Our Interview with Sensai Tate of Hiphocalypse

Posted by metroafrican • February 19, 2009 • Printer-friendly

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Sensai Tate co-founded the Hiphocalypse Radio Show in 2000, broadcast on Rhodes Music Radio out of Grahamstown, South Africa. A native of Zimbabwe, Tate grew the success of the radio show into the Hiphocalypse MOVEment, a movement for the advancement of sustainable youth development in Southern Africa through the use of hip hop culture.

In 2006 Tate moved to Denver and currently splits his time between Denver and Austin, TX. He produces a fortnightly (that's every two weeks) podcast called Hiphocalypse Fort-Knights. The podcast showcases some of the most talented African hip hop artists.

Click play to listen to the latest Hiphocalypse podcast while you read our interview with Sensai tate below.
[audio:http://cache.mypodcast.com/cached/hiphocalypse_20090729_0741-470807-226577-3.mp3]

MetroAfrican: I read in your bio that you got involved with hip hop at around 16 yrs old. Who were some of those artists you first got into?

Sensai Tate: I had 2 older brothers who were into Hip Hop before I was ever consciously aware of the artform. They used to play Public Enemy, KRS One, N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew so that was my introduction to Hip Hop. By the time I decided to get involved myself the most influencial artists were Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Tribe Called Quest as well as Zimbabwe's pioneering acts Blackfoot Trybe, Kataklyzm and Peace of Ebony.

MA: What was the hip-hop scene like in Harare at the time you launched the Hip Hop Henchmen?

ST: To be honest we were just trying to emulate & channel our favourite artists back then. We were all trying to sound as much like the Nas's, 2Pacs, Biggies as young Zimbabweans who had never been out of the country could. Its kind of sad to say but we wholeheartedly embraced all elements of American Hip Hop culture from the accents to the clothes and attitudes. As a result not much attention was paid to it beyond our limited fraternity.

The Zimbabwean hip hop scene did not really start to establish its own unique identity until after 97 when the political situation instilled a sense of nationalism in the collective conciousness of the nation. Now artists like mUnetsi (myspace.com/munetsi) & Maskiri are carving out their own uniquely Zimbabwean niches.

MA: How do you stay connected to hip-hop on the continent?

ST: I was blessed enough to have established a hip hop movement in South Africa (the HIPHOCALYPSE MOVEment). The radio show has been running on college radio (rhodesmusicradio.co.za) there for close to 10years. The guys involved with that keep me posted on what's new on the scene there. I am also a member of a number of African Hip Hop networking sites most notably africasgateway.com which a number of artists use for promotion.

Other than that I am sure to hoard as much music as I can whenever I go home.

MA: On Hiphocalypse Fort-Knights you play a lot of music from southern Africa, though you definitely dip into music from all over the continent. Do you hear something distinctly regional about the hip hop coming out of the South?

ST: I wouldn't say there is a uniquely Southern African hip hop sound. There are numerous 'sub-genres' like urban grooves in Zimbabwe, Motswako in Botswana & South Africa, Spaza in South Africa all trying to establish themselves. Remember hip hop is a relatively young art in the region, it was banned during apartheid.
So there isn't one specific identifiable sound.

MA: There is a certain dilemma embedded in the language of African hip-hop. If an artist chooses to rhyme in English they are often accused of imitating US hip-hop or not representing their culture. If they choose to rhyme in a native language they limit the appeal of their music to a mass audience. Do you think African musicians have found ways to address this?

ST: Good question, I think the language of music is universal. When it's really good it doesnt matter what the spoken language is. Artists like Oliver Mutukudzi/ Thomas Mapfumo/ Stella Chiweshe make music mostly in my native Shona language but have managed to reach fans across the world who cannot speak a word of Shona. I love the Miriam Makeba's and Salif Keitas of this world but speak none of the languages that they sing in. We have featured many vernacular rappers (Prokid; mUnetsi; Saba Saba) on the HIPHOCALYPSE Fort-Knights podcast & those were some of the more popular songs.

Hip Hop is a uniquely complex type of music since it is lyric-heavy. As a result it may appear a lot more important what the language is. I have found that even in a colonial language African themes can be sincerely represented. For example the english sung "My Mother's Pearls" by K'Naan dedicated to his mother in Somalia. That was one of the more popular songs featured on our HIPHOCALYPSE Mixtape Vol.1.

So I believe if the message is sincere it transcends the language barrier.
Some (but not enough in my opinion) artists have managed to fuse African sounds & instruments like the Mbira, Uhadi bow and Moropa Drums in their music so even when the lyrics are not in an african language the songs still maintain that African identity.

MA: You put out two albums - HIPHOCALYPSE Mixtape in 2004 & HIPHOCALYPSE Re-mixtape in 2005. Any plans for another album?

ST: Both those projects were released while I was in South Africa on a very grassroots level. With the first mixtape we were trying to raise awareness to the violence against women in the region. The second was just a remix project of the first so we don't really count it as a full release.

The HIPHOCALYPSE Mixtape Volume 2 has been in the works for over 4years now. Its difficult to do remotely from across the ocean but we do intend to release something again soon. Next year is our 10th anniversary so we intend to celebrate properly with a marathon radio broadcast in South Africa and album/mixtape release worldwide.

MA:What's next for Sensai Tate and Hiphocalypse Fort-Knights?

ST: The HIPHOCALYPSE radio show continues broadcasting on Rhodes University Music Radio, Sensai Tate continues to publish HIPHOCALYPSE Fort-Knights podcasts (hiphocalypse.mypodcast.com).

We are excited to have been approached to syndicate our show on an audio satellite channel TransAfrica Radio on DSTV Audio Bouquet channel 172 (http://www.transafricamedia.com/show_reel). We look forward to using the platform to expose African Hip Hop throughout the continent.

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To hear more Hiphocalypse music or to get in touch, check the links below:

http://hiphocalypse.mypodcast.com
http://myspace.com/hiphocalypse
Email: thehiphocalypse@yahoo.com

Many thanks to Sensai Tate, and we wish you continued success.