Media
  Policy
  Areas of emphasis
  Partners
  Young experts
  Staff
                            
 
  WSIS
  Manyarara Prize
 
  MediaNews
  Publications
 
 
 
15 August 2001
MediaNews 03
Girl power from South Africa
Jolanda Mels

“Women symbolize eternal life. We bring children into the world, pass on knowledge and know the balance between emotion and analysis. This century, the female leaders will rise up.” This is the philosophy of the female hiphop group Godessa. For the past year, the three young women of this Cape Town band have been sending a wake-up call to young people, and women in particular, in the townships around Cape Town. During a visit to the Netherlands, Godessa’s songwriter and MC Eloise Jones explains about female rappers in South Africa. “We don’t rap about the normal bullshit.”

A female hiphop group in Cape Town is unusual; the scene is dominated by men. According to Jones (22) female hiphopartists are not tolerated. But that doesn’t stop Godessa. “There are other sisters who are working with rap, but we have decided to take this art form seriously,” says Jones, better known as EJ von Lyrik.

EJ met the two other women, who use highly significant stage names of Lady of Shame and Eve of Destruction, last year during recording sessions for a soundtrack for a documentary. Since then, they have worked as a trio. Their first album will be appearing soon. “Godessa produces numbers that have an impact on people’s lives. We want to use music to make something clear to them.”

“It’s critical, no doubt!
‘Cause there’s too many young sisters living in shame and shit –
Simply because of a coward who blames his dick!

Yes my streets should be called the chemist of Remnants;
The world’s biggest drugstore for the Menace to spread in,
And the tenants who get in
Are just defenceless against this,
They’re unarmed, yet gun-charmed –
Tremendous sense of ignorance!
You see your system doesn’t work that well for me as for you,
That’s why I chose to verbalise what I’m goin’ through.
But Yo, this is just the tip of the iceberg,
I’ll let the mind work to let my peeps know the truth!”


EJ Von Lyrik - Godessa

Forced pregnancy

Rape, poverty, drugs, gangsters and AIDS: for many, that is daily life in the townships of South Africa. That is what Godessa’s songs are about. EJ, who grew up there, says, “Our problems are ignored, but rap will open the eyes of the people.”

Women, Godessa feels, are the best people to rap about these kinds of issues. “Women have to put up with more than men, so they see things differently. In addition, women are creatures of emotion and can relate better to female victims. Men can rap about those themes, but who has more to say about forced pregnancy than the woman who carries the child for nine months?”

People respond positively to the rapping women. “We are something different for the public. And it’s all about presentation. We say it straight out, but without stepping on anyone’s toes.”

Release

EJ visited Amsterdam for two weeks with the NiZA’s hiphop exchange programme. She was a guest speaker at a conference at the School of Journalism in Tilburg, The Netherlands, on rap as a new medium. At the same conference, the CD Overflow was presented which she recorded together with Tanzanian, Dutch and South African hiphop artists. The group also performed at Festival Mundial.

According to EJ, there are some differences between Dutch and African hiphop. “Hiphop is universal. The sound is the same everywhere. The main difference is the issues we rap about. There are different issues in the Netherlands, and you can see that in the texts.” You shouldn’t expect love songs from EJ, though: “For me, hiphop is a form of release. When something goes wrong in South Africa, I have to rap about it.”

Godessa - biography
Female hiphop artists in Africa

Jolanda Mels studies journalism at the School of Journalism in Tilburg.