The Y?General. Cape Crusader. Young Van Riebeek. Kaapstad Naaier. He goes by many names but you may know him as the one and only YoungstaCPT. The Mother City ambassador brings his rawness and wisdom to this edition of CT Rap Sessions.
1. Tell us your background story – How old were you when you started writing your own verses and why did you decide to pick up the mic?
I found hip hop the same way we all did: through TV, magazines and radio. Graffiti always caught my eye too. I was 10 or 11 when I started writing rhymes, drawing a lot and tagging. I was also freestyling raps and I was pretty good at it. At age 12, I recorded my first song and from that moment I knew it could be real. How real? I didn’t know but I knew I found my career path.
2. What are your influences both inside and outside the rap game?
I’m inspired by early hip hop, stuff from the ’90s – ’00s. My all time favourite rapper is Redman. Out of the new guys, it’s Freddie Gibbs. Other than American culture or Kwaito music, it was my neighbourhood and my family that inspired me and showed me the lifestyle to live.
3. Which hip hop and rap albums did you listen to while growing up?
Methodman / Redman’s – Blackout!, Busta Rhymes – Genesis, DMX – … And Then There Was X and Ja Rule – Pain Is Love. I still have all these on CD at home.
4. How does the Mother City influence your music?
The Mother City is my inspiration, it’s my muse and my information source. I report about what goes on and what went on in my life and those around me. If I don’t, then an entire generation could very well be forgotten.
5. You’ve become a role model, especially to the younger generation. You’ve been inspiring young minds with your Style The Youth School Tour. Through your music, what do you hope to teach young kids?
I hope to teach them to be more self-confident and ambitious. Never to limit themselves and to maximise their potential. I speak from a Cape Town perspective, but knowing what goes on in certain parts of Cape Town, it’s an achievement that these kids just make it to and from school in one piece so I just want them to survive and prosper.
6. What’s your favourite song to perform and why?
I love doing ‘Bo-Kaap’, I feel like it’s a strong song. ‘Wes-Kaap’ is the anthem but ‘YASIS’ is fun because of the crowd interaction – I’ve never had a song that involved the people so much.
7. Your work ethic is incredible, you’ve managed to push out records like The Flash of the rap game. We’re talking 29 mixtapes, four EPs as well as album collabs, all at the age of 25. What motivates you to keep creating?
I’m a creative person, my brain is more wired to those frequencies. Ask me to do pure maths or computer programming and you’ll be out of luck. I’m not forcing my music, it’s organic for me. It’s as easy as breathing and sometimes I even have to stop myself from recording. I’m a true artist so I paint a lot.
8. You’ve worked with a number of talented artists and producers. What was the most noteworthy collab in your career this far?
Every collab I’ve done was a different victory. ‘What Have You Done My Brother’ back with Tumi and Reason was a step up. Working with DJ Ready D gave me a lot of credit in Cape Town. ‘Way It Go’ with DJ Switch introduced me to South Africa and from then I just ran with it.
9. You’re changing the rap game from within. Your music represents the honesty and rawness of everyday life in Cape Town. Have you always aimed to use your music to spread awareness about political situations or was that something that started at a later stage?
If you look at other artists such as Prophets of the City, Black Noise, BVK, Godessa, Mr. Devious, etc – The one thing they had in common was that they were socially aware and conscious. I am in that same tradition being that my environment was in the similar raw state. By not seeing it, you have to be blind, and to not speak of it in music, you should rather say nothing.
10. The Y?General has moved his ranks over international waters for the second time. You’ve just returned from your #InternationalNaaierAusTour. How does performing internationally differ from when you’re back home? Compare your on-stage performance in CT to those overseas and how they make you feel.
A crowd is a crowd. There are people in South Africa and even Cape Town who have no clue who I am. Even while reading this, some people are just hearing about me now. I give my all on stage no matter what part of the world I’m in. But overseas it’s more about educating the crowd about my lyrics, whereas at home they can rap my songs word for word.
11. Your latest track, ‘YASIS’ has caused uproar on social media with its catchy beat and cheeky lyrics, it’s well on its way to being one of the biggest hits of 2017. Describe the process of creating this song and who was involved.
It’s gonna be bigger in 2018! The funny story is, I wrote this hook in 2013 and only wrote the verses in 2015 when I got the beat. I then recorded the track in 2016 and then re-recorded and changed parts of it in 2017. It’s been a long time coming but I knew it would be special so I saved it. Psykobeats, who I’ve worked with since 2013, produced it long ago and I had to assure him that I was going to use it.
His debut 2017 single called ‘See Me’ has me on it as well so we’ve worked together quite often. The track was engineered by one of the only female sound engineers in SA, by the name of Kay Faith, who does most of my post-production. So ‘YASIS’ was a team effort and we got great results!
12. Your 26th birthday is approaching. You always do big things on your special day and each event is bigger and better than the last. What can we expect from your birthday bash this year?
We have a bigger venue to play with and we wanna have some special guests come through. But as usual, we’re gonna go bos! Stay tuned to the social channels.
13. Which South African artists would you like to collab with and why?
Shekhinah is dope, I think we would make something nice for the street kids, you know, soul-stirring music. Kwesta for Kasi street sound and Early B is also kwaai, we must work together. Anyone who is talented and passionate is a good collaborative choice.
14. What can we expect from YoungstaCPT in the near future?
I’m gonna release my 30th mixtape with Maloon TheBoom, titled ‘To Be Continued’, which will come with a few music videos too. I’m gonna break from the mixtapes and start focusing on my studio album titled ‘3T – Things Take Time’. So 2018 will be a legendary year once again, inshallah.
Follow YoungstaCPT on all his social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.
Be sure to check out the music video of the 2017 hit, ‘YASIS’ below:
Images by: Ference Isaacs Photography, Stanley John Films, SamG, YoungstaCPT Facebook Page
mishkah abrahams 