2 cents: Gatekeepers vs Creatives

Gatekeepers of the entertainment industry, the people who stand in the way of creatives growing and being able to turn their art into bread. They are the people that are in key positions and are able to add to the slowly growing and at times stagnant Namibian entertainment industry. As an artist manager and music director and radio personality I have seen both sides of the coin, and I can assure you that everything is not as it seems in Namibian showbiz!

In case you are already wondering who these gatekeepers are?
Well, they are made up of “certain” entertainment journalists, radio & TV personalities, event organisers, corporates and even creatives themselves. There are people in these positions that do not give a damn about the culture and the Namibian entertainment industry as a whole.

If you read my previous article on lack of patriotism for Namibian art, then you know there are certain radio presenters that do not play Namibian music, they are not even concerned with what is happening on the ground in the Namibian entertainment space. That goes for some entertainment journalists as well. We get it, most of you studied journalism and do it to put bread on your table but can you pretend to care just a little about the culture? Journalists need to broaden their radar and give us entertainment stories from all over the country and not only focus on what’s happening in Windhoek! Don’t wait for creatives to come beg you for a story, at least meet them half way.

Event organisers, the biggest group of gatekeepers! The nepotism of some of these people is the reason you don’t see a lot of artists that are doing well and working hard performing at their events. I can tell you now that more than 50% of the artists you see on a line-up are there because they know someone on the organising committee. Also the reason we see the same artists every time at certain festivals. No matter how good you are and popping, if one of the people on the committee doesn’t like you for whatever personal reason you ain’t getting in.

For corporate companies, it’s simply about marketing and profit, they would never utter the words “for the culture”.

Last but not least, creatives! Creatives are their own gatekeepers by not sharing their platform with others in the same industry. Everyone is in competition with the other, those at the top do not co-sign the ones that are coming up. Opportunities are not being shared. Another thing worth mentioning is the mediocre quality of the content that is being put out. If you know your work is not that good, please don’t put it out and go back to the drawing board. If you want journalists to write about you, radio presenters to play your music or talk about you and your work, event organisers to book you then you need to give them something worth putting on. To be blunt, whack artists are messing up the game. Whack artists are gatekeepers to those who actually deserve that attention.

It’s crazy to think that there are people in the entertainment industry that are keeping others from winning, people that do not care about the culture and don’t even try to help grow the Namibian entertainment at all because all it is to them is a day job. That is unfortunately the sad reality!
You could be one of these people, or know someone who is, just remember that you can easily put bread in someone else’s mouth if you play your role and share your platform!


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Keep washing your hands and stay at home!!

2 Cents: Lets rally behind Namibian music

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece!

“Being patriotic simply means having devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country, this attachment can be a combination of many different feelings relating to one’s own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects.” Today we are only going to focus on Namibian music, as I believe Namibian citizens lack patriotism for the Namibian entertainment industry as a whole.

So many parties are responsible for this lack of patriotism starting with music consumers, artists, DJ’s, radio stations and event organizers.

How many times have you heard someone you know say that they don’t listen to Namibian music, at all or that they only listen to certain artists? Countless times right? That’s already an indication. Reflect back and ask yourself if you used to be or still happen to be one of those people. As for me, I do admit that in my early teens I slept on Namibian music and only listened to certain mainstream songs and artists such as Gazza, The Dogg, Jericho and Sunny Boy just to mention a few. Like most of you I was ignorant to the 70% of the entertainment industry.

If you only listen to 40% of Namibian music the rest must be international. Looking out from the inside I doubt that South Africans, Nigerians and especially Americans consume as much of our music as we do theirs.

Now that we have done some self-reflection, on to the people who are responsible for introducing us to new and all Namibian sounds out there – the media and DJs. The only radio stations local music thrives on are the ethnic/ traditional radio stations but they are not inclusive of all genres and different sounds and they mostly cater for the older population. As for the “urban” radio stations which cater for the younger and middle aged listeners, the music is mostly international. However I acknowledge and credit a certain few radio shows that allow local music to dominate their playlists and have local charts, keep it up.

As someone that attends shows and festivals, how many DJ’s can you say play majority local music? A select few, right? Let’s also point out that most of them are now only Amapiano DJ’s and we have like two popular Namibian Amapiano songs (DJ Spuzza’s Soek soek & Buti Vuitton x Slow P Chincha Kuluma), so you can guess who they are putting on for their one/two hour set, yep! Kabza and Maphorisa! Despite all this, I think we can cut DJ’s some slack because they mostly play what’s popping which brings us back to “You”, the consumer!

Next on the chopping board, event organizers. Events are the biggest source of income for artists, so before we get to the chopping, I would like to give credit to all event organizers for creating this platform. The only problem I have is when international acts come in. Can we also treat local artist with the same respect and hospitality as these international headliners? That goes for “YOU” the event goer as well, I know you are there to see “AKA” or whoever but some of us are there to also see Lioness perform. So please stop with those “We want … …” chants as it’s demoralising for the local artists on the line up.

