RSL stands for Respect, Survive and Loyalty. With a new video and a mouthful of tightly-packed verses, this Grahamstown hip hop act is making strong inroads into the local mainstream music scene.
RSL stands for Respect, Survive and Loyalty. With a new video and a mouthful of tightly-packed verses, this Grahamstown hip hop act is making strong inroads into the local mainstream music scene.
A group of seven local students, RSL records, produces and performs their original tracks while still finding time to study, socialise and make sense of their lives as all young people do.
Although the influence of their favourite US superstars like Jay-Z and Kanye West runs thick through RSL’s music, Cameroonian vocalist Chevy Flash brings an exotic appeal to the band’s sound through his accented, rhythmic rhymes.
Their cultural variety is a unique selling point that all members of the group feel they bring to their music.
“RSL has everything a hip hop band needs; from rappers to singers to producers to talent. We’re so diverse because we come from different parts of Africa (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cameroon), which enables us to have different styles on the mic, which all blend together to give you the music you love,” Flash said.
This diversity of talent and backgrounds gives RSL an interesting signature sound that blends R&B, jazz and modern hip hop with a cool afro-groove.
Their song La Familia for example, combines swinging jazzy instrumentals with the laid-back vocals of Kazn, a social sciences student who adds a feminine delicacy to the RSL big brass band sound.
Then, a song like Times Like These, with acoustic guitar and string quartet motifs, adds real emotional depth to a hip hop genre notorious for being banal and misogynistic.
Lyrically, RSL’s music deals with youth culture, societal restrictions and the price of freedom. They give their music punch through less clichéd wordplay:
“Praying ever day, I wonder how I’m still a sinner/ When the dream is to live in a gold world, it’s all red lights, no bedtime/ I’m a man so I think I should get mine/ Life looks sweet to the eye but it tastes bitter.”
The group formed in 2003 and has been flying under the radar until now. They have performed in venues such as New Street nightclub Prime and their music is available for free download on soundcloud.com.
The band’s Grahamstown-shot video for the track You That I Want is picking up views on YouTube. Check it out here!
They say they have made another video too and fresh material is in the pipeline.
