Remembering How Hip Hop Took on and addressed the issue of Apartheid

One of the most under appreciated and least talked about collaborative efforts that involved Hip Hop was the Artists United Against Apartheid  and the The boycott of Sun City. For those who don’t recall Sun City was this ultra lavish resort  in this ‘phony’ country set up by the South African government called Bophuthatswana.  This was like a country inside a country kind of like an Indian Reservation of sorts. Sun City was basically South Africa’s version of Las Vegas and was set up to be this place where rich folks could go ‘play and get decadent and then return back to SA proper.

In South Africa under the Apartheid regime there were 4 or 5 of these fake/ reservation like countries called Homelands where Blacks were forced to live in overcrowded miserable conditions. They were moved off their traditional lands onto these ‘independent’ homelands while still being  still forced to work  amongst Afrikaners and subjected to her harsh Apartheid rules that called for strict racial separation.  It was in South Africa that Blacks who were the 75%  of the population and native to the land were subjected to all sorts of humiliations including not being allowed to live on any of the good land and having to show a special ID everytime they traveled from one place to another. These rules of racial separations were brutally enforced with the Afrikaner government going all out to crush any and all rebellions.

Many asked how was it that a country where Blacks were the overwhelming majority they could be under such harsh rule.. Sadly the South African Afrikaner government had two staunch prominent allies who stood in solid support. They were the US and Israel. Both these countries supplies weapons, resources and protection. Israel worked with the Afrikaner government to develop nuclear weapons and signed some sort of secret treaty to test them.

Worldwide condemnation picked up at the time President Ronald Regan was in office and he stood firm, vetoing any attempts to smash on Apartheid via the United Nations. He said the US had a constructive engagement policy..which basically meant business as usual..while they would say ‘Apartheid was the most desireable way to govern. At one point he even sent prominent minister Jerry Falwell over to South Africa to insure the Afrikaners the US was behind them. Both Israel and the US justified their stance because they didn’t want SA to get help from the Soviets.

South Africa’s Afrikaner government used Sun City as a way to give the country a nice look and by inviting A-list entertainers and showing them a good time, they would further highlight themselves via these defacto ambassadors.  Since Regan wasn’t going to back any attempts to officially boycott South Africa, the music and entertainment industry’s launched their own boycott.. people like Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Sprinstein’s E- Street Band kicked things off and formed the group.  He gathered up prominent rock musicians like;  Bob Dylan, Bono,  Peter Gabriel,  Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates,  Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr Pat Benatar, and Joey Ramone to name a few.. Joining them were legends like Miles Davis, Eddie Kendricks, Bobby Womack, Nona Hendryx, Herbie Hancock, George Clinton, Jimmy Cliff, and David Ruffin.

Rounding out this all-star line up were prominent Hip Hop artists, including pioneers DJ Kool Herc, Africa Bambaataa, Mele-Mel, The Fat Boys, Run DMC, Kurtis Blow and Gil Scott Heron.. Arthur Baker who is best known for producing Planet Rock along with Afrika Bambaataa was also on board.

The overall gist was to shame any entertainer or athlete who defied the UN sanctioned boycott and played Sun City for the large sums of money they offered. For the most part it worked, but there were a few like Queen, golfer Lee Travino, Frank Sinatra,  Linda Ronstadt, the O’Jays, Ray Charles and Rod Stewart who had no qualms breaking the boycott and in doing so giving credibility to the South Africa regime.

Here are two land mark songs from the landmark  Sun City album where Hip Hop left its footprints.. Props out to the pioneers who really put it down especially Mele-Mel and Kurtis Blow. What I like most about this joint is hearing Gil Scott Heron who was an obvious precursor to modern day rap doing his thing along side them. His commentary underscored everything that was happening. I was impressed with the way he paralled the struggle for equality here in the US along with what was going on in South Africa.

In order to fully appreciate this other cut Revolutionary Situation which is basically sound clips and samples over hard hitting beats is to hear it in full stereo. That wasn’t fully captured during this particular recording. Produced by drummer Keith Leblanc who did the song Malcom X on Tommy Boy record, this  the entire songs has sounds coming out of left and right speakers. They range from Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zindi , Bishop Desmond Tutu,  Alan Boesak, and Steve Biko and Ronald Regan.  You get this sense of urgency that at any minute South Africa is gonna explode if the walls of Apartheid don’t crumble. Hearing Ronald Regan inside this song makes you realize how utterly out of touch and mean-spirited we sounded as a country.. . Sadly it was because of this exposure of Regan’s insensitivity that ‘Sun City’ got limited airplay and PBS refused to air the documentary that went alongside making this album.

Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa

Coming off the Sun City album which raised about a million dollars many in Hip Hop kept the message alive. there was the big divestment movement at UC Berkeley. myself and my crew did an anti-Apartheid song that was played during rallies. Others like Afrika Bambaataa who’s pioneering Zulu Nation organization was named after the South African tribe who fearlessly fought the British, took it a step further and started doing concerts overseas where he raised money for the African National Congress. Bam will be the first to tell you that he was inspired after seeing the movie Zulu to form his organization and later adapt certain things including battle strategies from them. Hip Hop had been acknowledging South Africa and her freedom struggle from day one..

Also in that vein was Arrested Development  who also donated money to the ANC and if memory serves me correctly performed when Mandela came to Oakland at the conclusion of his Free South Africa tour

One of the most prominent groups to address the issue of Apartheid was Stetsasonic the original Hip Hop band.  They did a song that sampled Jesse Jackson who had just come off making a historic run for President. The song was called Free South Africa and was not only a 12 inch single that was promoted and pushed, but had an accompanying video..

Y’all remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73HGCLeapBs

Chuck D & Paradise at the LQ

Chuck D & Paradise at the LQ

The Setsasonic single came out during the hey day of Hip Hop’s Golden Era’ which was ushered in because of a series of secret meetings held at the Latin Quarters, the biggest and most popular nightclub in New York during the mid 80s.. Top artist of the day from The Jungle Brothers to KRS-One to Bambaataa and many others came together and agreed to stop wearing the popular gold dookie chains which were made with gold from South Africa. A fast and hard rule was agreed upon which forbade anyone from performing on the stage wearing gold.. The chains were replaced with leather African medallions and essentially ushered in Hip Hop’s Golden Era..

The primary architect behind that was Paradise Gray of the legendary group X-Clan who ran the nightclub. He is finishing up a book and documentary along with writer/activist Giuseppe Pipitone about that special period..

Also coming out of that Afrocentric/ Golden Era in Hip Hop was Queen Latifah and her song ‘Ladie’s First‘.. many may have forgotten the video that she did which was directed by Fab 5 Freddy who was also hosting Yo MTV Rap.. The imagery used in the video shows the resistance to Apartheid..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLB5bUNAesc

Here’s an incredible posse cut featuring Afrika Bambaataa, Brother J, Professor X, Lakim Shabazz,  Jungle Brothers, UTFO, Master Rob of Ultimate Force, Grand Puba of Brand Nubian, Kings Of Swing, Queen Latifah, Solo, Revolucien, Lin Que, Arthur X called Free South Africa from the group Hip Hop Against Apartheid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kleLfGbdWmA

Hip Hop/ New Wave icon Malcolm McClaren best know for the landmark song Buffalo Gals which came out in 83, had on the flipside this song about Soweto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tij6wdlniHQ

Here’s another video which I forgot.. Straight outta of the UK is Brotherhood in the form of the Black Rhyme Organisation To Help Equal Rights (B.R.O.T.H.E.R ) was a collection of some of the most talented UK Hip Hop artists around in 1989. Instigated by the political ragga-rap group Gatecrash, the main purpose of their debut record, “Beyond the 16th Parallel” was to raise awareness of the racial inequalities of the South African apartheid regime. Assembling an all-star line up, including the late Bernie Grant MP, each of the separate groups had the task of tackling the specifics of the Botha government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T0JARInwz8

Another group out of the UK that strong addressed Apartheid was the Cookie Crew with one of my all-time favorite songs ‘How Long Has this Been Going On’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-IW9zo4Sbk

In South Africa, there were scores of rappers, but the most potent and most political was Prophets of Da City (POC) who wound up being banned by the government because of their lyrics.. They wound up performing at Mandela’s inauguration, but remained critical of the government which they felt had been too forgiving to the Afrikaners.. They remained banned and were recently the subject of a documentary put together by South African film maker Dylan Valley talking about their plight .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhG0IDrKiaI

We will leave out with a new song from Jasiri X and his new song about Mandela called Listen to what the Drums Say

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMNYvkNfdY

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  1. This topic is important it does not get much airplay on the radio when other music is played. This is a topic that will be discussed on Star’s show on http://www.Shovio.com weeknights from 7:30-9:00pm Mondays to Thursdays except Friday. Check out Star’s show when you have a chance and leave comments.

