Liquid K-ZN is a Durban based hip hop crew that have just released their 2nd album titled Aquaflow Agenda which has been making a substantial amount of noise on the streets. HYPE caught up with one half of the 031 crew, Alligatah MC, to discuss the Liquid K-ZN view on vernac, and the government contribution to hip hop in SA.
HYPE: What is your opinion on the reach of vernac?
Alligatah MC: When we started rapping (back in 1995) we were strictly English. Now, about 50% of our material is vernac. Some concepts just can’t be executed thoroughly in English, and some can’t in vernac. We feel it depends on the concept of the track. Being bilingual is a big advantage, it is always good to show diversity – variety is the spice of life.
"Some tracks have such a strong message that no matter what, you HAVE to address the issues in English otherwise some people will be excluded. To make an example, on our album we have a track called “Stigma” which talks about discrimination of various kinds, if the track was in vernac, the message would have only reached half the people it is supposed to, which would have been irrelevant because everyone is a subject to discrimination.
