Sho Madjozi's breaking musical boundaries

Sho Madjozi. Picture Garth Von Glehn

Sho Madjozi. Picture Garth Von Glehn

Published Nov 21, 2018

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The last time I saw Sho Madjozi, we were in a large studio where she was doing a film shoot for a brand she endorses. She swaggered in and, like a magnet, drew everyone’s attention.

Wearing grey sweatpants, a Sotho-inspired Butan Mountain Panther sweater and a pair of Air Max 1 Atmos Safari, it was clear that the clothes didn’t make her.

All of that was a mere enhancement on the natural cool of the 26-year-old artist born Maya Wegerif.

Her aesthetic resonates to the point where people across the nation flock to salons to have their hair braided like hers. So it was not much of a surprise that

Sho Madjozi is given the Most Innovative Style award at the 22nd annual SA Style Awards.

The awards, presented by Alfa Romeo, took place at Sandton City’s Diamond Walk on Sunday, November 18.

About the honour, Sho Madjozi says: “I think the combination of sportswear and traditional wear is what I’ve tried to bring forward.” 

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Last night I was awarded Most Innovative style at the South African Style Awards 🤗🏆 dressed by @rich_mnisi, jeweled by @ditsaladesigns and hair as always by @princessthehairwhisperer and the stunning picture by @emp_cyclone Another one for the #LIMPOPOCHAMPIONSLEAGUE 🙌🏽🙏🏽💃🏽 #SAstyleAwards18

A post shared by Maya(@shomadjozi) on Nov 19, 2018 at 5:39am PST

Sho Madjozi, who has performed at the Global Citizen festival, Afropunk New York, and was one of the headline acts at One Source Live on Saturday, November 17. She entered the entertainment realm as a poet but it was when she reinvented herself as a rapper that she took the world by storm. She believes the title of Innovative Style is befitting beyond fashion. 

“Right at the beginning, I said I’m going to make music in my own language,” she shares.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m famous in Limpopo alone. As long as my cousins can bop to my music and get what I’m talking about.”

“When you look at gqom’, we brought in a whole innovation where we put in more lyrics than there ever was before,” she continues. “I literally come and drop 16 bars on songs like Dumi Hi Phone and Huku. I used a hip-hop structure on gqom’ beats. I was told people wouldn’t listen to gqom’ that’s so packed with lyrics but the music that has come after has had more lyrics in it.”

Sho Madjozi. Picture: Supplied

Most recently, Sho Madjozi has appeared alongside Sjava and Lady Zamar on Ganja Beatz’s Night and Day. There, she raps about someone who loves umswenko.

“The idea of that song was supposed to be alter egos. I’m a village girl and my parents are very humble. My parents were about doing community development and humanitarian work, never about material things.

But now, I’m balling. So it’s like my upbringing is pulling me in one direction but at the same time, now I am experiencing nice things and I like it,” she said.

In her lyrics, Sho Madjozi name drops Comme de Garcons as well as Carvela – foreign brands that represent very different classes in South Africa. 

She wears Moschino on magazine covers and recently collaborated with Edgars to release a clothing line that will include Xibelani (referring to traditional

dance and the skirts the dance is performed in) for kids and other apparel for adults.

It’s through the commissioned song heard on the Edgars ad that Sho Madjozi makes her stance on the line that separates classes, ages and tradition. She

defiantly says: don’t tell me what to do.

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I wear what I like!! #LIMPOPOCHAMPIONSLEAGUE 😁😁😁😁 #ownthelook 😊💕 full video in my bio!! @edgarsfashion

A post shared by Maya(@shomadjozi) on Nov 2, 2018 at 4:50am PDT

“I’m half white and half black,” she says. “The hip-hop world sees me as part of them and the gqom’ world sees me as a part of them. Even the alternative world. I’m so village but also urban.

“There is a part of me that has rejected the notion that you have to be divided. I have broken many rules regarding wearing Xibelani – I’m not allowed to wear Xibelani that is above my knee. So it’ not like I am embracing Xitsonga culture as it is.

“But the fastest way we’ll make culture relevant is to try and preserve it in an old form.”

For now, Sho Madjozi aims to ready her highly anticipated debut, Limpopo Champions League.

She says this award is “really cool and it’s because I’m a performer but also getting that acknowledgement for my style side is nice because I pay attention

to what I wear and how I present myself.”

uHelenH

IOL

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