Botswana: New Hip Hop Magazine Launched

 

Botswana: New Hip Hop Magazine Launched

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)

November 8, 2006
Posted to the web November 8, 2006

Ephraim Keoreng

Culture Review

New Hip Hop magazine launched EPHRAIM KEORENG Correspondent 11/8/2006 3:53:40 PM (GMT +2) A new magazine will be hitting the streets this week. The magazine, named Connexionz, largely deals with and focuses on Botswana's hip hop music and its sub-culture.

The magazine is the brainchild of Jaconia Malunga and Mogakolodi Motswagole, who confess to being fanatic followers of the Hip Hop music genre. Malunga, a professional marketeer with a local bookshop, said, "Being Hip Hop fanatics we want to use this magazine as a forum to reach out to the society and facilitate dialogue and at the same time keep the culture growing. There are a lot of people out there in our country who love and have a lot of information to share with the world. Through our articles, we would be able to give them the platform to do so." Among other offerings, the magazine publishers intend to run a column called Motswako (mixture) Revolution. "We have records of influential people like Ratsie Setlhako, who have been influential in the musical scene in their times. Now we see young artistes taking up their music and sampling it, giving it a new lease of life. This is what we call Motswako. These are some of the stories we want to touch on. We would also address issues that will be aimed at bridging the gap between the arts genres, especially in music," said Malunga. According to him, Motswako is a rap style kind of music. It is a lighter version of Hip Hop, he pointed out. "In Motswako, you just rap, throwing a verse or two in someone's artistes. But in Hip Hop, it's different. It is a way of life. The music and life encompasses Hip Hop for those who are into it." Malunga revealed that in another section they would feature a ladies of the mike column. "We have capable ladies like Ice Queen. The section will be looking at the struggle by lady MCs in the music scene. Ice Queen has been influential; she inspired and mentored people like Scar and Kast. Other ladies of the mike were in a group called Tru-Blu, though they split, after failing to make a break through," he said. Does the Botswana crowd really care about the Hip Hop culture and music? For Malunga, their answer is simple and lies somewhere between attitude and misunderstanding. "People shouldn't be quick to judge. I know that there are people who will say you are fanatic about a western culture at the expense of the African one. They see people who do Hip Hop as high-class dreamers who think they are too smart for the traditional music available on the local scene. But the truth is, Hip Hop has come to our continent and here in Botswana we have people who are into it and artistes who play their songs Hip Hop style. Take for example Scar and Stagga. It is high time we started embracing change, especially when it poses no threat to our cultures, after all culture is dynamic," he said. Malunga and co-owner Mogakolodi Motswagole said that they had timed the release of the magazine to coincide with the festive season. The quality and consistency of the magazine, they said, would be determined by the market, which they are still testing. Some of the local magazines that Connexionz will be pitted against on the market include Ntlo, Future Positive, Four-Four-Two, Lapologa and Sports Spectrum