Africa is a Country

When British journalist Patrick Neatee, visiting South Africa, was first introduced to Mr Fat, one half of the nucleus of Brasse vannie Kaap, he was immediately impressed by the larger than life MC:

“… I meet … the owner of Ghetto Ruff, a guy called Lance Stehr who’s been in the South African music industry since time. Ghetto Ruff also puts out records by a Cape Town hip hop crew called Brasse vannie Kaap (BVK) and they’re currently in Jo’burg… Lance takes a phone call and pulls me to one side. He smiles ominously and says, ‘Mr Fat once to see you.’ I feel like I am in a movie. But … you can’t get to grips with hip hop in South Africa without getting to grips with Cape Town. And when Mr Fat wants to see you? You go and see Mr Fat.”

Yesterday Mr Fat (government name Ashley Titus) passed away.

I felt compelled to quote Neate’s description of this larger than life figure who was hip hop in Cape Town and South Africa for a long time along with hip hop pioneers Prophets of da City. (Incidentally, it is not clear where the boundaries between the two groups begin and end: Ready D, the pioneering DJ of Prophets, also served as DJ to BVK). Two frontmen became the faces of BVK: Hamma and Mr Fat. Mr Fat was always going to be the bigger presence, literally and figuratively. Neate described meeting Mr Fat as having ‘… the vague sense of meeting a Mafia Don.’ I never personally met him, but saw Mr Fat and BVK perform a few times at various festivals and clubs (including at previously all white venues in that city, including the one at the top end of Roeland Street.
But the gig that best represented for me the skill of Mr Fat was the last time I saw him perform: and without his ever-present partner in BVK, Hamma. Mr Fat was rapping live over beats concocted collectively by singer and guitarist Max McKenzie (also of the Goema Captains of Cape Town and who brought out his excellent album Healing Destination) with among others saxophone player Ezra Ngcukana, accordionist Alex van Heerden (who also played with the Goema Captains and earlier with Robbie Jansen) and DJ Ready D. (I think the nucleus of those playing came from the band Gramadoelas, but my memory is failing me now).

The point is: since then I have always wanted to see that collective play together again as it best represented the coming together of different strands and generations of Cape Town’s musical heritage so well.

Now I won’t have the chance.

Instead I ended up playing cuts off BVK’s second album, Yskoud, all day today.

I’ve blogged previously about the historical significance as well as cultural and political impact of groups like BVK and stand-out artists like Mr Fat here and here (including his legacy for the next generation of artists like Terror MC, Jaak Jacobs and Jitsvinger), so in this post I thought instead I would link to online sources of Mr Fat and BVK’s music as well reports of his passing yesterday.

These include a link to Bush Radio‘s website (‘the mother of community radio’) where Mr Fat was part of the original crew that started the seminal hip hop show, The Headwarmers. Bush Radio broke the news of his Mr Fat’s passing here. The station also made available the text of an earlier interview one of its journalists conducted with Mr Fat (published in a local newspaper and accessed here).
MK, the South African-based DStv (satellite) music channel — where Mr Fat hosted the show HIP HOP in his native Afrikaans language, posted a tribute to his memory here. (The text of the MK tribute forms the basis for this English-language story in the Mail & Guardian newspaper here.)

There is also this brief clip of Mr Fat promoting BVK’s latest album, Ysterbek, on Youtube.

Finally, a group of fans and contemporaries of Mr Fat started a ‘RIP Mr Fat’ group on Facebook where another rap pioneer Shamiel X posted priceless audio of an interview and a live performance (of Mr Fat’s original group Jam B) recorded at famous Cape Town hip hop club The Base in 1991. You can hear the interview here).*

Rest in Peace, Mr Fat.

* On the Facebook site, the audio is credited as taken from ‘Rap City,’ a radio documentary produced by Shamiel X for Caset Audio Trust, later known as Bush Radio. The live performance is courtesy of Steve Gordon of Making Music Productions.