Bubblegum Club

Tag: umlazi

  • Robin Thirdfloor is More Than a Musician

    I first came across Robin Thirdfloor in 2016 when I was booking acts for Outland, an ambitious music festival that was fun for the one time that it happened. I was looking for young hip-hop acts who were doing cool things but hadn’t really been on festival lineups. Sthembelo Dlamini, our hip-hop plug at Durban is Yours, recommended a few acts but 2 in particular stood out, ByLwansta and Robin Thirdfloor. Both these cats have since carved unique paths for themselves in the industry and have achieved impressive feats, both locally and internationally, which says something for Sthem’s ear for talent.

    This is about Robin, but you should definitely google ByLwansta if you’re not familiar yet.

    At the time, Robin was promoting his Sounds Empty Pockets Make EP, a homage to old school hip-hop that was all about being young and broke, which is always relatable. On the EP, he told the story of a young rap dude with a fake gold chain who just wanted to be like Biggie and Pac and to do his mama proud.

    I’m pretty sure his mama is proud by now, and if she’s not, she should be. I mean, off that EP the young rapper went from Umlazi to SXSW, which I’d consider to be a pretty big deal. Coming off of that career high, Robin dropped his ‘Bhotela’ EP, exclusively to Deezer thanks to locking down an ambassadorship with the streaming platform.

    Bhotela is vastly different to S.E.P.M and Robin seems like a vastly different person from the kid he was in 2015. There’s more confidence in everything he does now and Robin seems more certain of the path he’s walking. While S.E.P.M was an ode to old school hip-hop from the States, Bhotela is an ode to Umlazi and draws from kwaito and hip-hop to deliver something more distinct.

    Every time I chat to the young rapper and entrepreneur (he has a side hustle called Somdanger Concepts), he always has new questions about the industry and how to navigate it. He’s constantly calculating his next move and putting in the time and effort to make sure that everything he does is just right. From visual aesthetics to sponsorship proposals, Robin makes sure that everything is on wax which is why I don’t doubt that 2018 will be the year his pockets start jingling.

  • Inandawood- Grassroots Horror

    Inanda is a sprawling township outside Durban, which at different points in its history was the home of both Mathama Ghandi and John Dube, the first president of the ANC.  And, as the new short film Inandawood documents, it is now a home for independent filmmaking.  A network of amateur directors and actors, centred around Vukani Ndebele, have been building a pulp library of low-budget productions which feature stories of rampant Satanists, shape-shifting serial killers and brazen gangsters.

    When a young Ndebele was confronted by the lack of film-making opportunities around him, he decided to do it for himself. As shown in the documentary, his first major project was Thomas is Back, centred on a zombie returning to the township to wreak havoc. The film blew up through word of mouth, with copies being circulated throughout the country. The success propelled him into even more projects. And rather than copying Hollywood horror tropes, the films take their lurid inspiration from local mythology and urban legends.  His artistic example has encouraged others in Inanda and surrounding townships like Umlazi and Kwa Mashu  to release their own work, inspired by his no-budget approach of using amateur crews and available resources.

    But this no frills approach doesn’t indicate that Inanda filmmakers are just out to make a quick buck. As Inandawood clearly demonstrates, these works are inspired by a pure passion to entertain, put together by creative people with no direct access to the infrastructure of movie production.  The short film is reminiscent of acclaimed feature documentary American Movie, which focuses on aspiring horror director Mark Borchardt.  Both works are tributes to the power of film, as they highlight artists making their work in the face of difficulties and restrictions.  Along with documenting a regional scene, Inandawood is an innovative work in its own right, edited with floating text and distorted sound effects.  This playful style conveys the gritty enthusiasm of its source material perfectly.  Despite considerable resources, there are far too many SA movies which reflect a dour, social realist perspective which seems uninterested in the possibilities of film as a medium. Unsurprisingly, they have failed to connect with either local or international audiences.  By showing what can be done with little resources, these  films reveal that it’s not about money. It’s about imagination.  At the same time, the KZN  scene has an authenticity which can’t be replicated by bigger budget works, revealing both the realties and the nightmares of the people who watch it with stark clarity.