9th Wonder’s Jamla Impresses in Cape Town

North Carolina Grammy Award-winning producer 9^th Wonder (who sometimes raps under the moniker 9thmatic) is now more than just a reputable hip hop producer whose production credits appear on albums by artists like Jay Z, Erykah Badu, Ludacris, Mary J Blige, Destiny’s Child, KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Jean Grae, David Banner, Dilated Peoples, Skyzoo, Sean Price and many others. He’s now a family man, a hip hop academic and lecturer at universities (North Carolina Central University & Duke) and an indie record label owner among other titles. In 2006, he founded Jamla Records which is home to a handful of North Carolina emcees – Rapsody, Big Remo, HaLo, duo Actual Proof, GQ, Heather Victoria, TP, The Away Team and Add-2. A few months ago, Jamla announced a South African tour which comprised of a Johannesburg and a Cape Town stop.
The tour, which was headlined by 9^th himself and rappers Rapsody and HaLo, involved a music conference which took place in Jo’burg. The Cape Town leg of the tour, which I got to experience last week, kicked off with a meet-and-greet session at concept store and project space Boaston Society on the city’s world-famous Long Street. Hosted by Cape Town emcee Andy Mkosi who is slowly becoming a notable name in The Mother City’s hip hop scene, the meet-and-greet took on the tired theme of “women in the entertainment industry”. Andy’s personal take on the issue was that being a female doesn’t [or at least shouldn’t] put one at an advantage or disadvantage in the entertainment industry. “You shouldn’t be a female presenter or a female rapper but simply just a presenter or rapper,” she said. Rapsody admitted that she used to embrace being addressed as a female emcee or “femcee” until she realised that it put her in a box. “People are always like: ‘Oh, you need to beef with Jean Grae, or throw some shots at Nicki. You’re the hottest female emcee’ but where do I stand with the rest of the emcees?” she said.