Do not Forget to March

March is one of the most significant months in South Africa. It is a month of defiance, a month of selflessness most of all a month to honour and celebrate the martyred. On the 21^st March 1960 our people under the leadership of the Pan African Congress challenged the status quo by handing in the dompases, the march led to a blood bath which to this day the actual number of people that were killed by the askaris cannot be verified. This was dubbed the Sharpeville massacre and subsequently the day as Heroes day.

The day is significant because beyond everything else it displays the will of our people to move as a collective. It also instils in us the living the need for sacrifice which in my vocabulary sacrifice is giving up something of high value for something of even greater value. What is greater than life? When you give your life away for the cause of the collective what do you gain? This is a question I cannot be able to answer today nor in a century to come. I simply scribble to acknowledge and give praise to the unknown. Honour the fallen and forgotten.

It is indeed amazing how we as a society are selective in celebrating our heroes. We embrace what media endorses; we are not free to remember whomever we will, whenever we will. Our perceptions are policed and channelled in accordance to required ends. We are not even aware that such is occurring; we wallow willingly in this quagmire with the outmost contentment.

 

Those that lost their lives so that we gain ours would be honoured if we could start being radical in our thinking. They would be pleased by us being modest and carry on the torch for the absolute liberation of our beings. They would at least smile in whatever form they are in by seeing young people living meaningful lives that displays totally the commitment to vision of our people. They would be humbled by our being Valliant warriors who roar for change.

 

As you enjoys the crumbs of capitalism and spoils of post 94 be mindful of the sacrifices of those gone by do not squander their blood as if it were mere swine that was slayed. Do not be a neo colonialist and oppress your own by introducing self-serving laws. The fight is not yet over because the current scuffle is not a fight against a race but a war against certain principalities that fail the efforts of our heroes. I would love one day to author a truimphant story of the present generation.

 

This March, do not be afraid to think outside the dictates of society. This March, do not be timid. This March take on the spirit of 1960. This March, remember your heroes. This March, forget party loyalty and embrace Truthism. This March, begin a journey to the everlasting books life. This March, do not only speak of greatness be about greatness. This March.

Yahkeem ben Israel

Concrete Thought Review Penned by Unathi DarkBlood Slasha

If you are looking for punch lines in a project or music that puts you into a dance mood then you may as well stop reading this! The album kicks off with a nice beat then Yahkeem’s raspy voice is heard polemically articulating his dissatisfaction and concern with the current status quo, and how he is affected and confined to suffer the repercussion of the past socio-political –economic system and white capitalism and its exploitation, blaming them for his present sticky plight.

 The second track is on that ‘’ Keep it real’’ steez, it sounds too street yet he drops science with ease. One can easily tell that he despises rap music that suffers from dearth of lyrical depth and substance. Throughout the whole project he embodies and showcases his lyrical ability and flashes his prowess by flossing his creativity as a bilingual emcee when he fluently switches from English to rap in isiXhosa. His vigorous delivery ranges from a conversational rabbi’s typical manner of imparting a lesson to a fast-rap-machine-gun spitting a barrage of literary scripts. My favourite tracks on the album include “They gave us”, “ New Chain” feat Ohayv, “Hard Hitting”, “Come Out Of Her”, “Mind in Chains” Feat Tsviel the Prince, “Letter from the pen”, “ Response” and “Simple truth” featuring the likes of Naked Eye, Quaz,Yahav, Yis and Shmael.

The whole project is highly inspired and is dedicated as a salutation to the life and writings of the honourable Livingstone Mqotsi.
He is suggesting that people listening to the project should delve deep and find out who Mqotsi was since a lot of people have no idea who he was and what he has done for the liberation of the black nation. The production on the album is definitely not the dopest you have ever heard. But do not be fooled by that grave statement because Geel does justice to Concrete Thought. Marro, Eden, Xct and Vast words also contributed with beats to this offering to help diversify the sound on the album. I feel that the “Back in the days” track that is produced by Luckeez is not meant to be part of this piece of work. The beat is seriously weak. Or is it me? Or am I too used to Hip-hop sampled beats? Nonetheless the overall of the song sounds dull and it does not arouse any interest that leads one to endure enough and listen to the lyrics. I feel that it should have been excluded from the album. I comprehend that Yahkeem was attempting to have a Radio track that the public may easily relate to. But “Indaba Kwamkhozi” with Phira (the dude is a ridiculously gifted vocalist) sounds pretty fresh, and is one of the most outstanding cuts on the project that Radio stations ought to be playing for the public as a musical treat.

What I enjoy the most on some of the tracks is the art of song arrangement how he appropriately picked relevant audio clips from different revolutionary speakers and meticulously interwoven them with the beats of the songs at the end to further thoroughly explicate and emphasize the point he is attempting to convey. I personally think that this is Yahkeem’s best work ever to be put out for the public. Out of all his previously released material, this is the project that stands out to bare evidence that he is a dedicated and diligent lyricist that waits to be celebrated. The project should be a paragon of social commentary and politically charged raps, and music that carries a message to the masses in the Bay since the realm of rapping is largely dominated and overcrowded by punch line orientated raps. I say this due to the mere fact of lyrical consistency throughout the album. I believe every single head that has love for rhymes that are accompanied by logic and reason is obliged to raise both thumbs with extreme confidence and recommend this offering to others with the same taste in rap music.
The bard