01 Aug 2013

Despite artist’s influx in the Motswako music genre in recent years and competition in the market, many new local artists still emerge in the genre.

Lesedi Motsumi aka Oxy believes his mixtape released late last year dubbed Sandwich will make it in the seemingly not favorable hip-hop market.

In an interview, the upcoming rapper said many people so far were impressed by his project while some of the songs enjoyed much air play on both Btv and local radio stations. The Palapye-born artist said one of the tracks that people like most was Leranti, noting that every time he performed at shows, the audience responded more positively.

The talented rapper also said the good thing about Motswako is that a lot of Setswana was being used in the lyrics hence many people easily grasp the content and the message unlike the original hip hop which lyrics are predominantly English. Oxy’s love for music started at an early age when he was 10, while he grew up listening to different kind of music on RB2.

He said his music career was inspired by Vee, Coloza and South Africa’s kwaito stars Mzambiya and Msawawa as he grew up listening much of their music. “As time went on, I developed the love for hip hop and Motswako. My love for Motswako was really triggered by listening to the likes of Nomadic, Scar, Kast and 3RD Mind,” said the 22year old rapper.

He added that even before he became a professional artist, he used to battle in the streets when he was still doing form one. Oxy further said the streets battle somehow played an important role in his music career as he learnt a lot of skills such as freestyle, flowing and expressing his feelings. He rose through the developments of his talent as he also entered hip hop competitions such as Sprite hip hop competitions.

He said he then began recording in bedrooms studios with different hip hop groups in Lobatse, something which he said helped him develop skills on song structuring and writing before going to professional studios as an independent artist.

Nonetheless, tracks in the Oxy’s album include Back to kazi, Leranti, Believe, Hanging, I am, Mixmasala, Motion, Street battle, Tranzi, Lebotha, Tshutshu and Bana ba ba metsi among others.

Meanwhile, Motswako is a Southern African genre of hip hop with a huge following in South Africa and Botswana where it was popularised by legends HHP (SA), Zeus and Scar, just to mention a few.

The interesting thing about this genre is that Botswana with a growing hip hop culture, the stories and experiences of the youth became the basis for the lyrics. ENDS