Following the recent incident of rapper AKA cancelling his performance at ‘Back to the City Festival’ set for 27 April, the event organisers have reached out in a statement to tell their side of story.
This past Monday, AKA released a statement on social media that he won’t be performing at the festival due to the event organizers putting more focus and benefits on international acts, while he expected to be the big deal for the festival. ‘I will not allow an artist like myself to be reduced to a minor detail through promotion, production, hospitality or otherwise’, AKA stated.
Now ‘Back to the City Festival’ organisers have reached out with a statement to express how this came as a shock to them and further explained that their event entirely promotes and supports local hip hop.
‘This was unexpected, because we were actively in one-way communication to finalise the campaign plan, following the artist’s special request to hype his shit up,’ they stated.
DRUM had a chat with the organiser of the festival Osmic Moneo who revealed that AKA issued his statement at 5pm on Monday and were only informed at 5:20 PM by his management.
Osmic also mentioned to DRUM that every year AKA always pulls a stunt to draw attention and they have learnt not to panic ‘Everything is still going as planned because the show was never about AKA, but about our love for Hip-Hop our supporters,’ he said.
Below is a SMS conversation between AKA’s manager, Raphael Benza and Osmic, followed by a full statement
BACK TO THE CITY OFFERS CLARITY
It is not in our nature to entertain social media rants, but we felt the need to speak out and shed clarity on this matter.
On 11 April 2016, Back To The City Festival organisers were perplexed when AKA took social media to announce his withdrawal from a festival which has always aimed to promote and empower the South African Hip Hop industry. This came after, communication AKA’s management about a campaign that would specifically highlight his performance feature by means of having extended time, a live band, special lighting effects, graphics display and fireworks.
This was unexpected, because we were actively in one-way communication to finalise the campaign plan, following the artist’s special request to hype his shit up(See screenshots attached)
Keeping our Family Reunion theme in mind, there were other local acts that we have reached out to, with a similar goal.
Nevertheless, we understand the plight and support AKA’s stance, as our foundation is solely built on promoting and fighting for the recognition of South African Hip Hop. Our cumlative journey began over 16 years ago, with the creation of Ritual Magazine, Hellskitchen Mixtape, Ritual Stores, O.S.T Lounge, Back To The City Festival and the South African Hip Hop Awards. We have also had extensive involvement in The Bridge on YFM, The Platform on VOW FM, Just Hip Hop on Soweto TV, The new Rap Activity Jam on Metro FM, Hype Magazine, I SpeakHipHop, Aboveground ETV, just to name a few.
Back To The City Festival always takes place on Freedom Day, 27 April and has always been the preacher of unity and constant progression. Hence, inviting international artists to help us reflect the growth that South African Hip Hop has experienced since the early 90s: today the culture stretches beyond borders.
As far as Back To The City Festival is concerned, there have never been opening acts nor closing acts, Hip Hop as whole has been the main act.
Our plans in terms of highlighting South African Hip Hop talent, remain unchanged and we are still open to continue the conversation with Vth Season about AKA’s performance.
SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE HOODS, CITIES, PROVINCES AND
COUNTRIES, WHICH CONTINUE TO SUPPORT US AS WE CELEBRATE 10 YEARS OF HIP HOP HISTORY!
