. . . Hip Hop show rocks popular joint
By Mohalenyane Phakela
MASERU — A Hip Hop Invasion show, hosted by Liquid Gold in partnership with Rock On Entertainment, set popular joint Litaleng on fire last Saturday.
The event was intended to launch Liquid Gold as a brand that aims at giving Hip Hop artistes the platform to showcase different talents.
Liquid Gold comprises rappers, graphic designers, scriptwriters and poets.
The show, which attracted hoards of Basotho youth, started on a low note with just a few people, but towards evening numbers swelled.
There was an opportunity for some of the rappers to engage in a cypher session, an unrehearsed free-style presentation which gave the artistes the chance to execute their craft without hindrance.
This saw the crowd singing along to the choruses of most songs, screaming Liquid Gold at the top of their voices.
As the organisers of the event, Liquid Gold said they allocated the opening and closing acts to their group, in addition to performing both as groups and individually during the rest of the programme.
This gave them plenty of room to showcase their charisma, charm and energy through their unquestionable presentation skill and originality.
Poet Sekete Lesaoana, through an apt presentation, narrated the aim of the movement which is growth and exposure, with the mantra, “Liquid Gold! When you see them you stop and stare, and when they talk you listen!”
There was only one female act of the night, the flamboyant rapper, poet and singer Queen Mo of Liquid Gold.
The few occassions she held the microphone were enough to give audiences a glimpse into her immense potential.
Her stirring performance drew an equally forceful response from the crowd.
The featured acts did not disappoint too. The likes of Sadon, Isosceles, Nirex and Shuffle, to name a few, entertained the crowd with their different rapping skills, keeping revellers standing near the edge of the stage.
There was also an open mic session which saw many rappers give their best. While they gave decent performances, not everybody got the thumbs-up from fans.
The event that will no doubt help pave the way for more artistes to rise to prominence.
Meanwhile, Chocolate Soul has partnered with Magic In Progress (CSMIP) to host a Hip Hop show in which Litaleng will again be the place to be this Saturday from 2pm till the early hours of Sunday.
Dubbed Dream Lights, the event is made possible by Refiloe Thoahlane on graphics, Thulo Monyake and Ts’epo Mohlakoana organising the sound, while the administration is handled by Kutloano Sehloho and Tefo Kabi.
Like every hip Hop show, it is intended to promote the appreciation of the genre and for fans to start enjoying shows with exclusively local acts, the Weekender learned from the organisers.
“We are mainly aimed at enticing people into appreciating local talent, for them to realise that we can pull a massive bash without featuring acts from outside the country,” said Refiloe Thoahlane in an interview with the newspaper on Monday.
“People will be able to witness that there is so much talent here in Lesotho, and that we are capable of great performances with the best quality.
“Since corporate companies resort to foreign acts more than local artistes whenever they have events, we would like to get to a point where we are able to profit from our own shows, and all this can be achieved through the public’s support.
Thoahlane added that he would like to see the public boycotting events unless at least 95 percent of the artistes are local singers.
The show will comprise rappers, break-dancers, singers and, interestingly, twerkers.
“We will have a twerk, a recently popular dance in which a female thrusts her hips and squat stances in a sexually-provocative manner. “The best dressed male and female from the crowd will also be given prizes.
“An overhead projection screen will be erected for people to see the pictures from the previous shows and the music videos of local rappers.
The star-studded line-up for Saturday night’s acts includes Chocolate Soul, Basali All-stars, OGM, CSMIP, Durrty F, Rifle 3 Shots and Blaze.
