Looking back to when SA hip hop found its sound.

The lockdown made South Africans scroll through YouTube and reminisce on Hits they used to vibe to, at a time where South African hip hop was at its prime.

Hip hop in South Africa was mostly influenced by the United States. In the past decade SA hip hop has grown to be a huge part of South African music and they seem to have finally found their sound.

The skhanda revolution

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The year is 2014, K.O released an album named Skhanda Republic which had everyone dancing and rapping along. The album had hit songs like Caracara, One time and skhanda love ( most people may call it gangster love).

Caracara broke the record of having more than one million views on YouTube, this was a first for a hip hop video in South Africa. K.O was part of CashTime fam which was a group of hip hop musicians consisting of MaE, Maggz, Kid X and Moozlie, they had their own swag and merchandise which was popular.
The group parted and the artists started focusing on their solo careers.

Beef of the decade

What's hip hop without beef? The hip hop genre has always had beef as part of its culture. We've seen it with B.I.G and Tupac.
South African hip hop has had a few beefs also.

Aka and Cassper Nyovest beef has been going on for years and it doesn't seem like it will end anytime soon, both these artists are SA's favorites.

Aka released Levels, with hit song Congratulate which won video of the year on the 21st South African Music Awards, Run Jozi which featured K.O won best collaboration in the 2014 South African Hip Hop Awards. The album is certified 7x platinum, which made him become the first South African English rapper to have a platinum selling album.

The beef between these two artists seems to be working in their favour, as it has driven them into releasing hits and staying relevant over the years.

Freshman of the decade

The last decade has been the best for SA hip hop as we also got introduced to the youngsters; Emtee, A-Reece, Shane Eagle and Nasty C.

This is the year where Nasty C debuted his Ep L.A.M.E which raised his prominence. In the following years he released albums and became South Africa's favorite rapper and is now signed to Def Jam recordings alongside Justin Bieber, Big Sean and Kanye West.

Female rappers

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This decade also introduced us to female rappers like; Fifi Cooper, Gigi Lamayne, Rouge, Nadia Nakai, who have been competing with leading male rappers and making a name for themselves and contributing to the hip hop industry and paving way for young female rappers.

This has been the best decade for hip hop in South Africa.

Playlist of best hip hop songs of the decade
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTRKTsUqtjZz4ak3WYJxKyQLXYGVwXysS
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq56NmWL9AG7Ku9pt9IvfLm1-ATxC-Q4p