Back To The City 2012

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ne of Islam’s five pillars is Hajj (pilgrimage), which entails Muslims to go at least once to the sacred city of Mecca. Most religions promote similar spiritual beliefs, where believers embark on mystical journeys to pay homage to their deities. Hip-hop religion is no different and in April, Newtown was transformed into a hip hop Mecca, where countless fanatics converged under the eight pillars supporting the Johannesburg M1 South highway, in order to strengthen their faith in hip-hop and appease its mighty gods.

Back to the City (B2TC) is the biggest hip-hop festival in Africa. The annual event takes place on the 27^th of April, Freedom Day, a public holiday commemorating SA’s first democratic elections in 1994, when Nelson Mandela became president. Shocked by the youth’s arrogant disregard of this important day;  Osmic ‘Oz’ Menoe, owner of Rituals Stores, a popular hip-hop store and recording studio and ex-partner Dominique Soma, decided it was about time kids stopped undermining Freedom Day. Thus B2TC was born, a heroic endeavour to rid post-Apartheid youth of political ignorance using hip-hop as the weapon.

Although only 3 500 people attended B2TC’s debut in 2006, word spread that a large, annual hip-hop street party would be taking place outside Ritual Stores that not even the pesky police were allowed to crash.  By 2012, Oz was sole proprietor of B2TC and attendance had swollen to approximately 15 000 supporters.

Ninja from Die Antwoord grabbed his balls and tuned, "FUCK INTERSCOPE." Fatty Boom Boom was a long time in the making hey? Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone SA

 Being a veteran who has been attending since 2009, nothing seemed unique at first glance when I arrived. Outside It was the usual urban marauders; skateboarders and BMXers, cyphers where crotch grabbing mc’s were honing their rap skills and the naive graffiti artists carelessly tagging over older yet more tasteful murals sprayed by more experienced veterans. To a pair of virgin eyes, this scene was totally cool, but I was arrogantly thinking to myself, “That’s it?” It wasn’t until entering the venue that I realised just how much I underestimated the power of B2TC.

It was like arriving at the Promised Land. To my left was a flowing beer garden and I wasted no time going over to quench my thirst, but on my way to this oasis the breakdancing stage caught my eye. One bboy contorted his limbs so awkwardly everyone held their breaths anticipating the unmistakable pop of a dislocating joint. So I changed directions and scurried to the bboy battles, but midway a weird graffiti mural distracted me. So now I was missioning to climb the towering graffiti scaffolds, but I was distracted yet again by a beat boxer on the main stage.

Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone SA

Overwhelmed by this sensory overload, I wriggled my way past the revellers to a spot where I slowly soaked in the magnitude of this event. Just five minutes ago I was scoffing, now here I am feeling dwarfed by the sheer scale.  Why didn’t I know of this new term ‘colour blocking’? There was also a tough bboy v bgirl battle which my chauvinist mentality deemed Impossible. The big shocker though, was that it was packed! Everyone was squeezed tighter than the overloaded Soweto taxis on the M1 above us.  All this was just the afternoon’s entertainment; the real show began at night fall when big crowd pullers performed. I hadn’t seen anything yet…

This is how 15k people at a hip hop show look like. Pics courtesy of Rolling Stone

With the prevailing darkness, a wave of nocturnal revellers came pouring in to view the star studded line up ranging from HHP to 5 time SAMA nominee Zakwe , who all turned up the heat on this chilli evening . Spaza Shop Boys did an amazing job as the evenings opening act. But it wasn’t until surprise act Die Antwoord, (who had replaced AKA at the last minute) performed Enter The Ninja and Ninja exclaimed, “F*ck Interscope Records…” that the crowd really got rowdy. With the heads totally amped, the following acts made short work of crucifying what was left of the show.

Alas, all good things come to an end, and the hardest part of this pilgrimage was leaving. All rituals outside Ritual Store were performed according to tradition. Copious amounts of alcohol were shared amongst believers, there was DJing, rapping and breakdancing to entertain the spirits and most importantly graffiti was re-sprayed on the eight pillars of faith, symbolizing hip-hops ever changing image. The hip-hop gods were definitely pleased with the offerings at B2TC 2012, and will reward us with good music until the pious pilgrims return to this haloed ground next year on another pilgrimage, back to the city. Below is my interview with SA rap heavyweight HHP.