@jointpusher - The Heritage Tape

It's rare to listen to a project that carries so much African sound and does not compromise on lyricism in this era of hip hop and Joint Pusher's latest project, The Heritage Tape, offers just that. The tape ticks most boxes when it comes down to African music that means something to people in South Africa from reggae, to kwaito, and maskandi, to folk. Even on songs that are organically hip hop, they manage to add a drum or sample that keeps it close to home for the listener. 

Though at times a bit monotonous, the rapper delivers some compelling content on a lot of the songs pertaining to societal injustices and coming up against the system. On a track like Heritage Flow, you get to hear him discuss how the poor are usually neglected in society in favour of the rich, a topic he continues on Afrika, where he addresses the continent being enslaved by western owned companies. We get to hear him push similar conversations on other songs on the project but not as the overall theme. 

Rolling Stone, Stimela, and Never Give Up have an uplifting mood to them and we get to hear him encourage listeners to go beyond the call of duty to achieve their goals. Never Give Up is mellow lead by a synth and sees him and Mothipa laying down verses on the importance of unity in the path to success. Stimela and Rolling Stone bare a similar message of keeping it moving regardless of the circumstances one might be currently facing. 

If it was not for Do What I Doez, I'm An Afrikan, and Madibuseng, I would have thought this tape is way too serious for my liking. These songs really lighten up the mood and are the more feel good, dance tunes on the project. The bounce on Do What I Doez is way too sick but it is short lived as the song is less than 2 minutes. I'm An Afrikan is a song about being proud of your African heritage wherever you happen to be in the world, absolutely enjoyed the reggae influence on this jam. Madibuseng is a kwaito jam that sees him tap Kirsten Maple and Shyning Amour to vent their unhappiness at courting a lady who won't give them the light of day. 

The last two closing tracks on this project really excel in concepts as Township Lingo sees Joint Pusher take you to class on some commonly used terms in the hood. With'out BOOMBAP sees him pay homage to all the various entities that contributed to the state of SA hip hop today. 

This project is overall a solid body of work with some dope lyricism to match, the concepts on the songs become unvaried at moments but the overall effort put into making the sounds on the project authentically African more than makeup for it. Peep the project below.