EDITOR OF HYPE AIMS TO SKOOL THE MASSES ON REAL HIP HOP

By Kopano Marumo


Almost overnight, Mizi Mtshali went from a relative nobody to being the most sought after man in SA hip-hop. Before he was at the helm of Hype magazine, Mizi was just a credible hip-hop producer and a BA in Creative Brand Communications from VEGA to his name.

Now, with no previous journalism experience, he runs ”South Africa’s only hip hop magazine” and one of the biggest youth culture brands in the country. At first glance, he paints a meek picture. He is a big guy with glasses and appears to only speak when spoken to.

One can’t help but envision him sitting in front of a computer for hours trawling the net for the one. All misconceptions are thrown out the window once he starts talking. He fears that he may be rambling. But even though he tends to, he does make some sense. Hip-hop heads, pay attention, the gatekeeper speaketh!


Name: Mizi Mtshali
Age: 24
Position: Editor of Hype Magazine

Q: What do you bring to Hype that was lacking before?
A: What was lacking before comes through in the new features. Scenez forces the whole country to be covered. Before, we couldn’t see what was happening in the Eastern Cape at a grass roots level but now we are featuring street cyphers, small events. This is a positive as every little person now has a platform.

We are now advising recording companies with the Top Five Unsigned MCs. To date three artists now have recording contracts. So we want to reach and influence the industry.

Q: Why do you think you were given this position?
A: I know hip-hop, SA hip-hop specifically. Since I am a producer I have been part of it. Musically I know what’s good. I can hear it. Someone else, who doesn’t know what music is all about, would let that diluted hip-hop slide into the mag.

While most people just handed in their CVs and chilled, I put in a lot of work into putting together a proposal and describing a vision for the mag.

Would you have been surprised if you hadn’t attained the job?
Yes. I submitted over 50 pages of stuff. No other applicant had put in as much work as I had. It had even gotten to the point where they were consulting with me. My vision was clear, it made a lot of sense and it appeared to make a lot of sense to them too.

Q: What is your vision?
A: I want to school people. Make a balance between mainstream, accessible music and developing, underground music. I tend to lean towards the underground stuff, as there is valuable information there that can help other up and coming artists. In fact, Hype sessions will have no major label artists on it. Mainstream artists already have a platform on radio etc.

Some people make a conscious decision to make music for the streets. In my vision, the point of Hype session is to give a platform to people that wouldn’t normally have one on a national level. MCs like Ben Sharpa do not make music for radio but it deserves to be heard by the country.

Q: From which point of view do you put the mag together, Editor or businessman or industry role-player?
A: All aspects of my life contribute to my approach. I must approach the mag as a business first and foremost or else there will be no mag to run. My creative background affects the finished product. My producer background helps me pick out what’s good.

Q: What is true hip-hop?
A: I am a hip-hop purist. I have listened to hip-hop from the beginning. The golden era of hip-hop (early 90’s) was all about nice lyrics, dope production with all the elements of hip hop being on point. None of them were compromised. Each received the same amount of effort.

That hip-hop is my point of reference. I can’t explain what true hip-hop is but it can just be felt. It isn’t a technical thing but a feeling. Anyone can lace a beat with 16 bars and a chorus.

Q: What is not true hip-hop?
A: That’s the problem with being a hip-hop purist; you feel like it is the only hip-hop so you want to keep it that way. Crunk is not hip-hop. Crunk is horrible! It is diluted hip-hop that is lyrically weak and it is all about the beat. They only rap to fill the song and to make it sound like hip-hop. Even I could be a crunk artist.

In South Africa, kwai-hop is diluted hip-hop. (He declined to supply examples)

Q: Who fits your definition of hip-hop locally?
A: Tumi, Zubz, Pro-verb, Optical Illusion. I feel Pretoria hip-hop is pure hip-hop. Cats like The Anvilz, Damola take pride in their lyrics. It’s all about the scripts. They always want to up their game and be better than the next guy.

Q: If these guys are true hip-hop in your point of view, why have they yet to make it big?
A: Hip-hop in the states is successful as the music is designed for their environment. We haven’t really seen or assessed our environment properly. Purist hip-hop is based on New York style hip-hop, which is all about the lyrics and the music.

