MASERU — South African award winning artiste AKA is billed to perform at the Hip Hop Xplosion show pencilled for next Saturday at Manthabiseng Convention Centre.
The party is expected to be the biggest hip hop event to hit town since this genre gained recognition a few years ago.
AKA will perform alongside fellow South African group, Ill Skillz, and locals Skebza D, Dunamiz and Stlofa.
Organisers of the event said fans should expect fireworks given the impressive line-up.
“This is a pilot project which is powered by Papa Zee with the aim of growing it into an annual event,” Ithabeleng Mofula, a spokesperson for the group told the Weekender.
She added: “Hip hop is a culture and at the pace it is growing it is our intention to celebrate this culture annually with performances.”
Mafola said the event is expected to incorporate hip hop performances and an after-party which features house music by local DJs.
AKA scooped three accolades at the Metro Awards last year while the Cape Town-based Ill Skillz have performed alongside star Kanye West from the United States.
They will be joined by locals Dunamiz, Skebza, Stlofa, Tycoon, Ghetto IZ and Professor Moe. DJ Angca will be taking care of the decks.
“The event is going to be a musical gala which will see performances from the emcees and DJs behind the decks for the after-party,” Mofula said.
She said because of the growing music industry in the country, Artworks Lesotho, a local media company which is organising the festival, felt compelled to initiate an event to create a platform for local artistes to share the stage with South African artistes “so as to learn a thing or two from them”.
“The event mainly focuses on local artistes. That is why the line-up features a large number of local artistes. We are trying to create a growing industry in terms of professionalism while elevating the talent to a career.”
Mofula added that all the artistes on the posters had already signed contracts to perform at the event.
“We are planning to turn this festival into an annual event. Local artistes with full length albums are welcome to work with us in the future,” Mofula said.
She added that although the show is a hip hop event they had decided to feature other genres to pull the crowds.
