In the year 2021 South African Hip-Hop still hasn’t managed to fully join in and commit together in unity, except for the cliques and sub-groups that have been created such as, The OGs (old school), The New Wave(new school), The Trappers etc. and even then it seems like these groups only come together when fighting against each other and the best example and most common to take place here is, The OGs vs The New Wave.
A war based on the fact that the OGs feel like they haven’t been paid the homage they deserve for breaking the boundaries and barriers that they had to face to change the perception of South African hip-hop and now feel like the new school have just came in and started running a muck in the house they built, while at the same time the New Wave feel as though they’ve been patiently studying and watching the game from afar, waiting for their chance to have their time in the spotlight but feel as though the OGs are playing gatekeepers and not allowing any space for new age artists unless they bow down to the OGs and pay them their fee to gain entry into the game.
Most recently this came to light when Cassper tweeted, on the 3rd of January 2021 “…We finally have a chance to take over Africa if we work together. Piano has a chance to do what SA Hip Hop was supposed to do had it not been for yall egos & the envy yall poisoned your hearts with.”, a controversial tweet seeing as how Cassper was seen as the humble people’s champ and now seen as one of the egos causing the separation in SA Hip-Hop.
You’d think that after the above mentioned tweet that the gap between old-heads and the new wave would widen even more but instead it motivated one of the rising leaders of the new wave, Dibi, to come out and remind Cassper of his impact in hip-hop and showing that the future is in bright hands. Known for his rise to fame through his #FreestyleFridays and winning the Kendrick Lamar Damn Freestyle Battle, Dibi goes back to his strength, dropping another freestyle but this time motivated by Cassper’s tweet, the young emcee decides to pay homage and challenge the OG by going hard over Cassper’s Nokthula instrumental and it doesn’t end there…with Dibi dropping a visual to go with the freestyle. A visual inspired and paying homage to Cassper’s Tsibip music video, Dibi hopes to reignite and resurrect the Cassper Nyovest we all knew and loved for his rapping talent and skill, while challenging the OG to get back to his roots in hip-hop and be the pillar of unity that the community is seeking and that which Cassper himself admits is lacking in the community.
Is Dibi’s Nokthula freestyle enough to resurrect the ghost of Cassper’s past or is it R.I.P and Cass has gone ghost on SA Hip-Hop.