Hip Hop Culture is Alive and Well in Botswana

Hip Hop Culture is Alive and Well in Botswana

The Voice

Hip Hop music has a large following in Botswana, according to the founders of The Hip Hop Movement Prince 'DJ Fhinzo' Pheaga, Mpho Mosweu and their partner, Jay Malunga.

Botswana: Hip Hop Culture Alive And Well in Botswana

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)

April 16, 2007
Posted to the web April 16, 2007

Gasebalwe Seretse

Hip Hop music has a large following in Botswana, according to the founders of The Hip Hop Movement Prince 'DJ Fhinzo' Pheaga, Mpho Mosweu and their partner, Jay Malunga.

The trio together with their friends have decided to set up a music café where Hip Hop followers would relax and listen to 'hard to find' CDs and videos from way back in the 80s from their music archives.

The café, which opens next month, will be open to everybody including youngsters because it will only promote 'clean music'. It will have anything from classic tapes to today's top CDs and music fanatics who cannot afford to buy a copy, especially mix-tapes, will have an opportunity to listen to their favourite artists at a reasonable price.

"Parents need not fret because all the explicit language and pictures will be edited out; so the place will be very user-friendly for children. Generally, we will be careful of what we expose to our clientele', Pheaga said.

Malunga added that there is a general misconception that Hip Hop is all about promoting violence and derogatory language but on the contrary, as most major world religions like Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, the pillars of hip-hop are love, peace and happiness.

The recreational place will not only promote music but graffiti, emceeing and Dee-Jaying and skateboarding as well.

" We have realised that there are many talented youngsters in the country who are not given the platform to exploit their talents. Therefore, we have decided to give them the platform," said the shy 21-year-old Serowe-born Mpho Mosweu.

The founders also say their company will encourage entrepreneurship among the youth by hosting some business workshops and that they will make arrangements to offer young and upcoming artists legal advice before they sign contracts with studio owners.

"Newcomers in the music industry get robbed because they don't know a lot of things, so we want to protect them," said Malunga.

The Hip Hop Movement is not only going to promote hip hop and music genres which some might find too American in approach, they intend to revive the culture of story-telling and poetry recitals among the youth.

" We have realised that TV and video games are taking a lot of our children's time, so we want to promote traditional entertainment which was educational," said Malunga.

The company will join hands with Celebrity Connexions to render charitable services to the needy. Celebrity Connexions, which is headed by Jay Malunga, is known for organising events where poor children get to spend a day with their pop idols.

The Hip Hop Movement will also engage 'experts' from different artistic fields to tutor children on different arts.

The founders strongly believe that as people engage in Hip Hop Movement activities, they won't have the chance to engage in anything that might impact their lives negatively and hence they will channel their energies into profitable interactions.