In recent years Durban bands have affected the national music psyche like a hijacked 9/11 plane. Only, their longevity and success have been more like the United 93 flight that crashed and burned before hitting its target rather than the ones that, with deadly explosive intent, actually did.
With the myopic media focus fuelling the industry in Jozi and Cape Town, few Durban bands go beyond tired imitations of the mainstream. Yet, the seven-piece hip-hop jazz-fusion outfit, Big Idea, due to perform at Oppikoppi this weekend, are poised to change all that.
Comprising MCs Q (Quincy Fynn) and Jet (Lee Wynn), vocalist/ sampler King Babar (Nathan Redpath), drummer Gareth “2Gs” Gale, keyboardist Burton “Buttons” Naidoo, DJ LV (Leighsley van Wyk) and with founding member Duane Nichols’s welcome return for a stint on bass guitar, the band believe that with the recent release of their debut album, Hot Box and their set at Oppikoppi, they are ready for the glare of national exposure.
It is their first gig outside of KwaZulu-Natal where they have built a large fan base. “It will be interesting because we’ll be out of our comfort zone, playing to an audience who have never heard us before. I think they will very surprised,” says Babar.
“No disrespect to the Jo’burg and Cape Town [hip-hop] guys, but what we are doing in Durban is a lot more authentic and South African. Because we have been developing away from the hype and pressure we’ve developed ourselves, naturally, rather than having external influences affect us and I think people will see that at Oppikoppi,” adds Q.
With Gale, Naidoo and Nichols all studying at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s centre for jazz and popular music what Big Idea has been doing since its inception a year and a half ago is musically tracing hip-hop’s genealogy back to jazz, while picking up the textural elements from genres like trip-hop along the way.
Vocally, Q’s humorous and insightful lyrics are steeped in colloquialism and slang derived from the largely coloured township of Wentworth, but with a broader accessibility and delivered in an easy rhythm and flow.
Live, Babar freestyles with aplomb. His crooning is reminiscent of Horace Andy, only less dulcet. Jet brings energy and hype. Q’s raps are sensitive to locality and inflected with social awareness. “We retain a bit of the political, but we essentially want people to hook into the music, dance and every now and again be hit with the reality of our message. We want people to enjoy us and if we are overtly political, they can switch off,” says Q.
On stage, they are staggeringly good, which is why Hot Box, released on their own label, Ruffinary Records, is a bit of a disappointment. Not that it is a bad album, but it occasionally lacks production punch and innovation, which leads to moments of competent monotony. It is good, but given their musical intelligence and potential, could be so much better. “We recorded it live and I think we put it out more because we needed our presence out there. We’re always learning,” says Q.
Originally a four-piece with Q, Nichols, Gale and David Smith (keyboards/ samples), the band is constantly changing, which has added to its musical journey: “Dave is in England at the moment and is still part of Big Idea, but we’ve got Nathan getting more into the sampling side now and his taste is different from Dave’s. Burton brought a jazzier element to the band, but he may be off to the Manhattan School of Music soon, so we are quite fluid and musically we feed on that,” says Q.
Right now, what they are hoping to feed on is success at Oppikoppi, a festival that has previously been very open to hip-hop — just witness Brasse Vannie Kaap’s triumphant debut a few years ago.
Big Idea perform at Oppikoppi on Saturday. The Oppikoppi August Bushveld Festival takes place at Northam Farm outside Pretoria until August 6. Visit: www.oppikoppi.co.za for more information