With that said, if you form part of these above mentioned parties, please stop being ignorant and remember that it starts with you. Don’t wait for Namibian artists to pop internationally before you throw roses at their feet. Let us all start prioritizing Namibian art. LET’S BE PATRIOTS!!

TOP 10 HIP HOP ARTISTS OF 2019

2019 is drawing to a close and what is a year in music without a list that shows how well your favorite artist fared compared to his/her peers. This list is specifically focused on Namibian hip hop artists, both established and upcoming. Take note that this list is not like every other list that pits artist against each other but the aim is to recognize the work of all artist while choosing the best 10 according to what they have done in 2019. The Criteria is based on Overall impact, skill/artistry, influence, versatility,consistency and most importantly Numbers, therefore if your fave did not make it on this years list, they did not meet the criteria or they could be 11th who knows. With that said here are your top 10 hip hop artist of 2019.

10. Emvee K – Every other rapper on the list has a co-sign or backing from a label, but as for Emvee K, she has been doing it all by herself. It is very hard to come up and get recognized as an independent young artist, especially as a rapper in Namibia and Emvee K is rising up against all odds.

The “I Swear” hitmaker started off her 2019 with the release of her Sway-kid assisted single “Birthday” (862 streams) and then teamed up with Mega on “Body Bags” (1K streams) letting every rapper know that she’s not here to play with subliminal jabs. With only 2 singles early this year, she still managed to get booked for shows and had the best performance at the Katutura Fashion Week.

With every rapper and artist dropping EP’s and Albums, Emvee went with the traditional route common to rappers and released a Mixtape titled “Boujee Craft” a complete body of work that shows her lyricism, artistry, and versatility. Emvee K is the youngest artist on this list at 18 and still has a lot of growing to do.

9. Mega – The slaughterhouse MC and self-proclaimed Escobar of Rap only dropped 3 singles of his own this year with his biggest “Escobar of Rap” (3K streams) with the music video sitting at 17K views, impressive numbers for a freestyle song.

The rapper who usually goes hard mellowed it down on his “Teenage Confessions” singles (1K streams) and on his latest offering “Send nudes” (700 streams) he resembles 50 Cent in his hay day. Without dropping a project or many singles the rapper still managed to grace many stages throughout the year. It also bears mentioning that he dropped a verse on the biggest song of summer 2019 “Soek Soek” (139K streams) alongside his slaughterhouse label mates.

Mega is another young rapper that is also still growing. He has the bars, the flows and can make any type of rap song. We have also seen that he can hop on a kwaito or house beat and kill it, proving his versatility.

8. Kevo Maro – After a successful 2018, the DBS rapper finally released the video of his hit single “Yo Vibe” (5K streams + 2K views) and showed us all the different sounds he can tap into in 2019.

With 3 new songs to his name this calendar year such as afro-fusion banger “When I’m Rich” (2K streams), “Black Boy Magic” (2K streams) an R&B song and a Wambo trap record “Boys From The North” (2K streams) which features Slime, some would say he is a complete artist.

If you talk about rappers who are big at the coast just as in Windhoek, Kevo Maro is definitely the one name you cannot forget from the way the FMF festival crowd in Swakopmund sang along to his hit song “18COLD”.

Without releasing a project this year Kevo Maro graced several shows and only continues to grow.

7. Slime – Wambo trap is a sub hip hop genre unique to Namibia and the BlvcBoxx signee does it best. The impact Slime has had without dropping a single music video in this era where videos are the perfect push a song needs to make an impact is quite impressive.

The Trapper began the year with the release of his first afro-pop song “Ila Popepi” (18K streams) when most of us thought he could only jump on trap beats. The “Onkolo” hitmaker dropped the 4 track “While We Wait” EP in spring and has garnered over 20K streams on all platforms so far.

He is loved in the North just as much as he is loved in the capital and that’s a great support structure to have if you want to make it big in Namibia. Slime may not be lyrically gifted but he can rap for sure and is just as versatile as any artist on this list. His numbers are clearly saying a lot and he has also done the most shows compared to his peers and that puts him at #7.

6. LMPC – After the release of his SAFE project in late 2018, Brownskincoco followed it up with a video of the lead single 4Call feat. Jaleel (26K views + 5K streams) in early 2019. With the 4Call visuals, LMPC and Reggie films definitely gave us one of the best music videos to drop this year.

Whether it’s an all-out rap song like “Assertive” where he drops bar after bar or a “Control” with afro vibes, LMPC has shown us all facets of his artistry and not many rappers can match it.

LMPC is without a doubt the best lyricist on the list but unlike many great lyricists the rapper is still able to make a radio hits and deliver his best bars and you can see that on his latest offering “YES” (4K views)

5. Skrypt – Although the “Ndjiraera” hitmaker did not release any singles this year, we cannot ignore the fact that he won the best hip hop award at the 2019 Namibian Annual Music Awards and also performed at the award show. 

