The Sunday News
Bruce Chimani
THE recent xenophobic attacks on African foreigners in South Africa have received a lot of condemnation from both local and regional artistes — with South African headliner, Cassper Nyovest donating proceeds from his recent show in Bulawayo towards the welfare of the victims of the attacks.
As if following his namesake, local rapper, and member of on-demand Christian rap outfit — Man in Christ (MiC) — Casper “Tha Cypha” Mapurisa, collaborated with Swazi rapper Calliber and will be releasing a song titled No War.
Their effort adds a critical voice to the plethora of discussions around xenophobia which was widely condemned as a crime against humanity.
Sunday Leisure correspondent Bruce Chimani (BC) caught up with the Nketa based emcee (TC) and excerpts of the interview are below.
BC: So what inspired this song?
TC: As a believer, especially in recent years, I felt like the church as a whole has not been effective in tackling and addressing social issues (which include tribalism, politics and the issue of HIV and Aids to mention but a few) in a relevant manner. While these issues have a negative impact on Christians and non-Christians alike, I felt like there is an invisible but distinct barrier between the church and society whereas the church is supposed to be instrumental in bringing hope and practically impacting society or engaging the culture, as some would term it. It is with that in mind that I felt a need to speak out against the animosity that was exhibited through the re-emergence of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
BC: Take us through the process of its making?
TC: Well, the original concept and idea of the song was conceived back in 2013 and it was meant to just promote unity and celebrate diversity in a general sense. It was meant to inform the masses about how we are all equal in God’s eyes despite our tribe, race, nationality or ethnicity. One of the issues at the back of my mind though when I started the writing process, was the 2008 xenophobic attacks but the song wasn’t specifically addressing that. When the second wave of xenophobic attacks happened on a smaller scale though (in 2013 or 2014, I can’t recall), I felt drawn to address this issue specifically but there was no sense of urgency since the xenophobia issue had kind of lost relevance. However when inspiration would come, I would continue putting down my thoughts on paper and gradually building flesh on the song. I communicated the concept to Calliber via social media and he was very excited and keen to partner with me to push this cause since it was a relevant subject matter. In a few days, he sent me an audio note via WhatsApp of what he had written so far. I approached LA Josh (the producer of the song) and asked him to compose an instrumental for the song and he did so. Upon hearing the instrumental, I felt the song needed a vocalist to effectively communicate this emotional topic, hence I approached Skillz, who we had previously worked with on our group (M.i.C) album (Rebuild The City).
BC: Okay, so what use do you think this record has in the whole xenophobia circus?
TC: The main purpose of the song is to promote peace, love and unity while at the same time denouncing any form of hatred or violence against any human being. It is also meant to channel a message of hope to those affected directly or indirectly and in the midst of this social crisis, it points people to an eternal source of unfailing love for people of every nation, race and tribe, that is Jesus Christ.
BC: It’s interesting that you have such a relationship with a dude from Swaziland. Tell us about your relationship with Calliber.
TC: Some time in 2013, through Asaph, I came in contact with Calliber’s mixtape that was entitled Kingdom Rap Vol. 1 and I really liked the skill and depth of his content. Later that year, Asaph introduced me to him via a group chat on Facebook and that’s how we started communicating. As we continued to communicate, I realised we had a lot of things in common and our relationship grew. We physically met for the first time in Mbabane, Swaziland in December of that same year at the Life We Chose concert, which we had the privilege to attend with Asaph. We exchanged phone numbers and since then we have been in contact mainly via WhatsApp. I’ve learnt (and continue to learn) a lot from this dude and his humility, passion and love for God really challenges and inspires me a lot. Even though we’ve only met once, I regard this dude as my brother and, God willing, we are going to do more work together in future.