People travel in subways and cabs and that calls for headphone music, as there is no need to get in the car and bump your music so the lyrics and the beat are important. In the South, there are big open spaces. Its all about who can hear you two blocks away and so the music reflects that. So it is all about sounds and dancing. It’s all about catering for your environment.

Q: So what kind of environment do we have?
A: If anyone knew that, hip-hop in this country would sell. Some people are making music for people to dance but that only serves to cater for the markets of other genres. We have to know the industry. SA is not being covered! SA hip hop needs to grow into an industry.

We can’t call it an industry when the biggest selling artist only sells 18 000 copies.

Q: How can it grow?
A: The underground cats all feed the same market, which is tiny. You can’t make money as guys if we are targeting each other. New hip-hop markets must be found. Hype for one sells more in the outlying areas of big cities like in Northern Natal and Mpumalanga. People are hungry for hip-hop but are not being targeted or catered for.

Hype sells 30 000 copies every two months so can you. Follow the locations where Hype sells.

Q: How do you deal with pushy A&R’s and artists and management etc? Are you ever undermined?
A: Yes, lots of people are asking each other what is my experience, what have I done before? I don’t know if undermining is the right word. I think hating is the correct one! I know because I came out of nowhere, it is natural for them to enquire why?

People have tried to push me around; some people who had relations, good or bad, with the previous editor, bad mouth him to get my favour. But I am always conscious of the fact that they are just trying to push units as a manager.

Q: Why did you apply for the job?
A: Before this job, I was working on my graphic designing company, mostly government clients. It was getting monotonous and boring and personally I wasn’t growing. I’ve always wanted to be in a position to influence hip-hop positively so when the opportunity came up I went for it.

Q: Do you think after Hype you will go into more publishing roles?
A: No. I don’t particularly like the publishing industry. If it weren’t for the link to hip-hop, I wouldn’t be doing this.

Q: You’ve been accused of bias with regard to pushing Pretoria hip-hop much more than any other city- are you biased?
A: I actually think that the mag is more Cape Town than anything else. I think it’s a fair coverage of Pretoria. I am from there so it is my first point of reference. I have collected stuff from all over the country. But I do trust in Pretoria. Its hip-hop is really good, lyrically and production wise.

Q: How is this job affecting your beat-making? Less beats less often?
A: I am not trying to produce, as I don’t want to compromise my integrity. The latest projects which I began working on a year ago are, Zubz’s “Headphone Music in a Parallel World” and Tumi’s “Music from My Good Eye”. So for now I am not committed to any projects, just concentrating on the mag.

Q: How has your life changed?
A: This job has changed the way the industry sees me. Groups and artists that wouldn’t give me the time of day before when I was just a producer from Pretoria now want my attention. I have become the guy that judges other people’s music. Never been in that position before!

Q: Does that make it harder to judge? Is there pressure on you because you were in their position before?
A: No. There’s no pressure. I know what’s good music. I don’t feel bad for rejecting music for the Hype sessions, as there is a certain goal that I am trying to achieve.

Q: Has this made you unpopular?
A: Yes, I’ve made a lot of enemies. But I’ve dealt with rejection myself and accepted that I had to step my game up. Guys should also be able to accept. So I can’t feel bad about it.

Q: Besides Hype sessions, this is a hard job that faces plenty criticism? How do you deal with that?
A: Hype as a brand is very arrogant and conceited. People are opposed to that but that is what hip-hop is. It’s good though as it makes the mag very topical. The brand image is in your face and creates talking points. And that sells copies.

Q: Why do you think Hype is SA’s only hip-hop mag when the US has quite a few?
A: The industry is still very small. No one has taken the initiative to drop another hip hop mag. SA hip hop was only really taken seriously in 2003 after the SAMAs included a Best Hip Hop category. It made no business sense before. When Skwatta won, that gave it credibility. I think it’s just a matter of time.

Hype retails for R18.95 and can be found at book stores and other retailers nationwide. The June/July issue featuring Flabba on the cover is on sale now.