By Nick Kaoma
When YMag was launched in 1997, it was as if a gift was send from heaven to us undeserving servants of Mzansi music.
The magazine was an apt extension of the YFM brand whose sole purpose was to entertain the previously neglected music-loving youth of Mzansi; its beautiful pages were laced with amazing pictures and articles of youth icons that were busy shapingthe cultural identity of our country.
After a great start, the publication went through a slump; the sales were dramatically reduced and the content became underwhelming to the say least. But recently, one must say that there has been a bit of a resurgence, as the publication has started picking more readers and the content is jazzing up.
We caught with the former Editor of YMag, and now its Editor-at-Large, Kabomo Vilakazi to discuss the future of this beloved brand.
Can you give us a background on the man behind the name?
I am just a boy from around the way; I was raised in Daveyton in the East Rand. I spent some months in Modder Bee Prison; I hope that counts for something.
I remember the first issue of YMag like it was yesterday, it featured the then hot TKZee on the cover and I was excited that a mag of this nature was created for us young people. Do you have any fond memories of YMag and did you at that time ever think that you would one day be at the helm?
I remember that issue as well, I absolutely loved it, I must have gone through it like five hundred times before I put it down.
One of my other favourites was the Kwaito Nation, the one with Oskido, Spikiri, Mahoota, Queen, Thandiswa, Mdu and a whole lot of other Kwaito artists who were kicking ass then.
I also remember the Brenda Fassie cover, the one where she wore a red jacket leaning against a silver wall - that was beautiful. There was a Jah Seed cover with his face coming out of water, brilliant idea. I use to love those interviews Rude Boy Paul used to do with legends like Brenda Fassie, Duma ka Ndlovu and Busi Mhlongo – they were so well done.
Lee [Kasumba] also introduced a section where emcees could dissect other emcee’s verses and speak about the craft of rapping - that was brilliant, I dug that a lot. I could go on forever, there were so many dope ideas that Ymag came up with that today you will find in every other magazine.
Truth be told, I never thought I would be editor of Ymag; it wasn’t even a dream of mine because I could never imagine such privilege for myself. I am no longer serving the magazine as editor, but as editor-at-large, but for the amount of time that I did spend working on it has produced some of the most interesting highlights in my life journey.
In the last couple of years, YMag hasn’t fared too well with sales dipping considerably, what do you think contributed to this?
Firstly, because the brand Y was an innovative one that nobody had ever experienced before, there was no competition for it. 9 years later, that innovation has become the norm, there are other things to choose from.
Secondly, that audience grew up and moved on to become portions of markets that did not necessarily want to be associated with a youth brand, whilst the new youth were not interested in what their previous generation were into, which meant when we came in, we had to discover what the new things were to supply that demand, and with our circulation increasing with every issue since the revamp, we are happy with the progress.
But it comes with a lot of stones, it is not easy to lead change, it pisses a lot of people off.
What’s your game plan for Y-Mag? What measures are you putting in place to ensure that the magazine resonates more with your readers and that it grabs significant market share?
As I said, I’m no longer Editor, so having a game plan is no longer my priority. But I’m happy that when we decided to make the magazine a Music Magazine, we hit the nail hard on the head.
The collective plan of the current team is to place Ymag as the absolute stamp on the South Africa music scene.
You’re known as quite the multi-tasker in the entertainment industry, what other roles/positions do you have other than your editorship of Y-Mag? And what makes you pursue all these different paths?
I manage artists like Flabba, Hidden Force and Navio. I run a production house called Kabomo Productions that predominantly produces, writes and arranges music for artists, radio and television. This has included artists like Tshepo Tshola, Jabba, Unathi and many more.
I co-manage a film production company called Blackbench with my partners, Sthandiwe and Tony Kgoroge, and my role in it is to be Creative Director of the company. Currently I am producing/writing a drama series that we’ve been commissioned by SABC1. I just came from working on writing the SAMAs.
I am also working with Zubz and a storyteller Nonhlanhla at workshopping high school poets, emcees and storytellers. I am a recording artist with Gallo Records and I have my first book of poetry being published at the end of this year. It’s a lot of work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
From which point of view did you put the mag together, Editor or businessman or industry role-player?
I put it together as a human being first, because I am aware that the people who read it are also human and not just numbers that you just gooi things at without serious thought. I made sure that I was informed and aware of what was going on in the music industry at all times.
I don’t own the magazine, I am just an employee and my contribution to it was never about business or even crafting the direction for it, mine was to step in with my expertise to make a commissioned vision work creatively and exclusively in the best way possible. I so wish people understood how the hierarchy of the publishing industry operates so as for our audiences could direct compliments or criticisms accurately.
What are your thoughts on the general level or standard of Mzansi music, especially on the kwaito and hip hop front?
I think they represent the state of our country perfectly, where it looks like there is some improvement in the front, but when you take a microscopic look at it, there’s some bullshit lurking in the back.
We are being governed by fools who don’t think recreation is as important as changing street names. We have a lot of talent in this country, and every year it gets better, but this talent doesn’t have access to the best studios, to finances, to opportunity, so we end up recording great songs with bad sound and then us as media turn round and call it bullshit.
I am very proud of the growth of music in this country, I am very proud of our artists. Kwaito ten years ago was made of one-liners and today artists like Kabelo, Bricks and Brown Dash are rhyming line for line, with proper arrangements. There was a time when Bob Mabena was the most played “hip-hop” artist on commercial radio, today you’ve got ProKid, Flabba, Proverb, Tumi, Zubz, Jabba, Morafe, Amu and so many more making quality hip-hop accessible to a much wider audience.
It is sad that people are always looking to kill things, especially when they are so young, when the truth is we’ve come very far and that is what we should be celebrating. We are far from reaching our highest standard, but looking back at things, I am very proud.
How do you deal with pushy A&R’s and artists and management etc? Are you ever undermined?
I have a reputation for being an asshole, and that is precisely because I am, I had to learn to, so don’t worry, I can stand my own.
Why do you think there are such few magazines that represent and promote urban youth culture?
Specifically black youth culture, I am not sure about this term “urban”, it worries me a lot. And the simple answer to that is that most publishing houses are still being hustled with white blood stained apartheid money, those cats are not trying to see your people have a voice.
These BEE cats are also drunk on new money, they aren’t about to look out for you. It drives me crazy. There is so much talent out there, you see dope fucken work being produced by Busi, Kgomotso, Thami, Sphiwe, Mizi, Phindi and the so many young black editors kicking ass in this industry and wish that they could be owning these magazines.
Lastly, what does the future hold for you; any grand ambitions that you’d like to live out?
I have no idea; I’m waiting for the sky to let me know.
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