K.O.
Skhanda Republic
****
KO’s hip hop knock out.
While something was questionable about the 2014 Channel O Music Video Awards (with regards to golden boy KO getting numerous nominations and walking away with nothing), no one can take away the fact that he is on top of his game. Just yesterday, BBC 1Xtra selected him as one of the five South Africans to look out for in 2015.
His album Skhanda Republic is going to be quoted in history as one of the most influential projects that gave birth to a new sound that’s truly South African. In a story broken by Tonight a few months before the album was released, KO spoke of the depths he went to looking for the new sound he now calls skhanda. There is a lot of kwaito in it, fused with the traditional formula of hip hop.
The top hit is no doubt last year’s anthem, Caracara, but you should not be fooled that it ends there; there is more. Look out for the catchy (almost Teargas-like) Skhanda Love which features the beautiful Nandi Mngoma. It’s the kind of song you want to bump at a car wash in the hood with your “bae”.
Other standouts include Son of a Gun, One Time and Benithin, which all make KO the messiah of the new sound that has helped up-and-coming rappers find a voice.