BOMGO MAFFIN (revitalising both the body and the spirit)

Everybody and anybody that knows me knows that my favourite band in South Africa is:
BONGO MAFFIN.

I was introduced to this band back in the day when I was in primary school, and now years later I'm still digging and jamming to their authentic sounds and messages.  I have had the privilege to meet Thandiswa, Stoan and Speedy... I'm still waiting to meet the unique sounding and rough-rugged-and-raw, Jah Seed!  Don't ask me to choose who my favourite band member and favourite song is, cos that is something I could never do...simply cos I can't.  I love Thandi's lyrics and melodic voice that just laces any track like honey on your tongue!  I love her unique being and just how she is not afraid to go where some artists might question or might be scared to explore because they are afraid what society says, reacts and how they would "judge"...she's pure artist!!  Stoan is just stylish, smart and darn right talented...he has a gift of delivering vernacular speech like only a king could.  Speedy  is talented to the core and brings a cool urban vibe to the roots of what Bongo is! Jah Seed...well...he can bring a major flow to climax with a simple verse and just keep doing it over and over again!!  These guys and this sexy lady speak of the heritage, the history and the future of our Motherland, Africa.  In their last studio offering, New Construction, there's a joint they did called Third World War (A Fight Dem A Fight), where they express the suffering that Africa experiences while we as mankind stand by and do nothing.  Then they flip the script in the track, Mankind where Jah Seed's infamous flow let's us know that we live together, share the same space and should support each other as mankind.  

This quartet of talent will give you something to think about...believe me.  They have the bragging rights of being the first African band performing at the Coliseum; having dinner with Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela at the same table and meeting cool ass artists such as Snoop Lion and just being so cool at what they do.  They have a class about them that only exudes and drips in everything that they do.  They are business minded, artistically (and totally so) inclined and have a reputation of dropping some bonified classics such as That'isigubhu, which still blazes on our airwaves til today (they even have a dope remix to it).

Bongo Maffin are like the leaders of Africanism.  They proved that you don't have to abandon the present to prove your heritage and your roots... you don't have to turn your back on your true self and who YOU are, but find the Africanism within you by awakening the senses and the truth about your being [African].  They teach, but not preach.  The lead, but not propaganda their message.  They are, and will always be...the sons and daughter of the soil... leading the urban school with their authentic sound: BONGO MAFFIN.

Left to right: Jah Seed, Thandiswa, Stoan and Speedy (Bongo Maffin)

 

Bongo Maffin bringing us The Bongo Maffin Sound

 

The cool kids

Left to right:  Speedy, Jah Seed, Thandiswa and Stoan

 

This is when I met Stoan at a club opening

 

A young #selfie with me and Speedy at the same club opening

 

#selfie

 

 

 

      

#STRCRD2014

If you want high fashion, you can go to Paris
If you want the hottest Pizza, you can find it in Italy
If you're into the illest urban culture that just says edgy to the core, your best bet is probably New York City, baby!!

However, if you're looking for all of these wrapped in one, your best choice would be Johannesburg!!  In Johannesburg you can wrap your head around the best culture and the coolest beatz, the most interesting happy juice that you could ever find.  Basically, you can wrap your head with the illest material about anything.

We have innovative bands such as Bongo Maffin; courageous actors such as Thapelo Mokoena; we have dope characters (if you will) like Jerry The Blogger who has the biggest blog following in South Africa.  Our culture is absolutely rich, our people definitely friendly and our weather can give you goose bumps just enjoying it as a mandate.

Our youth is vibrant, creative, not afraid to "take it there and bring it back", and down right totally gutsy!!  We have a spirit of growth and embracing change in such a fashion that is questioned by the world all over and still they wonder how we keep smiling through the adversity that we had to endure in the past and sometimes, in our present lives.  All these trials and tribulations lead us to a higher level that brings us to a platitude that even wings could not reach...it makes us soar, it makes us grow and it keeps our minds curious and open to great change and keeps us hungry to express and to change what we don't like.  Some could even call us rebellious...but this is South Africa, and we can do whatever we like!!

