of The Source Magazine since before the 'Golden Era', Jaak is a true Hip Hop scholar and strives to understand the core essence, which he believes is Knowledge of Self.
Jaak has always been disgusted with the prevalent sentiment in South Africa that brown people have no culture. He has taken it upon himself to put the magnifying glass to his people, past and present, to show the world (brown people included), that the culture of brown people is vibrant, creative and highly influential on South African society as a whole. Jaak feels compelled to stake this claim through his music.
Jaak combines a liberating approach to his musical concepts with lyrics from all Afrikaans dialects, ideolects and the sampling of Afrikaans classics, to form the soundbed for his lyrical gymnastics. You are truly set for an Afrikaans overdose and a real culture shock to the system.
Jaak started out with the seminal Paarl underground crew, Funk-shun 3 (AKA FS3) in 1993. Way before this he was simply a fan who breakdanced, rapped and beatboxed in the hood without knowing that what he was doing was 'Hip Hop' - it was just something cool to do after seeing Beat Street during matinee at Makadam bioscope.
FS3 consisted of Jaak, Ace High and Bulbz. Tragically Ace High died in a car crash that same year and new member, Ashtray, joined soon after. The group took a cerebral approach to Hip Hop from the start even though they all had diverse backgrounds. FS3 specialised in English rhymes but their Afrikaans bangers were also huge crowd favourites. This was at a time when no Hip Hop groups existed in Paarl.
FS3 are credited with starting the Paarl underground movement and many a group and solo act emerged after witnessing an FS3 performance, whether in a cipher or on stage or in our bedroom studios.
As life happened to the group, Jaak remained an active performer, doing shows as a rapper for R&B sensations, Blac Shuga. Hailing from Wellington, the group gained national recognition for winning the Shell Road to Fame in 1997. Rocking quite a few school carnivals and festivals with the group, Blac Shuga went into hiatus. Jaak and group member, Gursh, then formed Soulfreed. Their ghetto classic track, Cabana, had the whole of Boland in a frenzy to book the duo for shows and parties. The song is still getting airplay on the local community radio station, Radio KC, to this day. The group then featured prominently on an underground album with boom-bap producers, Louf 'aai.
During this time, Jaak made a solo Afrikaans album called, Koekemakranka where he did all the production as well as the lyrics. Koekemakranka was Jaak's calling card into the world of the Cape Town Afrikaans underground scene. The album was raw with a certain spirituality that immediately made Jaak one of the most sought-after Afrikaans MC's in South Africa. Many shows (TV and radio included) followed and Jaak soon became the artist you just had to feature on your album. One major break was Jaak's cameo on Jitsvinger's, Skeletsleutel album on the track, Kom op, which also included the legendary, Isaac Mutant.
In the meantime Jaak also completed an album with Paarl contemporary, Panaikz, under the JaaPee moniker. The album, Hotnots Blymaak Isse Bui Reën also spawned many underground classic tracks like Club Waslap. Jaak was featured all over the Afrikaans Hip Hop scene, doing joints with Gio Vahk, Cream, Griffie, Unique and many more.
Jaak then started to work with his producer idol Hipe of Ancient Men fame. This was a match made in heaven. Every prominent Afrikaans Hip Hop act in Cape Town has had their start with the help of Hiperdelic productions. Jaak recorded a huge amount of tracks under Hipe's tutelage, many of which will be featured on Jaak's forthcoming sophomore effort, Flêtse Maniere.
During the same period Jaak also did a couple of joints with Dplanet of Pioneer Unit. Jaak was featured on the Pioneer Unit compilation, Planetary Assault, which also lead to a video for the lead single from the album, How We Roll which also featured KONFAB.
On the front line, Jaak is a member of the Spoeg Committee, a group of Paarl and Wellington heads (Evolution) who organized the bi-monthly Afrikaans Hip Hop gig called, Spoeg. This local gathering of Afrikaans acts was a major event that drew quite a following and even big name acts from Cape Town came through on the regular to represent.
Jaak signed to Pioneer Unit in 2009 and will be releasing the Hipe produced Flêtse Maniere and Jaak's self-produced Galant.
Booking Jaak
Contact Hardy: info (at) hitentertainment (dot) co (dot) za
