Things Take Time In The Empire of Sheep
An in-depth look at two hip-hop albums that capture the state of affairs in South Africa: YoungstaCPT's 3T and Stogie T's The Empire of Sheep.
This piece is part of Sabelo Mkhabela's South African hip-hop column.
At this very moment, it's clear to everyone who lives in it that South Africa is headed towards becoming a failed state. A power crisis, high crime rate, political incompetence, corruption and other atrocities plague one of the most prominent and powerful countries on the continent and in the world. A few days into the year, the country had already experienced power cuts. 2020 is already looking like it will be a continuation of 2019.
Two 2019chip-hop releases captured the country's dysfunction and reflected it back to South Africa's citizens—YoungstaCPT's 3T, which recently won Album of the Year at the South African Hip Hop Awards and Stogie T's recently-released The Empire of Sheep. While projects such as JimmyWiz' Accordin' to Jim and Touchline's 19 Flow have songs that touch on the country and society's current state, Stogie T and YoungstaCPT's projects make that focus overt.
