Lifting the lid on hip hop talent

Graffiti artist Dokter shows off his work

VALENCIA GOVINDASAMY

THE nationwide Sprite Uncontainable Hip Hop Talent Search is in full swing and earlier this month, contestants were battling it out at Ushaka’s Moyo Restaurant. The programme which was officially launched on April 18 includes the legendary hip-hop producer, Talib Kweli with a panel of judges who will ultimately choose South Africa’s most uncontainable talent in the categories of dance, emceeing and graffiti.

The top 18 finalists’ Uncontainable performances in dance, emceeing and graffiti are made up of the top six participants in each category. They were chosen at the nationwide Sprite Mobile Studio Experience by the local panel of judges, Simba, Reason and Falko.

Saturday’s event showcased an amazing pool of talent with the six finalists from the top 18 performing on stage in the Rooftop Experiences round whereby both the judges and the public will help decide who has the most incredible talent in dance, emceeing and graffiti. More so, this phase of the festival also takes place in Cape Town and Johannesburg up until July 28 with the main event in Johannesburg on September 1.

The contestants who performed at Ushaka, Moyos included Kevin Richards and Dokter from Durban in the graffiti category; Costa (Nelspruit) and Nicholas (Cape Town) in the Dance category and Jacques Human (Cape Town) and Hydro-chloric aka HCL (Durban) in the Rap/Emcee category.

The evening kicked off with a welcome speech by MC, Sizwe Dhlomo briefing the audience on whom the judges, finalists and MCs are. Next up was artists Liquid KZN and Skye Wanda who each performed for about ten minutes. Following this was the MC Finalists who performed their own song incorporating elements of rap and beat box.

The highlight of the show had to be the finalists of the dance category, Costa and Nicholas. These majestic dancers did not waste time showing off their immense talent and wowed the crowd with their diverse dance style and onstage charisma. Costa is truly phenomenal. He is extremely flexible and his moves are original and captivating. “I am a very passionate dancer and I believe that anything is possible if you put your mind to it,” he said.

As the night went on with this overwhelming pool of talent, the graffiti showcase was next up. MC Dlomo and the judges take the stage with Reason and Simba performing while Falko does what he knows best, creating his graffiti piece live in 15 minutes. The time is up and Falko pulls it off magnificently with a creative and authentic graffiti piece.

As the rooftop experience draws to a close, Hip Hop artist, Abdus, Manelise and the DJS perform.

All-in-all, it was a night of spectacular talent unleashed for everyone to enjoy.

The judges will narrow down the top 18 talents to six finalists, two finalists per category, who will battle it out at the last phase of the programme at the Sprite Uncontainable Hip-Hop Festival on 1 September with American rapper Talib Kweli.

The public can vote for their favourite talent at www.spritehiphop.co.za