Sometimes we take initiatives/ sometimes we bring the rhythm/ our music is the recipe that could heal the nation/ we work tight, bringing messages to the masses/ feeling the same vibe/ then we bring pandemonium/ telling the pips to get wise and use the Holy Bible/ and Jesus be the one who keep us strong in our survival/

Those are the lyrics of one musician in the country, Alick Maere, otherwise known within the hip-hop cult as DJ Lick. They are words carrying so much energy and passion of the artist’s desire to communicate his message which is weaved on a rhythm distinctively different from what can be called Malawian music but so very much similar, in essence and style, to the heavy and ‘bassy’ rap music.

Yet, despite the passion and mental power that these words carry, they are most likely to be dismissed by most Malawians as a facile and sterile attempt at imitating black western culture by an ‘uncultured’ voice.

Such is the contempt with which hip-hop music is sometimes treated in the country. After much brooding over the hip-hop scene in Malawi, I try to discover the whole deal that is hip-hop in Malawi. It’s a journey that brought me into contact with one DJ Lomwe of FM 101 Power, a producer called Mike Munthali who is known better as Dynamike and DJ Lick.

Lomwe is famed for the generous airplay he awards hip-hop music (local and foreign alike) and he is a self-confessed dyed-in-the-wool hip-hop lover. Munthali is, perhaps, the most outstanding producer of urban music in Malawi, having played his miracles on albums of artistes such as Nyasa Guruz, MaSavage and Aphofomoka. DJ Lick, as stated earlier, is a budding hip-hop artiste.

But here is a little background to hip hop culture. The genre is said to have evolved in the late 1970s, steered by black and Latino youths in the South Bronx area of New York In America. It firstly was an expression of conditions under which black youths lived in post-industrial New York, suggesting that it is a narrative of ghetto stories and real-life reflections drawing attention to problems of racism and economic oppression.

If we are to roll slightly back to the manifesto lyricism of DJ Lick above, we may begin to see the local hip hop artiste trying to define for us what local hip hop is all about – the recipe that could heal the nation. But, when did this ‘recipe’ find its ingredients in the warm heart of Africa?

“I remember first listening to a hip-hop song in 1998,” reminisces DJ Lomwe, “and then there was a guy called Marvel from Real Elements who unleashed bombshells of tracks around 1999,” adds he, saying that Real Elements can be given an accolade for setting the trend in local hip-hop music here.

So, how have things changed since then? “Development of hip-hop in Malawi has been quite slow because of the absence of structures which anchor the vision of the genre in the country,” says Lomwe.

“The audience, mainly composed of hip youths, is far too small in the country and the marketing strategies of music in Malawi are basically tilted against the progress of the genre.

“The only success to tell that is the hip hop story in Malawi is probably the fact that Real Elements received a fair amount of airplay on Channel O last year.”

Channel O is a pan-African music channel that seeks to promote diverse cultures on the continent.

What, then, could be the possible reasons for the stalled progress of hip-hop in Malawi?

Dynamike has a more chilling response to this question. “Hip-hop is a rejected art in the country mainly because the original proponents of the genre are associated with violence, drugs and crime. It is this stereotyped view that has mainly affected the growth of this music,” he says. Remember what we said about the music originating in the Bronx?

But, how much have the local hip-hop artistes in the country contributed to creating a cleaner image of their genre to prove that it has nothing to do with violence or crime? How serious are they when it comes to the perfection of the art? What culture do they identify with, African or Western?

“There are a lot of positive lyrics flying around in our music,” says DJ Lick. “We talk about the things that affect us as we try to consolidate our experiences and ambitions as a people,” he adds eloquently.

And his music appears to be just what he says it is.

What does hip hop music mean to him? “It’s a struggle to come to terms with one’s reality, to talk about the things that make us as Africans and not to imitate the style of the West because it simply does not reflect our persona,” he says. “There can only be one Tupac, The Game, one Common and one Ja Rule and they’re all in the United States. We simply have to be original and do what we have to do,” he adds.

Enough said. What do the others say? “The stereotyping is one which has discouraged a lot of artistes,” says Lomwe. “But, there are also those like The Basement and Likoma Island who sing in Chichewa to try an reconcile music to their own experiences in an attempt to appeal to the audience,” he adds.

While Dynamike admits that there is a lot of positives coming out of hip-hop in the country, he is also quick to point out that most of these artistes are not very serious as far as dreams and ambitions are concerned. Apparently, Dynamike says, local artistes are trying too hard to create images of the likes of Nas, Jay–Z and 50 Cent.

“The greatest set-back in hip hop music is that we still have many artistes fantasizing about their music much to the neglect of real issues which directly affect them. The world is not America, you just have to do your thing,” says Dynamike, adding that a Western approach to the genre will only confirm as the truth the prejudice hip-hop suffers in Malawi.

“Hip-hop is an art. But our art has people who have no passion and lack the seriousness to advance their goals. Most presentations are poor, the grammar and the pronunciation of words in the music is sometimes horrible. Now, if you’re not going to inspire anyone with your music, then you’re not going to have an audience.”

Although there is no mass market yet for hip-hop music in Malawi, the indications are that if all the proper structures – creativity, production and marketing – were put in place, the genre might just start gaining the attention of a broader audience in the country.