Another Successful Street Fest for SA Hip-Hop Culture

Article written by Lethabo Motseleng

2025 has been a solid year for South African hip-hop. With many using the year not only to release new bodies of work but also to bring themselves and their supporters to shared spaces throughout the country in celebration of the music and hip-hop culture. An event that celebrates this culture and provides a platform for those within it to share their talents is Street Fest. It is an event curated by NOTBENJAMIN that began in 2022 in Braamfontein and has engraved itself in the Johannesburg hip-hop scene. It prides itself on providing those who make up the South African hip-hop community a space for them to congregate and experience hip-hop culture in all its glory, allowing for the musicians, brands, content creators, consumers and all the other components of the culture to interact with each other offline. This past Friday the festival hosted its fourteenth edition at the famous 1 Fox in Newtown. The event was headlined by WORDZ, Mashbeatz, and DJ Slice, with a plethora of supporting acts which included Kiddo CSA, Buzz Lee, Tallrickyworldwide, and one of the most divisive underground hip-hop musicians, VSON.

“Street Fest is putting on new artists.”

This Street Fest marks the return of the event after a year and five-month hiatus, with their last event having been hosted in Durban. This hiatus was due to Benjamin’s trip to the United States and after the end of his residency at Drama JHB as part of their Motion Thursday team. If you are unfamiliar with Benjamin, he is a producer who has worked with Blxckie, J. Mosley, BELO SALO, Priddy Ugly, and numerous hip-hop acts in the country. Street Fest is part of his growing portfolio of events, which includes Underground, Treetops and Sessions, which all seek to uplift hip-hop musicians as well as create a space strictly for them. Benjamin intends on using these smaller events as activations for Street Fest, which he seeks to host once a year at the Crispy Skateboards workshop at 1 Fox. He met Kaelik, the co-owner of the workshop, through a mutual friend, and through conversations they realised that they had mutual interests and that the space would be perfect to house the Johannesburg hip-hop community. They initially wanted to host Underground 19 and 20 there, but things unfortunately didn’t align, but they intend on using the venue repeatedly in 2026.

Those in attendance shared their feelings on Street Fest’s return as well as its importance, saying that they felt that the event provided them a space to listen to hip-hop, which they feel has been pushed aside due to the dominance of amapiano in clubs and at festivals. Kiddo CSA said, “We don’t have a lot of these, just to see people that really listen to our music…” which highlights the importance of the audience to the performers and how they appreciate being able to see the people interact with their music live instead of through the streams online or via social media videos and carousels featuring the music. Others shared how the space allowed them to have conversations with people they would have been unable to do due to there being sections which separate people due to the kind of tickets they bought.

“It felt like we lost Riky again.”

All this was happening within the backdrop of Cotton Fest being ended just a few days before the event, with many of Street Fest’s performers and attendees being those who had looked forward to Cotton Fest each year. When asked how they felt about Cotton Fest coming to an end, many shared how they felt that spaces for hip-hop were slowly being erased from popular culture and the audience as well as the corporate move away from hip-hop as a genre and a culture. Others spoke about how it felt like they were losing Riky all over again and how they would prepare their fits and performances months in advance.

Those who had the opportunity to be part of the Cotton Fest team looked distraught during the conversation with them, sharing stories of how the festival helped them and their careers as musicians, managers, promoters and festival curators, with some having spent five years of their lives as part of the team, having been there during and after Riky’s passing. A common thread with all those who shared their opinions is that they respect the decision from a business point of view and that they hope that those involved will be able to find a middle ground to bring back the festival even if it is for one day only so that we can have the last dance and celebrate all that Riky stood for: fashion, music, creativity and, most importantly, lifting up the new generation of musicians, content creators, filmmakers and cotton eaters.

“2026…ONLY THE BRAVE 2”

2026 seems to be a year of serious operations, with every performer who spoke to us sharing that they have big plans for the year. Benjamin says that he will be continuing with his events, as his hiatus has come to an end and he now has the energy to start hosting events and producing music. He will also be releasing an album called NOTBENJAMIN vs Benjamin, which he will be releasing more information on as the new year rolls around. He will also be continuing his collaboration with Crispy, as they have begun to weave in the skateboard community into Street Fest with the skating competition, a Street Fest skateboard and exclusive merchandise. Kaelik shared how he would continue to open the space to the hip-hop as well as the Johannesburg alternative community. He also shared how skateboarding has for years been a part of hip-hop, as the community has used the music in their videos as well as during their competitions; thus, he feels it is important to integrate Crispy into these communities, as this is part of skate culture.

Mashbeatz and WORDZ told us that we should expect ONLY THE BRAVE 2, which will surely have us eating good as soon as it drops. Kiddo CSA, who is now fresh out of his deal, is two months into recording his first album as an independent artist, with a single from Yo Miya opening the year as they finalise the album. VSON shared that the title of his following album is Dikoma, which he says means ‘songs’, and that he has seen people say it means ‘rituals’ due to his recent singles. The last two people who shared that they would be releasing bodies of work were DJ Sliqe and Switch but kept a majority of the information close to the chest.

“You can expect greatness.”

Hip-hop is still alive in the city. Yes, it might not have the eyes of the mainstream on it, and some might say that it is dead due to it not being in the top 40 on Billboard recently, but this is a good thing. Why? It allows those within the space to experiment without the harsh eyes of the masses on them. It weeds out those who came into the space as a means to obtain a quick cash grab before moving onto other things. So if you are a diehard hip-hop fan, then this is your time to show up for the genre not only online but also in person at events like Street Fest, as this allows for those in the genre to keep creating, as they know that when they do, you will receive it and show up rapping word-for-word with them as they perform it on stage.

Do not be disheartened by Cotton Fest ending; yes, it is sad, and it cuts deep, as this was your festival, but remember that Riky believed in uplifting the kids; thus, you need to take this belief and practise it by attending strictly hip-hop events and giving new artists within the space a chance by streaming as well as engaging with them online.