In this issue Get To Know Them 8 Diaspora Highlight: Zoli Sway COVER STORY! 13 In Conversation with Jesse Nashe PAGE 18 29 Meet Desirabeink.sa 31 HEY WASHE. 36 A Minute With PRETTYMUCHDON Discourse 16 A Stripper Pole to Hell 35 Chloe’s oversexualisation/ Halle’s infantilization The Plug 12 The Faces of SA Afro Pop 30 Welcome to Synthwave Fan File 4 Propaganda: More Than Humble Tribute 5 What these bitches want from a nigga? Reviews 24 10 Years of Exploring the Haunted House of Balloons 26 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – Araki’s Playlist 38 Scary: The Power of EP Drake Editor’s note Get to know them by Sindi Ndaba EIC & Founder Well, hello there. 8 Diaspora Highlight: Zoli Sway Are you tired? Bored maybe? Same. It’s been a long year and if I wanted to make everyone uncomfortable, I’d go into the why, but you know. Right? What has made this time bearable has been the consistent stream of music that keeps coming out. It’s overwhelming, sure, but I have stum- bled across so many hidden gems during these 13 In Conversation months. Especially here, at home in South Af- with Jesse Nashe rica. (Wild, someone who isn’t from here could be reading this. Hey!) There’s so much talent waiting, waiting for your and my ears to find it. It brings me so much joy to know that for some of you, the following pages will introduce you to a couple of voices we think you should hear if you haven’t. 29 Meet Desirabeink.sa Writing these things is always difficult, I never know when I’ve said too much. So, let’s get to the thank yous. Thank you to the artists who gave us the opportunity to tell a part of their story. That’s thank you to Zoli Sway, Jesse Nashe, Desirabeink.sa, WASHE., PRETTYMUCH- DON and the ever so graceful Thando. Your 31 HEY stories brought these pages alive, and I hope WASHE. the right people find you. Thank you to Khotso Motsoeneng for creating the beautiful art that appears in some of Thando’s images. Thank you to the people at The Other Space and my friend, Khanyi Mawhayi for the space and consistent support. 36 A Minute With PRETTYMUCHDON Finally, thank you to you. Thank you for clicking on this issue, for taking a look at the work we do and for coming back. We do this because it mat- ters to us, and we’re glad it matters to you too. Propaganda: More than Humble by sam_SON. Sourced from NewReleaseToday.com My memory can be a little shite sometimes, 2021’s Terraform: The People (w/DJ Mal-Ski). but I distinctly recall having written a Fan File Both records were produced largely outside of for Propaganda (real name Jason E. Petty) way the Humble Beast wheelhouse, with Derek and back in the WordPress blog days. And why Mal-Ski at the decks; having picked them simul- wouldn’t I have? Prop is a true rapper’s rapper, taneously in April 2021, I thus had the perfect a West Coast spitter with career origins in the opportunity to discover Propaganda’s modern legendary Tunnel Rats group. This poet, writer, sound. rapper, podcaster and coffee-maker has been releasing music since 2002, and has a career The first thing I noticed was how Prop leans spanning nearly two decades now. much more heavily into his Black American identity on these tapes. He’s never been shy to I discovered Propaganda in the beginning of speak about Blackness on his prior albums, but his tenure with Portland, Oregon-based label in these offerings Propaganda almost seems to Humble Beast. His 2011 record Art Ambidex- have greater freedom to make those the heart trous introduced me to a flavour hip-hop I never of the music. I credit some of that to him expected to like, making West Coast boom- having Black producers helming the respective bap both accessible and palatable. His Humble projects (Prop’s earlier Humble Beast disco was Beast tenure also gave him room to grow on executive produced by a white guy, Courtland folksy, experimental beats, and through multiple Urbano); more of that credit largely goes to records – Excellent (2012), Crimson Cord (2014), the context of his music. Nothing But A Word and Crooked (2017) – I learned to love Prop’s and Terraform were both released in the Trump/ unique blend of conscious cerebral lyricism & post-Trump era, an era where the personal and Christ-inspired theological musings. political implications on being Black in America are rarefied & deeply felt. In this atmosphere, And so when there came a dearth on new Prop Propaganda heavily leans communitarian, espe- music following his 2017 