We are not saying that there are no Conscious Hip Hop tracks coming out of Cape Town or from the rest of SA but we seldom see whole albums dedicated to addressing social and political issues and particularly those facing Coloured communities while keeping it in the context that though many of these issues are not confined to the coloured community, many of the macro issues that affect the nation have a more profound effect on Coloureds.
Bloed is Dikker As Water is one of the most conscious albums we've heard in a while coming out of CPT or any other part of SA, and we really do listen to a lot of music here at BruinouHQ.
A Bruinou.com member for well over ten years, Linkris made a point of telling us that this was not going to just be a random selection of songs masquerading as an album.
The theme of ‘blood’ flows throughout the album... See what I did there?
It speaks of the blood that flows through systemic violence, the blood that flows from gangsterism caused by the continuation of the ghetto system many of our people are still forced to live in, the blood that was spilled by freedom fighters from our communities yet we are not seen as having contributed to the struggle, and ultimately our blood ties that are stronger than water and ties us to this land.
On the title track of Bloed is Dikker as Water, Linkris goes hard after institutionalised discrimination which is perpetuated by the ghetto system on the Cape Flats, after the broadcasting industry, after gangsterism, after MC’s who are making content irrelevant to the predicaments that Kullid people face.
The title track is an expansion on the issues he raised in the previous versions of his iconic single “Omdat Ek Kullid Is”.
He firmly cements this message with a brand new rework of “Omdat Ek Kullid Is” with a hard hitting new beat and new twists in the lyrics.
If there wasn’t an original then this version on BIDAW would possibly have as much of an impact as the first version of the song. For those of you who do not know, there is also version of ‘Omdat Ek Kullid Is’ which appeared on Linkris’ 2012 ‘The Oscillation Compilation LP’ as well as the Kullid Foundation’s ‘Kullid Celebration’ SA Hip Hop compilation.
We are not going to list them each one by one but the words “Bloed Is Dikker As Water” pops up in other tracks besides the title track and actually isn’t confusing but keeps reinforcing the message in a way that doesn’t make it feel like the guy was being repetitive for the sake of using a “filler”.
The boombap head-bopping toe-tapping feel remains strong throughout most of the album. Afrikaans, Afrikaaps and a sprinkling of English for emphasis where necessary; his ability to clearly enunciate means that you cannot simply listen to the beats without paying attention to the lyrics.
His style of delivery somehow manages to force you to pay attention not only to the socio-political messages but also to the social commentary relating to stepping up to the plate and putting in the hard work. Those tracks are aimed as much at the non-rapping listener as it is to the MC who needs to up his game.
We are happy that Linkris has struck a nice balance between solo tracks and collabs.
We have always been lamenting that lack of inter-cultural collaboration between Blacks & Kullids in CPT Hip Hop so the track ‘Kullid en 'n Daakie’, so his collaboration with Bazason was a welcome inclusion on the album and it seems to address the very concerns we have about a general decline in social cohesion between Blacks & Coloureds in the Western Cape particularly.
‘Wat het Djy Dan Ge-Check?’ Naturally there is a collab with HemelBesem and though we have much love and respect for HemelBesem we are actually glad it was restricted to this one track otherwise the album might have ended sounding like an extension of their on-going project ‘Die Salwing’.
We really enjoy the throwback to Ishmael Morabe & Skeems’ ‘Wa Was Jy’ in the collab with Siepsokkie aka SIEP and then there is the very motivational ‘Game Change Gazi’ featuring vocals by Garth Linx.
There are two skits and the ‘Dis Tyd’ that feature takes from speeches made by Shanette Martin that explores the position of Coloureds in the ‘Rainbow Nation’ as well as the origins of Afrikaans.
The final track on the album features the amazing Dope Saint Jude and we are still making up our minds whether it is just meant as a comic dig at the old dogs or if it is a little more serious case of throwing jabs at Hip Hop artists and practitioners who are ‘past their sell-by dates’...
There definitely is very little to criticise about the album and if we were to try and point those things out we would just be nit-picking for the sake of it, so we ain’t even going there.
At only R50 for the online version and R100 for the limited edition hard copy of the CD, Bloed Is Dikker As Water offers some really good music at a give-away price and many of those we spoke to who have bought the album say they would be prepared to pay double that amount as the album outshines many of the other offerings out there.
We agree with them.
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