We Manifest Word (CP)
written august 8th, 2009 For the writer, the pen is a paintbrush and the words are the colour delicately laid on the canvas. The words bring with them beauty, and sorrow, and laughter. They evoke the full range of human emotion and experience inspiring the soul to do more and be more, sometimes violently, sometimes gently. In this day and age, we have taken to the evolution of mechanism and platforms, using the keyboard and screen for the same thing. We may not know what the future holds but it is necessary to note that the means is not what is important, but the end destination. At the same...
Herbie Hancock’s Imagine
There are those albums that creep up on you. You press play without really expecting anything. You have heard nothing of it. There are no preconceived ideas of what it will sound like. There are no egos, no back story, no tabloid fodder that predisposses you to interacting with it positively or negatively. You go into it as a blank canvas for the musician to paint whatever they deem fit on you. It is - simply - about the music. Herbie Hancock's The Imagine Project is such an album. Herbie Hancock's career as musician started about 50 years - and over 40 albums - ago and, in that time, he has...
In The Beginning (CP – 08.09.2009)
Late in 2009, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to write a column for City Press' City Pulse, which is what the entertainment and lifestyle supplement was called - it is now called 7. It is always interesting for one to go back and revisit thoughts and ideas expressed and, as a result of that process, I will be posting some of those past pieces starting with the first in September 2009. These are the unedited versions. These are dated when I wrote them as to when they were published. This is the first. This has probably been one of the most nerve-racking pieces of writing I...
Sway Brings UK Blackstars
Sway Dcypha has been carrying the flag for Ghanaians at the forefront of UK hip hop for some time now. His mixtapes are legendary and his relationship with Akon's Konvict Muzik was, in my eyes, supposed to truly launch him onto a full global stage. This seems to moving slower than hoped but Sway and Dcypha Productions continue to drop classic UK / Ghana hip hop. The two most recent are The Delivery Mixtape 2 and Bring Me To Africa (which features collaborations with some of Ghana's finest). He recently released a remix of Bring Me, which features Dcypha Productions' new signing Klayz, as...
Win Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91
In Johannesburg, next week, is an event that is momentous and will go down as one of those life-defining moments. Public Enemy will be performing at the Alex Theatre in Braamfontein on December 3rd & 4th. They will be in Cape Town on the 7th and 8th of December. The Public Enemy South Africa tour is being organised by Showtime Management, 206 Productions and Keep Music Live, in association with Kaya FM, MTV Base and Good Hope FM and features Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and the Security of the First World. Public Enemy, in particular Chuck D, has contributed much to my...
PayPal x / FNB Developer Challenge
One of the frontiers of technology today is app development. Most mobile phones can call out and receive calls, so where the attention now is continues to be on the development of applications that satisfy the multitude of needs and wants that we have. Also, as more and more of us get online, our needs for online apps is also on the rise. Following the exclusive deal to bring PayPal fully into the South African market, FNB and PayPal ran the PayPal X / FNB Developer Challenge which was won by two developers, Neil Koekemoer and Werner Janse van Rensburg for the application, Billbox....
What Do You Know About Breakin’?
I just had to post this. This clip was posted on my Facebook timeline by 'a friend'; it brought back so many memories. And, lately, I've been doing a lot of reminiscing, particularly in terms of music, but also with film. In 1984/85, in the small city of Maseru, Lesotho, a small b-boy (breakdancing) crew was born in a high school called Machabeng. The only space we had, to figure out moves and draw inspiration from, was a movie called Breakin' which centred around two characters, Ozone (Adolfo Quiñones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers). One of the legendary moments in this film is the one below,...
Kobi Onyame’s Inner City Lights
Ghanaian / UK-based hip hop producer and artist Kobi Onyame was the first artist I profiled (He Said, She Said - June 2009) when I started my Wordpress blog. Part of what I wanted to do with this space was to share some of the music I came across, whether mainstream or not, and Kobi led the way. It has been over a year. He has continued to build, and so have I. In the time since I profiled him, he has, amongst other things, recorded a He Said, She Said remix with Sway (Sway Dcyphas Life - April 2010), performed at Glastonbury Festival, shared a bill with artists like De La Soul, Kanye West,...
