Urban music that sampled the maskandi genre

21 December 2018

What do you know about crossovers?

We take a look at some of the hip hop/kwaito songs that have borrowed their style from traditional mbaqanga music.

Remember how Mandoza's Nkalakatha quickly transformed from being a kwaito song, to becoming our prized urban national anthem? Not only did you hear the song in townships, but also in Afrikaans pubs and at music festivals. Whether you were black, white, green or purple, when Nkalakatha came on you knew it was time to get down.

RIP #Mandoza who would forget #nkalakatha at every office party, every wedding
— Natasha Martin (@tubby508) September 18, 2016

#Mandoza the man who nearly got us our land back with #Nkalakatha 💪
— Menziwa KaXhoko (@biyela_bongz) September 7, 2016

Hip hop and other kwaito songs also took themusic industry by storm when the genres began taking their sound fromtraditional mbaqanga music.

Jozi - What's with the attitude

For example, back in their heydays, local groupJozi, swept the local hip hop world by storm when they introduced a new soundwhich consisted of hip hop beats, infused with traditional mbaqanga music.

Their hit single What's With TheAttitude sampled the sounds of the late mbaqanga artist, Vusi Ximba.Many South Africans were taken aback when they heard Ximba's voice on a hip hoptrack. Weeks later, the song became a hit! Who knew mbaqanga and hip hop wouldsound so good together?

B.O.P meets Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens

House duo, B.O.P which consisted of Oskido and Bruce, tore the dance floors back in 2002 when they brought on the voices of the late Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens on their hit track Meropa (Pitseng Tse Kgolo). This song had the South African masses moving with joy in the summer of that year.

Boom Shaka meets iHashi elimhlope

Then there was Boom Shaka, who joined forceswith mbaqanga musician, iHashi elimhlope (The White Horse) on the song Bambanani.The video made the track even more memorable as we saw Boom Shaka dressed intraditional Zulu attire and performing Indlamu (Traditional Zulu dance) whichwas something we were not used to seeing from an urban pop group like BoomShaka.

As seen on ZAlebs

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