A place that you will definitely see all of these qualities displayed in their full mind, body and soul, is at a fashion movement that is called: #STRCRD (this is an abbreviation of Street Cred).  It is held every year around October and November for three days running and it is one that one does not ever wanna miss!  It is of international standard, as it is also held in countries such as Los Angeles and New York City.  #STRCRD is dope because it showcases new fashion, regular fashion and old school fashion which when fused just makes a kick ass fashion "outlet".  A ticket for this event will set you back R150 per person.  You might be gasping for air right now thinking if it's worth the adventure...but trust and believe me when I say it definitely does.  There are other artists, such as a bioscope festival that plays hour movies for free (and they give you free pop corn...heeeeeey.....), there are skater bois that do their stunts and biker bois that ride around at the skater park...this keeps you entertained as you see all of their facial reactions as they miss a landing on that skating slope!!  There are hip hop DJ's that murder the sound for dayzz as you're chilling there sippin on your drink that just makes the sound so much smoother.  Don't take my word for it...go paint a picture of the reality of what it's like for yourself next time that the show comes to town...you will LOOOOVE it.  It is normally held at Braamfontein at Constitution Hill and it is definitely worth every single cent. 

I was rolling VIP style this year (again) at the Jameson section (did I just hear a horn...?), which was totally dope.  I enjoyed it to the max, and did not wanna leave. 

Take a dip in the culture, you will definitely enjoy it, and will never look back!!

Here are some of the pics I took there

rolling VIP style baby

 

this is one of the bars there... looks cool, right?

the editor of destiny man magazine, kojo baffoe and I. this dude rocks!!

this was an atm machine there...how dope is it??!

chilling by one of the shop stands...really cool!! check out that propeller!

slikour and me

jerry the blogger and I

 

chillin in vip baby

 

dj switch

 

lead, don't follow...except me on twitter @mel_juicy

 

when it gets dark, the party animals come out and play...don't stop...play-

 

 

 

 

It's mine

                                                     What else can I say?

World wide underground

 

Save the world

Stay curious and creative

Never take things for face value. Always question what you are told, what you don't understand, what you think is wrong... never be afraid to take it a step further!

Tina

There's no better animated character like Tina. 

This is one of my favourite animated sitcoms, Bob's Burgers. I never can stop laughing when I watch it. I makes me L O a little bit Louder. I literally feel so excited and absolutely happy when I watch it.

 

It is definitely food for thought.

Say aaaahhhhh!!!!

Cute

Story

This one mural has so much story to it.

What's on your mind?

Jesus

Art or Crime

 

In some countries this is allowed without the twitch of an eye.  I wish there was more of street art in Johannesburg.

Giants in the city

                                 The creativity in this picture literally blew my mind!!

Floetry - SupaStar ft. Common

Common - GO!

On the count of three everybody run back to your fantasy

Erykah Badu - I Want You

Turned the sonar up to hotter, drunk a whole jar of holy water, but it just won't let go: I want you

Erykah Badu - I Want You

Turned the sonar up to hotter, drunk a whole jar of holy water, but it just won't let go: I want you

Aaliyah

This girl died way before her time.  I can just imagine the great things she would be doing if she was still alive.

The Light

               For me, this light resides deep in me

THE WORLD IS BECOMING SMALLER, AND SMALLer, and smaller, and sm...

Many years ago, chatting to your friend meant visiting them and catching up about what happened over the weekend and who you had a crush on and what your future plans are about.

 

You had to literally call the house phone to pretend that you had an incoming call so that your parents would not complain about you being on the phone for too long.  Two minutes was all that you would have and any minute after that was a privilege.  You had to strategically lie that you're calling a friend about homework so that you could have extra time to chat.  Your parents would give you dagger eyes and an endless lecture as to how expensive a phone call is.  My parents would actually print out the phone bill and make me mark all the numbers which I had called...and my phone calls would be 90% of the page.  They threatened to disconnect the phone service, but I was fortunate because they also needed the phone.

 

These days, we have smart phones, internet and everything that we need at the touch of a button.  When I was growing up, there was no "internet".  You had to go to the library to get information...presentation preparation was a byiatch!!