Loxion Kulcha Going Back To Its Roots?
Loxion Kulcha is a pioneering South African brand, growing from the urban streets to penetrate all aspects of South African society. They were the model for so many young urban brands today. Started in the late '90s by Wandi Nzimande and Sechaba Mogale, the first products to be sold - out of the boot of a car - were beanies and skullcaps. As they expanded into everything from full urbanwear to eyewear, footwear and bags, the brand resonated with young television and music personalities, and has grown to become what some estimate to be a multi-million Rand business. They drew inspiration from...
Dear Mr Hicks from Liverpool FC Fans
I love my football. Always have. Always will. And, for as long as I can remember loving the game, I have supported certain football teams. Liverpool FC is one of them. While I'm sitting on the other side of the world, not many a weekend goes by without me watching my team play. Over the last two years, the club has descended into a dark hole, primarily because of the ownership and actions of two American businessmen, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. There has been a supporter campaign - led by Spirit of Shankly Supporters' Union - running over the last couple of months to try and push for the...
Future of African Media?
As some may know, I have a weekly column in the South African newspaper, City Press' lifestyle supplement 7 in which I explore different aspects and thoughts on popular culture, ranging from media, music, lifestyle, art, theatre, entertainment, etc. Below is my most recent column. You can also access this and past pieces in the columnist section of their site. Mid-September. London. Tim Kring steps on a stage at Nokia World. The creator and executive producer of the TV series Heroes, he falls within the same category, for me, as TV producers and writers like Tom Fontana (OZ), Dick Wolf (Law...
Nothing But The Truth (7)
Every generation feels this. Their time made sense. The one that has followed doesn't. As a boy, growing up, I had idols. Role models. Heroes. Examples of what I felt were positive, responsible men. I looked to them for guidance, whether first-hand or from afar. I look around me today and am both encouraged and frightened by what I see. Who do boys and young men have as their examples. Is my generation doing enough? Are my peers being enough? Am I doing and being enough? Sometimes, I can comfortably answer in the affirmative. Most times I hang my head in shame and promise myself I will do...
Wake Up Call From John Legend & The Roots
In the past lie the seeds for the present. In the present linger visions of the future. Sometimes. To build tomorrow, we need to look to yesterday. John Legend & The Roots’ new collaboration Wake Up! is perfect example of this. Sadly, a lot of music today is flimsy, shallow, lacking an understanding of where we are spiritually, politically, intellectually, etc. Much of it (or at least the stuff that is pushed out at us by mass media) seems to have become a derivative of mediocre, watered-down pop music, without creativity or commitment. It is hard to differentiate between artists (and I...
Nokia Is Back!
Nokia World 2010 Nokia World 2010 kicked off this morning in London with attendees from across the world including journalists, bloggers, distributors, suppliers, etc all anticipating insight into Nokia’s global strategy over the next year. The day kicked off with a welcome from Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Markets who went straight to some of the things that are being said about Nokia and the challenges to its market share over the last couple of years. According to Mr Savander, 260,000 Nokia smartphones are bought every day and, in the last quarter, more people bought Nokia...
Blackberry Raises The Stakes With The Torch
Research In Motion and AT&T have partnered to launch the new Blackberry Torch 9800 in North America and, while the rest of us, at least in Africa, don’t work with AT&T, hopefully we’ll get the Torch before end of the year. The first Blackberry Smartphone to feature the new Blackberry 6 OS, the Torch combines full touch screen with the Blackberry keyboard and trackpad, giving the user options in terms of navigation. You can “choose to type out messages on the capacitive touch screen or easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard, browse the Internet using pinch to zoom or fluidly navigate with...
British Airways Gives SA Companies Free Tickets
Earlier this year, I did a post (Beyond Borders - Free Air Tickets) on a competition that British Airways was running where 50 South African companies could win a Business Opportunity Grant with each Grant consisting of “10 return Business Class flights anywhere on the British Airways network". The winners have finally been announced and include companies from an array of industries, including: Manufacturing, IT, Energy, Media, Healthcare Services, Telecommunications, Business Consulting & Engineering. British Airways ran this initiative in four countries and received the highest number...