release, I was anxious cially on Terraform. for more. My anticipation came to ahead with the release of his 2019 collab with fellow rapper The heart of that tape is the realization that and producer Derek Minor, an EP titled Nothing Black people can only survive through commu- But A Word, and his latest studio album, nity, because community is all we have in the face of division. Every song title starts with poetic and charged bars on stripped-back in- “We”, emphasizing that collective action and strumentals. support are integral to finding solace and solu- tions in the current age. It’s a celebration of On Nothing But A Word especially, this smorgas- unity and fellowship, and his Black American bord of sound is unified by a distinctly West perspective is impossible to separate from that. Coast flavour, no doubt because of Prop’s rap background but also because of the sheer skill Derek Minor brings to the decks. His produc- tion is clean and consistently good, allowing Prop the room to deliver an excellent perfor- mance throughout. DJ Mal-Ski doesn’t slack either. His work on Terraform is firmly rooted in hip-hop, and any genre explorations return to that root. This gives every track Prop hops on a classic feel, and elevates the album as a result. It was Lecrae who said that he’s not a Christian rapper but a rapper that’s Christian. On these two records, Propaganda truly embodies that distinction. Like his Blackness, his Christian Sourced from Genius.com faith can’t be separated from the music. But the music isn’t all about that; these aren’t evangelical The other thing that stood out to me was the records. They are Prop’s lived experiences in sonic versatility that defines Prop’s modern music form, encompassing his faith and iden- sound. Under the stewardship of Derek Minor tity and history and community. Nothing But A and DJ Mal-Ski, Propaganda deftly goes from Word and Terraform are more than Christian rap rapping over hard-hitting boom-bap beats to because Propaganda is more than a Christian pop-influenced ones, gliding expertly through rapper. He’s more than Humble; he’s a Black soulful meditative tracks, and then dropping man in America with something to say. What these bitches want from a nigga? by liisa.monae Sourced from Complex Magazine On 9 April 2021, the world lost a legend. DMX was a three-time Grammy nominee, Known for songs like ‘Where the Hood At?”, nominated in 2001 for the Best Rap Album and “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” and the iconic phrase Best Rap Solo Performance, and again in 2002 “What these bitches want from a nigga?”, DMX for Best Rap Solo Performance. He was also truly left his mark on the world and his absence nominated for the Billboard Music Awards in will be immensely felt. 1992 for Male Artist of the Year, and won two awards in 1999 for R&B Album Artist of the Year, and again in 2001 for First Four Albums Debuting at No.1. Some more of his accom- plishments include appearing on the Billboard Hot 100s Top 40 list 3 times, and selling albums by the millions. DMX’s songs have also been sampled a lot over the years, a good indicator to me that your music has more impact than what the charts may suggest. I mean you did not even have to listen to his music that much (like me, lol) to Sourced from Getty Images know where to credit the iconic phrase, “What DMX (which stands for Dark Man X), born these bitches want from a nigga?”. Before I Earl Simmons on the 18th of December 1970 even properly knew who DMX was or what he New York, was a rapper, songwriter and ac- looked like, I knew that phrase belonged to him. tor. He passed away following a heart attack That is impact. that had left him in the hospital for a few days. DMX is survived by his 15 children, his ex-wife and best friend Tashera Williams, and fiancée Desiree Lindstrom. DMX became addicted to crack cocaine at the very tender of 14, when his 30-year-old music mentor, Ready Ron, gave him a blunt that was laced with crack cocaine. This was a fact that the young DMX was not privy too. This was following an already rough life, where he was abused as a child by his mother and her various boyfriends, and subsequently sent away by his mother to a boy’s home. DMX would go on to struggle with his crack cocaine for the next 36 years, following many relapses, rehab and even an appearance on the famous show “Iyanla, Fix my Life”. However, DMX was not, and should not be defined by his drug addiction.