 

Now that we have all these social networks at our disposal...life has become easier.  People make business connections on Twitter, people find all school and long lost friends so easily on Facebook.  People find jobs on LinkedIn...the list goes on!  If you don't have an email addy even now...you are living in the stone-age!! Some people think that the social networks are just a fad and that they will pass and fade away with time... I beg to differ...in fact...I'm willing to bet on it that many years from now...it will grow and be so big that we will be doing most of the things that we need to do on the internet and through social networks.

 

So if you think you don't have to look good on that profile pic that 10 000 people all over the world see as they log onto your profile...think again my friend, that could be your next boss looking at that pic.

 

 

Erykah Badu

 

If you have not listened to this lady's Mama's Gun album -wake up

Back in the day

So back in the day, in South Africa men could not go and visit nor sleep over at their girlfriend's place because of the DOM PASS.

Our parents were treated as less important by the white people because it was "law".  Cops did not realize the human factor that our black parents possessed.  Our parents were not allowed in restaurants and were segregated from the joys of what life was; they were mistreated and to plain put it, treated as less than human.  I can only imagine what it must have been like living in a society where waking up everyday was painful, a horror and simply just a struggle.  Making life possible was a nightmare's nightmare as a black person because of the demon that was "apartheid".

Secret parties were held where our parents could mingle, get together and share life, share secrets and literally escape from the horror that was "the norm" in South Africa.  Many adults died during the struggle wanting to protect what were basic human rights and to ensure that there is a better future for their kids: you and me.  Politics were rife, politicians were rotten and the yet, the spirit of black people was strong, resilient and one that was not giving up!  A lot of songs encouraged change in the state of the country, they gave hope to those whose faith was dying... it gave them a fresh breath to the fog that stifled their lives. 

Lifestyle was hard, it was scary and literally like walking on pyre everyday of your existence. 
I wasn't there, I am thankful I wasn't
I get along with anybody named Jack, Bokang, Amandla, Emily, Janien, Mahomed, Erykah, Tshepo, Karabo...
bottom line, I hold no grudge about the past but I just want to open your eyes to the fact that we should give all our respect and our lives to our parents for living through apartheid and being who they are. 

Don't expect them to forget.  Embrace them now.  Embrace them tomorrow.  Embrace them forever more!

Hiding behind the fan

Everybody has an opinion.  I love that.  I respect some.  Don't even consider some.  Whatever your opinion is, make sure it's factual, you can say it with confidence and most importantly...that you don't just hash something from nowhere and then turn it into an argument.

Some people just live to argue.  Their one-sided and unimportant opinions just bring people's moods down because in actual fact, they don't create or engage in conversation; but rather make people in their presence uncomfortable by forcing their pointless opinions on everyone.

We are all entitled to our own opinion...have one...express it...share it; just have a feasible one!  As people we will never ever agree on the same things, and that's what ultimately makes us human!  We will disagree and argue about the cigarettes one smokes, we will argue about whether Superman is better vs Batman, for goodness sake, we will argue about whether Johannesburg is a better city than Durban.  However, one argument that I find is a very jagged pill to swallow, is the argument about art and artists, especially when those artists make their work for public consumption.  When an artist decides that he or she will make their work accessible to the public, they're not reaaaly asking for your approval, they just want you to know what runs in their dome and that precious thing that we call a mind and literally just to say to you: "hey, I had a brainwave, and this is what it was like..."

So when this happens and someone is cool enough to let you know what they've been thinking in a sense of a recorded album or a written script, we can't then as the consumers of his or her art turn around and say: "look, I went to one of your concerts and you did not perform my favourite track therefore I am not a fan anymore".  When an artist puts a concert together, they're not asking for your opinion as to how ill or wack they are or have become over the years...they're just saying..."yo! remember that album I recorded...let's jam together to it (in the form of a live performance)". 

Lauryn Hill was given flack recently about a performance that she did, because she did tracks differently from the album, did not perform tracks from the Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (her second solo studio album) and or did not perform tracks from The Fugees Score album.  Because of this many were starting and are starting to call her "irrelevant"!  Fuck that...Lauryn Hill does NOT... I repeat...does NOT owe you anything.  She is human, she is an artist, she is talented and has a family and her own life to live.  She will choose when and if she wants to record and release another album. 