  2. e-scribblah says

    dope post, davey. you are on point with your BHM recaps.

    this was an important album because the student anti-apartheid protests were going on then, so it strengthened that effort

    i used to have this album on wax back in the day. i remember hearing “Let Me See Your ID” on KALX…the hip hop tracks were easily the best cuts on the album. Sun City created a lot of expectations for me that this is what hip-hop was going to be about — i mean when else did the Fat Boys ever get political about anything?

    unfortunately, this didnt exactly pan out, with some exceptions, like dead prez.

    one has to wonder, why can’t artists nowadays unite for similar causes?

    why hasnt there been a Artists United Against Police Brutality? or Artists United For Maintaining Community College Courses? or Artists United Against Toxic Polluters Whose Refineries are in the Hood?

    • actually there was a Hip Hop against police brutality..but record labels stepped in and shut it down.. happened after diallo shooting.. very sad with labels..thanks for props

  3. e-scribblah says

    i remember that too, it was called “hip hop for respect,” with talib kweli and some other folks. i think that came out on rawkus. interesting you say labels shut it down.

    there were a few songs recently here in the bay on that topic after the oscar grant shooting, maybe not enough to make a whole album, but mistah fab had a good one called “my life.”

  4. On point Davey D, I appreciate your insight on these issues. The sad part about the struggle for freedom in South Africa is how the heroes of the past have become the tyrants of today. the majority of the people in SA(black folks) of course, are still subjected to hostile neo-liberal capitalist economic policies. The average European earns up to 8 times more than his African counterpart and the land issue remains an embarassment.What the ANC did was to first agree with the previous National Party regime,that the old apartheid economic policy shall remain unchanged.Taking into account 300 years of inequality that preceded 1994(the year of liberation in SA) it comes as no surprise that the indegenous people are at the bottom of the food chain, except a few black middle class many of which have direct or indirect political connections with the ruling ANC.Corruption is rife, black schools lack basic facilities,while former white schools remain impeccable, all of this while a black government is in charge.Afirmative Action is a pathetic excuse for crimes comitted during apartheid.While evidence shows that the quality of life for the majority of Europeans has improved after 1994 in SA, they still remain discontent, with thousands migrating to places like Canada and Australia. Since the MAN has no political power anymore in SA, the critical question is:”When will those execrable niggers in the ANC learn to take care of their own? For the rest of the proletariats the struggle continues, whilst those they voted for parade themselves in German cars and smoke Cuban cigars.Will niggers ever learn?

  5. Ryan Swano says

    Awesome post Davey D.
    Having been a student activist in the 😯 and our only exposure to Real (uncensored) Hip Hop in SA was albums that were smuggled into the country, Hip Hop, especially here in the Western Cape became a vehicle of expression for many of us.
    It was a boost for us to know that Hip Hop artists in your country used their music to show solidarity with our struggle.
    In the early to middle ’80s in Cape Town we saw the rise of what are no doubt SA’s pioneer Hip Hip groups, Prophets of da City (POC) and Black Noise, both affilliated to the UZN and both still existing today. Anything that the apartheid government then thought was “offensive” saw them immediately slapped with banning orders and arrests.

    What Ghost of Shaka (wazzup my brother) says about the political and socio-economic issues of our country today is absolutely true.
    We have faught for political liberation but are still economic slaves of the continued 300plus years of white owned capital and ineffective “Black Economic Empowerment” and “Affirmative Action” policies.
    The latest research and statistics shows that whites are indeed better of now and that non-whites are actually worse off.
    Our anti-apartheid struggle is far from over and our “new black elite” are selling us down the river.
    Alluta Continua!!!

  6. Free South Africa Hip Hop Against Apartheid – Ndodemnyama
    http://youtu.be/kleLfGbdWmA

  7. Don’t forget this one….

    Free South Africa Hip Hop Against Apartheid – Ndodemnyama

  8. You certainly have a selective memory. No…not even a selective one…a creative one. hip hop had nothing to do with the song Sun City or the movement. They came along for the ride. Not that I expect accuracy from this racist site.

  9. Also an emcee called Yz, in his video “Thinking Of A Master Plan”… great anti-apartheid hip-hop video… golden age

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