In the culture of hiphop where every artist is put to a test with every release, its no surprise that sometimes you catch the odd ones that come in to defy the rules of anything else that was there before them. Not saying that hiphop is a young man games, but it definitely is a competitive sport that dares every artist to produce their best and represent their brand to the fullest. Hence in this case Blantyre, Malawi is the home of AGM Studios, a studio operation that was founded by Bright Chiligo well known by rap name ‘Excess‘, a young Mcee with the determination to succeed in the rap game.
Ill city is a rap crew that started in 2009. The crew’s first track to hit airwaves was titled ‘troublesome’ and it got a lot of play on various radio stations across the country. The group is comprised of 6 members, four boys and two girls. The members include ‘Klick, Ka Sheena, Ga Cypha, Fat lu, Mfwedhe, and Excess’. ILL City records all its music under the record label ‘Speedzone‘ with Excess as the producer and executive of Speedzone. Speedzone has worked and produced music for artists like ‘Dj boo, Aycee james, Revolver, Monasinging and many others. The group recently released the track wadya ntolilo which brought people back to their childhood days, where kids would sing this song’s huk ‘ wadya ntolilo, chuck wadya ntolilo osapsa’ as they play what we usually called ‘ma spy’ (a kid’s game). The track was produced by Excess and it was described as a war track. Both instrumental, Track lyrics, and Voice had that aggressive, violent, angry tone.
This time around Ill City is back with a brand new single titled HALAMU. Halamu was first released as a video on YouTube and after it got an a good response, the single has been released today 23/12/2013. Halamu sees the young hip-hop group members challenging the elder generation of rappers in what seems to be a “winner gets all”. The youngsters bring forth a hostile tone claiming that there spot is on top and everyone who claims the top has to first address them (apparently). The video of Halamu features a 3 minute torture scene in which Excess tortures a man that he has captured taking photos at the video shoot of Halamu, Excess stabs his hostage with a knife and shocks him with a battery charger all in the name of entertainment. The video of Halamu is as shocking as every other material that comes out of the record label, but its sure entertaining to watch. As though adults wouldn’t normally side with the opinions or visualization expressed in the video its good to note that this is hip hop and in the hip hop sport everyone has to push the limits every now and then to emerge on top. The skill and talent of these young mcees is undeniable but while that is there its also encouraged for young rappers to portray maturity and a good message in music. As there are alot of kids that watch and listen to music, its advisable to spread a good message rather than just violence, alcohol and drugs. We look forward to the group’s next song with fingers crossed that they can showcase growth and maturity like that we have seen from other artist who matured with their music.
You can watch and download the Halamu song here