We can not as fans expect things to be done our own way or else we start to spit venom at the very same person that gave you a kick ass show and a wicked album in the first place.  People are very quick to be "the most favourite fan" when the artist is topping charts, but as soon as the artist does things differently in the media they turn around and become the worst enemy.  As fans, we need to remember that artists do not owe us anything and in fact we have no right to criticize them just because they decide not to do what you as the ungrateful fan want.

Sit down and listen to the album that you want to listen to and shut up if you ain't got anything nice to say.  The media is wide-spread enough for you to pick and choose.  Stop acting like a child throwing his toys out of his cart because you feel the artist is "not doing enough to please or satisfy your unreasonable craving for entertainment".

350Africa concert: Fight against climate change #WeLeadYou

It was Friday evening round about 18:45pm.  I arrived in Newtown Mariam Makeba street.  I pull up to Shikisha and notice that there's minimal audience inside the venue.  I speak to the guy sitting at the gate collecting tickets just to confirm that the show does in fact start at 19:30pm.  The helpful guy assures me that it does.

I leave for a little bit and plonk myself at Kospotong so that I can have a couple of drinks and not become an eager beaver for the show.  At 19:20pm I make my way back to Shikisha as it is just 5mins away from each other.  As I arrive, I produce my ticket and am stamped as to approve my acceptance into the show.  At this time, I start to look around and there are low key chicks just hanging having a cold beer, there's first time artists that are about to perform looking and obviously feeling anxious but excited to share their poetry with the expecting audience.  There are camera crews, interviewees doin their thang...  I am now also getting quite anxious hoping the show will start soon.  The sky above us was an umbrella of bright stars as though blessing the night and giving us a performance of their own.  The night was warm, people were friendly and the venue had a fucking welcoming ambience that demanded an embrace that only like-minded people create and ooze.

At 19:30pm a teaser by Nova is displayed...she spits some ill rhymes while a band played a jazzy yet really funky tune...now I'm down to my second beer and loosening up realll smooth.

A dude whose name I forgot starts the show with his strong rhymes and poetry and sets the bar bloody high.  Nova then hits the stage and I couldn't help but admire her strength and confidence as she tells people chatting to "shut up and respect the process that is transpiring before their very eyes..."  the crowd submits to this application and we are all now glued to her every word.  She is fucking intelligent, "deep" and down right talented.  More artists graced the stage such as Claudia who brain fucked me so hard all I could say is "WOW" as I tried to catch up to her smart witty and unique statements.

My friend Mutle Mothibe stepped onto the stage and I just started waving in excitement and pride knowing very well, he probably won't even notice me...after he performed, I obviously go to him and just had to give him his props...dude is ill on that mic!! Too ill!!

Later as the evening unfolded, Lebo Mashile blessed the stage and as people continued chit chatting because now the alcohol levels are raised and they just cannot help but chat... she straight out told us: "I am full of shit! and if you continue to talk during my performance, I will leave..."  I was a drink away from bowing down to this!!  She later on went to explain that, the fact that you were there wanting to interact and listen to her poetry, you should listen and SHUT UP, otherwise you could've stayed at a bar at your hometown and drank there and laughed and spoke as hard as you wanted... more respect I felt for her...cos that's TRUE!!!!

Later Nova and Lebo did a set with the BLK JKS and they KILLED IT...MAD!!!  At this point I don't want the evening to end... but alas...all good things come to an end.

The initiative was to inform people about the climate change that will effect Africa the most and as our leaders don't do anything about it, the more and more we as a nation suffer!  The organization is called 350Africa/350.org (check them out and you will understand and be informed why taking care of our environment is so important and our responsibility).  350.org was in association with WordNSound that Friday and together I think they got the message across!! I love WordNSound and am starting to be more and more interested in what 350.org let's us know. 

Thank you for a beautiful evening 350.org, WORDNSOUND and everyone that was involved in this initiative... it was dope!! More Fire!!