WHY I LIKE IT SERIES: USIMAMANE-ANTHEM. ITS LIKE LOOKING AT THE MONA LISA

I spend more time in front of my desktop than i do sleeping. Most of my day from the time i wake up is spent reading words, words from books, from legal judgments, from social media posts(mostly twitter and linkedin) and during that journey of existence i find myself discovering things i never knew existed. Actually, now that i am writing this, i realize that most of the words have expressed in every writing i have produced is derived from the reading of these words. My Idea start from words, then move to something more material like a complete documents, a movie or even a song ending with an expression of my words on this digital journey.

And that is what happened here. Sitting going through words on socials and boom, a song by a artist who goes by the name of Usimamane. The title of the song is called Anthem. Follow the link which will lead you to the song on youtube- Anthem .

Now it is my understanding that there is a whole lore behind the creation of this song which centres arround a musical beef between Usimamane and other musicians within the South African music landscape. I am not here to write words diving into that saga.I am currently not well researched about that shandis so, i will stay clear and avoid larping like am tapped in.

We are here because of the penmanship displayed by Usi-ma-ma-ne in this record title Anthem. Now i have listened to alot of rap music in my life. Like a lot. But never in my years of listening have i heard someone rap words the way this gentlemen did on this song. Listening to this for the first time made me imagine how the person who watched Da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa must have felt watching that paint filled paintbrush hit that canvas. I was stunned after every full stop in every stanza of his lyrics. Its the type of shit they should be using as a case study in teaching writing words. The hook, the bars, the melodies, the chords, the words being placed at the perfect point of the beat. In the words of Homeland- "It was perfect, i mean perfect".

Now you reading this sentence at this moment because of one line in the song, which pointed me to this piece of here writing. To those who are tapped in to the song, can already device the line am i referring to from lookin at the image. And those not in the loop, the line that drove me here is:

"Bonke ontanga bam' bathum' uphuthu"

Now the allure of this line, in my reality, arises from a car ride with my Mother (s/o uMakhanya, uSongo) wherein she took me through KZN Tik Tok- the side of tiktok wherein the algorithm is everything Zulu related.

Now in taking me through "KZN Tik tok" she explains a lore that only those tapped in to that side of tik tok know. The lore behind "ukuthum uPhutu". In english that translates as "sending someone to get uphutu(a food part of the Zulu culture).

Now hearing the above quoted line, lead me to that memory and that conversation with my ma dukes. So not only is the line hard, its also sentimental to me.

WHY IS THE LINE HARD?

To understand why that particular line is hard, i need to explain the lore behind the newly minted zulu phrase- "ngizokuthum uPhuthu".

It important i disclaim that this piece is not meant to disrespect the transitioned or take lightly the pain in which this phrase is birth from.

This Zulu phrase stems from a tragic event which happened at a shisanyama. A place where people gather to to meet, jol and eat meat, turned into a traumatic event for the individual who is part of the event.

Two friends visited a shisanyama establishment, wherein they are having some meat on the braai, cooking. The one friend asks the other to go and fetch the "Phutu". While the other friend was on his way to fetch the phutu, he was gunned down and murdered.

The Zulu side of the internet, took this and created a language wherein, instead of saying " i will shoot you" or "i will send you to the afterlief" they now say "ngizokuthum uPhuthu", referring to the unfortunate event wherein someone transitioned on their way to geting "uPhutu".

Now going back to why its a hard line. A line like that being used in a rap beef, is really the conclusion of the beef right. The beef ceases to be musical, now it becomes talk wherein being sent to get "phutu" gets put on the table. And within the standards of a line being "Hard", this line uncategorically meets that standard.

To cap off these words, i would like to point out that most beauty has had the tendency of coming from pain. Artistic creativity has derived its force from pain and emotions. And although we are appreciating the artistic creativity of Usimamane, we simultaneously would like to speak healing to those who have experienced the pain and trauma that has given rise to this aristic creation.