‘Why I mess around’
By TOSIN AJIRIRE
Saturday, September 12, 2009
•HHP
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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When South African hip-hop star, HHP walked away with two key awards at the 14th Annual South African Music Awards (SAMA) in May 2008, the noise in the Sun City Superbowl was nothing short of thunderous.

Music industry pundits, his peers in the hip-hop community and, most importantly, the fans in the gallery were united in their approval of his SAMA double (and a storming live appearance) – and all made it plain to him.

That Hip Hop Pantsula’s Best Male Solo Artiste and Best Rap Album wins earned both critical (from the judges) and public approval is a mark of how far this gifted musician has come in his many years of carving out what is now an enviable solo career in the South African music industry.

It was also a confirmation of HHP’s peerless standing in the industry: as a lyricist and rapper of epic proportions, so highly regarded by his fellow artistes that he’s in constant demand as a collaborator; as a musician, able to craft beats and melodies both memorable and fresh, and as an all- round likeable guy who, as the man himself puts it in the track, “Thank You Note” has become a “symbol of virtue”.
That song, the second off the SAMA-winning “Acceptance Speech?, is in fact a roll-call of real life thank you to almost everyone who has played a role in helping HHP gain traction in his career – from his grandmother, to “those I meet daily on MySpace”. Kudos are paid to those around him, in a song strewn with impeccably chosen loose-limbed beats and samples (in this case Enchantment’s “Forever More”).

It’s no surprise that HHP has (as “Thank You Note”, “Chic Music” and single “Music and Lights” reveal) a deep love for funk, soul, melodic folk and vocally driven pop songs – as well as his increasingly visible affection for traditional music.

Growing up in his beloved “Mmabatho” (the title of the moving, opening cut on “Acceptance Speech” inspired by a Rustenburg Boys original) Jabulani Tsambo’s father had a record collection that encouraged him to always keep his heart open to a variety of music styles.

“My father’s LP collection was very diverse - Queen, Abba, Juluka, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Diana Ross, Andre Crouch, Chicago, Boston, Crosby Stills and Nash, and the O Jays are just some of the artistes in there. And every time he played one of those LPs, I could tell what mood he was in. That’s when I started to understand music. Now I use that same understanding to speak to my fans or listeners. The amazing thing about music is that it communicates something different all the time to different people.”

It’s because of this belief in the power of music to deliver an intimate, personal message to a huge variety of listeners that HHP is reluctant to classify his place in the music scene. Certainly hip-hop is a dominant influence – and “Acceptance Speech” was a deserving winner of the SAMA for Best Rap Album. And undoubtedly HHP is a rapper who delivers a richly satisfying listening experience with his ability to roll rhymes off his lips and create a rhythmical melody with words alone.

But listen to his 2007 offering – and his deep repertoire of recordings before that – and it’s clear that this is no run-of-the-mill talent, content to churn out an album a year with little thought of its content.
“Always stay fresh, current and creative,” is HHP’s mantra. “Those three things mean the world to me. Without them, I’ll just fizzle out,” he says.

He applies these three pivotal elements to his live performances and says that aside from winning the SAMAs and even more than being nominated for Best African Act at the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards, the single most memorable moment in his career came at the 2008 Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

As the only hip-hop act booked to perform at the festival of music heavyweights, HHP had few expectations – so when he and his live band drew such a big crowd that festival organisers had to close the venue and eventually move the show to a bigger stage, HHP knew his dream of creating cross-boundary, cross genre, cross-culture music had come true.
He says: “We closed off the whole festival to an hour of HHP – and that was an exceptional moment. The rest – like Strictly Come Dancing, the MTV Europe nomination – were and are just ripple effects of that special day in history.”

In making this statement, HHP displays his trademark humility: he may operate in a genre known for its personal boasts and bling but HHP gets his inspiration from music’s real deal – like transporting live gigs, and his fellow musicians. Ask him about his longevity in the business (he’s been recording for close to a decade) and Jabba is quick to pay tribute to the like of Choppa, Chiskop, TKZee, Mandoza and Skwatta Kamp.

“I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a lot of musical eras in the nine years that I have been in the industry and I’ve tried to learn from their successes and mistakes. That’s probably how I’ve managed to stay relevant and current. But I’m still learning.”

Thankfully for his fans, HHP takes that learning into the heart of his music. Like on its predecessor, “YBA 2NW”, “Acceptance Speech” benefits from a wide-ranging sonic outlook that draws as much from traditional music as gospel and even middle eastern moments (the female vocal sample on the exceptionally moving “Darfur” featuring Tumi is a case in point). And he’s not stopping there: The pioneer of Motswako, and miner of new talent (the talented Molemi is among his label family members) says he’s inspired from a recent trip to Brazil.

“I’m always working on new material and influences. After coming back from Brazil, I started messing around with some SAMBA sounds and the whole Island feel – so stay tuned.” Indeed.








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