Skrypt is one of the best lyricists in Namibia and bars are guaranteed whenever he jumps on a beat and he proved it by dropping two freestyle songs. Although the rapper chose not to drop any singles this year thus far he still remains relevant and in every hip hop debate and did several big shows himself.

4. Young T – To this day since his rise to fame, there is no other artist you hear more in a taxi or in the streets than Young T. The rapper not only gets love from the streets but the man does numbers on social media.

The musically gifted rapper fuses his raps with kwaito melodies and that is why some may not see him as a rapper but the man made “Levels” for god’s sake!!

This year Young T blessed us with two albums His Latest and second album of the year Philosophical Pages Vol. 2 Early Retirement and “Mansa Musa” released in March and one of the top-selling albums in the country for 2019 with songs like “Just another Greedy Vambo” (125K views) and “Efiku Lonena” (215K views).He might not be the most lyrical rapper but he has some of the best flows and can make any type of song. He hasn’t been doing a lot of shows these days, but Young T’s numbers, you just can’t ignore (He won’t like that phrase, lol) are the best in the game. Even with a year filled with controversy the rapper’s music still speaks louder.

3. Vikta Juiceboy – With a career-boosting cosign from Exit and getting recognition after his “Meriam Kaxuxwena” single in 2018 the rapper was ready to take over 2019. This year the Juice Gang rapper released his debut album “Bless up” which did well on the market, went on his Bless up tour, and has been performing festival after festival from the North to the City,

His album along with leading singles for the year are doing great numbers on YouTube alone with the project sitting on a whopping 92.5K plays, Ghost Rider (48K views), Energy (45K views), “Feeling it” Feat. Kaboy Kamakili (98K views) and the ML assisted “These beats” (39K views).

In terms of skill and lyrical content Vikta is not even top 20, he is also not the most versatile but he can rap and makes hit songs across different genres that have been blowing up on radio all year round and his numbers are right up there with the best and that’s what matters in this case. Vikta has undoubtedly had a great 2019.

2. KP Illest – The Illest records boss ended the year with the release of his sophomore album “Faith & Favour” which went number one on iTunes on the day of its release across all genres. Before the release of the album, the rapper only dropped 3 singles “Dolce & Gabbana” feat. Young T (160K views), an afro-fusion record “Energy” (61K views) on which he teamed up with African hip hop icon Ice Prince. This is one of the biggest international collabos by a Namibian artist and I believe it helped the rapper grow his fan base outside of Namibia.

“Papa G’s” (11K views) is the rapper’s 3rd single of the year and the lead single of his latest album and on this song, the rapper showcases his rap ability while still keeping it commercial, something many MC’s fail to do.

Despite only releasing 3 songs for the most part of the year, the “Okay Okay” hitmaker gave us enough bars and kept his consistency without overwhelming his fans with constant releases and gracing the stage almost every weekend at shows.

KP’s influence and powerful brand scooped him a deal as a brand ambassador of energy drink brand “The Predator” as well an appearance in a DSTv festive campaign advert, talk about moves! Bar for Bar one of the best rappers in the country, a versatile rapper who can make or jump on any song and make it a hit song, KP Illest is shooting for the stars and shooting himself.

1. Lioness – Lioness is the epitome of consistency giving us hit song after hit song with the best of visuals.

In 2019 Lioness released the well-received “Meme” (90K views) and “Tala” (75 views) music videos that play on Trace Africa from her late 2018 debut album Pride of Cilq as well as 3 new singles “Not The Same” (19K views), “Last Night” (17K views), her latest single “Lovin” (6K views) and not forgetting the Coke studio collaboration effort “Switch it up” (234K views) feat. Boity (SA) & Nazizi (Kenya).

The “Tala” hitmaker is the 3rd Namibian artist to grace the coke studio platform. She bumped up her international status by making the Empawa top 10 from a 100 other African rising stars that were chosen for the Mr. Eazi #Empawa100 initiative. Lioness is one of the most booked artists in the Land of the brave in 2019 and the rapper took her electrifying stage presence beyond borders to Malawi for a performance at the “Lake of Stars Festival” as well as in Cape Town for an appearance at “The One VIP club”.

The influential rapper is the brand ambassador of Top Score and also teamed up with fashion guru Simeone Johannes for the release of her first clothing line “CILQ x Synedgy”.

With a knack for making hit songs and proving versatility on songs like “Tala” and “Lovin” the rapper’s lyrical ability cannot be questioned and not only is Lioness the best hip hop artist of 2019, but one of the biggest artists of the year on a very short list.

Who am I

I am Vernon “Namapapi” van Wyk, Fulltime Music director and Radio presenter at NUST FM,Marketing student,artist & brand manager and I consider myself an ambassador of Namibian music. I am not much of a writer but there are certain things that just need to be addressed and that explains the blog. Just Here To Unlock Namibian Music For The Culture

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