What exactly is the use of a hidden track? Especially nowadays when no one’s willing to wait, and there’s every chance you’ll miss it. Which would be a shame in the case of Tumi’s second solo album. Usain Bolt, tucked away 5 minutes of silence after the brief, mournful title song featuring Canadian MC Ian Kamau, is possibly this album’s best cut.
It’s what Johannesburg’s Hip-hop industry looks like through the eyes of MC’s Tumi and Zubz – peers especially for being outstanding and yet standing on the outside looking in – how they feel about it, and their triumphant resolve to have it no other way. Zubz’ disconnect extends beyond mere rap relations. It has a socio-political aspect, with him being foreign and Zimbabwean. And Tumi, though South African, finds it “ hard to speak local when you global and you always rolling in a league of your own…” weirdly bragging but pleading his case in the very same bar.
Just when he seems above it, he goes and admits it bothers him that his own cousins check for, say, a more dance-friendly DJ Sbu.
That will explain the Kwaito kingpin Brickz’ cameo. Not too wordy, it’s really about the loud and bolshie character he adds to Bambezela. And thankfully, it works over the broad, cinematic production worthy of the statement record that this is.
(Ditto for the film noir-style video after the jump which faithfully depicts the song’s theme: the struggle to retain one’s individuality in the face of pressure to be more popular or have more material possessions)…
Perhaps it’s that Hip-hop snob thing at play again but Tumi likes to keep his rap collaborators to a minimum. There are none on the two albums with his band The Volume and maybe a couple on his previous album Music From My Good Eye, and this one combined.
On the other hand, luminaries from other genres, cultures, and styles abound. But strategically: MXO is tapped for sheer afro-soul power. The presence of Blk Sonshine’s Massauko and jazz uber-legend Sibongile Khumalo adds class to the set and restores to the fallen artists eulogized on Stage Lights the dignity denied whilst they still lived.
Against the stark snare of Mr. Gogetit, Pebbles’ playful vocals are the sweet to the sour.
And Zaki Ibrahim brings a sensual, ethereal and futuristic quality to Health, Food and Shelter, actually harmonising with Tumi’s melodic speaking voice. Just one of many places where the evident attention paid to vocal detail pays off.
It would be lazy and frankly, inaccurate to tar the shimmering Villages and Malls with French singer Tairo or the percussive Still not Free featuring Reunion’s Danyel Waro with the ‘world music’ brush.
By now a seasoned international festival staple, Tumi projects his global experience through a Hip-hop prism dazzling with blunt gems (The puma fat cat is on whose side? / Not yours so we settle for the Zuma) and revealing a rich spectrum of thoughts on love, marriage, humanity, materialism, celebrity, spirituality.
Much like Music From My Good Eye did before it but this time with a sound cohesive and assured enough to conquer worlds. Whole worlds, in fact.
(Rating: 9/10)
Whole Worlds is out now. Buy it here.
Go Here To Hear Villages and Malls, another AfriPOP! exclusive.
Tumi: Villages & Malls featuring Tairo [3:57m]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Phiona Okumu has written for Y Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, Elle, Straight No Chaser, Shook, Arise, www.rage.co.za etc. Her favourite Africans are Kenyans, and then Ghanaians. But she's neither. Often she can be found navigating the social media maze to engage with world-wise, afro-centred, Hip-hop predisposed peers. Follow her on www.twitter.com/ophiona
