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Of all the cultural brackets in South Africa, being
coloured is probably the most confusing. Come2capetown.com
sat down with DJ Ready D, the man who put South African
hip-hop on a higher level, and discussed race, identity
and politics. “But at the end of the day it isn’t
a colour issue, but being as human as you possibly can."
“I’m sorry, but I’m definitely the wrong
person to speak to about colour issues”, Ready D says
when I walk into his house in Southfield, in the southern
suburbs. “I just don’t care about it, you know,
and I don’t want to put a label on myself either.”
But even Ready –who’s actual name is Denion
T. Daniels- can’t deny he’s a coloured. That
he and his family were kicked out of District Six and he
grew up on the Cape Flats. As a hip-hop artist, he does
have a lot to discuss. “A lot of youngsters think
that being coloured only describes the fact that they come
from the Cape Flats and they’ve got a lighter shade.
They don’t understand the essence of the term and
the political connotation of it. There’s a lot of
confusion amongst them, and obviously our previous government
did a lot of damage to them as well. If you go back, it’s
nearly 350 years of damage being done in Cape Town. And
if we take about the history of colonialism, man, we’re
talking about thousands of years of damage being done around
the world. We’re not the only people that went through
it.”
| 'I
definitely don’t have an identity
crisis”, Ready says. “But I
do see a lot of youngsters around me who
do have one.' |
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DJ Ready D is without a doubt South Africa’s best
hip-hop DJ. He’s been involved in the scene since
1983 and up to this day the 35-year old is one of the key
figures in the industry. He was voted best South Africa
DJ in 1989 and 1990 and is also rated amongst the best DJ’s
over the world. Besides his solo-show’s Ready is a
member of Capetonian hip-hop groups Prophets of da City
(POC) and Brassie Vannie Kaap (BVK).
“I definitely don’t have an identity crisis”,
Ready says. “But I do see a lot of youngsters around
me who do have one.” Being coloured is probably one
of the most confusing things in South Africa. ‘Cos
what does it actually mean? “Technically speaking
it’s a crossbreeding between blacks and whites”,
Ready explains. “But there were also the indigenous
people living in Africa with a lighter shade. The half-blacks,
you can say. But at the end of the day it isn’t a
colour issue, you know, it’s about being as human
as you possible can. Being beneficial to this planet, and
to the man or woman close to you. That’s the major
issue. The reason that some people do have an identity crisis
is that people don’t always get proper education in
this country. Obviously they are going to be ignorant then,
and they are going to view themselves in a different light
towards other people. That’s going to create a lot
animosity. Fortunately not everybody is like that. Some
have a certain amount of education and information. They
see themselves in a better light.”
| “There’s
a lot of warmth and humanity in our culture,
I’m proud of that" |
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So what about the coloured culture? Is there anything the
coloureds are particularly proud of? “In terms of
culture and all those things, there actually isn’t
much to talk about for coloureds. That’s because of
the historical and political background”, Ready says.
“Most people want to use the Minstrel Karnaval as
a reference point for the coloured culture, but I think
it goes way deeper then just the noticeable stuff. There’s
a lot of warmth and humanity in our culture, I’m proud
of that. If you look at the amount of damage that has been
done to our people, it’s quite amazing to see how
forgiving we are. That’s a good thing. Our people
also have a lot of humour in them. Especially in the way
they handle their language. Twisting and turning and making
it fun.”
Most coloured people speak Afrikaans, but their language
developed quite differently from the white Afrikaans. “We
use English, Dutch, Xhosa, Zulu, you name it. It’s
a huge dialect; they don’t even have a name for it.
We make up words to describe certain things. There are always
new words being made, so the language evolves constantly.
That’s the best of our tradition.”
Ready uses that language particularly in his group Brasse
Vannie Kaap. They call in gamtaal. “It’s actually
typical for what’s going on in the Cape Flats and
our community”, Ready says. “It sounds pretty
humorous, and it is, but if you scrape all of that off,
there’s political issues being raised on the albums.
We use certain sounds and samples to raise certain topics.”
A lot of the coloureds were brought to the Cape as slaves
by the Dutch in the 1700’s. “But they didn’t
bring stupid people, you know”, Ready starts. “They
brought intelligent people to build this country. But our
history only teaches us about the labour slaves. They speak
of someone who has been striped down of everything, a useless
person that has been in prison. That deprives us from the
knowledge of our forefathers. Our forefathers build this
country, and I think we should be proud of that.”
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