Is it just me or has the culture of remixing tracks for mixtapes in Hip-Hop a thing of the past? Or maybe I’m just a bit out of the loop lately? Either way, rappers remixing joints by other rappers used to be quite popular, particularly in the states. Back in the day, I had a few remixed joints that I used to bump heavily. In fact, in some cases, I preferred the remixed version over the original. Remember Eminem, 50 cent and Busta Rhymes’ Ja Rule diss track “Hail Mary”? I’ve played that joint more times than I’ve played Pac’s original version. Same story when AKA, Kid X and Smashis (now known as Zingah) jumped on Rick Ross’ “Stay Scheming”, circa 2011.
The last time I completely lost it over a remix was in 2014, with the release of Soweto-bred MC Darkie’s mixtape “Seven Khalaz”. Darkie - who is also a member of Hip-Hop band T.U.G (Time Unveils God) along with another incredible spitter, Tony Dangler - is one of my favourite South African MCs. No Kasi Rap enthusiast’s collection should be considered complete without “Seven Khalaz”. In addition to having production by some of Kasi Rap’s finest producers (i.e. King Flo, No_General, FulSkillaKilla and Blaq Faith) the tape also includes beats used by other rappers. One of those beats is the No I.D. produced instrumental for legendary American MC Nas’ “Stay”, from his 2012 album “Life Is Good”. On the original track, Nas does what he does best on the soulful production – which samples “Seven Steps To Nowhere” by Soul group The L.A. Carnival.
Darkie’s version of “Stay” is definitely a lot grittier than the original, with different subject matters to boot. The grittiness of the verses coupled with the soulful production sort of reminds me of the montage in the classic Martin Scorsese crime drama film GoodFellas (1990) when they were, as Henry Hill states in the voice-over, “finding [dead] bodies all over”. In the montage, the lead character talks about how murders were committed in the aftermath of a robbery. We get to see a number of dead bodies all while the piano instrumental part of the song “Layla” by Derek & The Dominos plays in the background – gruesome depictions of death, with arguably cheerful accompanying music. Similarly, the Jangalala MC paints a gritty picture of life growing up as a kid who was dealt a bad hand in the unforgiving streets of Soweto, with a beautiful instrumental as the background music. Touching on various atrocities such as police brutality and underage drinking, he brilliantly makes you both fear and fall in love with every last street corner in Sotra. That’s probably why I love this joint so much and prefer it over Mr Jones’ version – my Soweto bias. But putting my bias aside, it really is a dope piece by one of Soweto’s best and there are few who would have pulled it off.
“Soweto yi kas’lam angeke ng’fun’elinye / Noma nginga phuma kulo, lona angeke liphume kimi / Le lewe yase kasi, ntwana, kimi lise gazini / So noma ngingathola i-mansion e-Sandton I’m still gonna… stay…” – Darkie
Check out a video of Darkie performing “Stay” here.
- SPeeKa, An Obsession or Two
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