Artist: Tumi (featuring Zubz)
Song: Usain Bolt
Album: Whole Worlds (2009)
Some songs require a bit of mileage (personal, ‘scene” or otherwise) before they attain some form of pop cultural relevance but Usain Bolt, by Tumi and the Volume, breathes fresh life into the term ‘instant classic”.
10pt’>Tumi and Zubz (Liam Lynch)
As a lesser track on what is regarded as a landmark second solo album from Tumi, it could possibly have languished in the shadows of what is a significant body of work. Yet news of the track started to spread virally on Twitter and elsewhere just days after advance copies of Whole Worlds started to circulate, with fans comparing lyrics and favourite phrases of both Tumi and Zubz. As anyone into rap music knows, that’s the hard currency with which a song pays its dues.
The first live performance of the track was significant. It felt like a flashback: a quiet Saturday night in Jozi’s Newtown, and a small crowd of faithful followers not unlike the pre-payday sessions that used to take place at 206 in the late Nineties. Indeed, with DJ Bob of the legendary Orange Grove nightspot in attendance and Bionic on the decks, many a head in the crowd was filled with memories of ‘those days”.
In the present they weren’t. The performance (low key, even intimate) was electrifying, with the crowd mouthing lyrics back at the artists underscoring the underground relevance that this piece of music has gained — a key factor of any hip-hop gem.
There are many aspects to what makes a piece of music a truly great track. A producer’s touch is never taken lightly and industry notables, here and abroad, create reputations with behind-the-scenes innovations and stylistic signatures. That said, the essence of hip-hop songwriting resides in the lyrics, in the flow rather than in the melody. The rhythm is significant in the way it’s spoken rather than played on any instrument other than the human voice. Tumi and Zubz, like opposite sides of the same coin, are masters of the written word and the manner in which it is delivered to an audience.
In the case of Usain Bolt, Canadian Rene ‘Snaz”Hill’s production plays its part, as do the strong, almost plaintive vocals of Adreena Mill on the refrain. A good verse by an MC is comparable to a legendary take of the greatest of singers; it is not hyperbole to say that Tumi and Zubz are of the best Mzansi has to offer.
Speaking of the best, Tumi makes a point of name-checking a few of the illustrious in his verse with some key references, complimentary and otherwise, neatly inserting a disclaimer of sorts in his flow prior to the list with ‘— some things you like I might not salute / It’s nothing but love for you / I say it with absolute / Respect, the rules say gotta check your crew—”. Thereafter follows a flurry of put-downs and praise alike.
Zubz likewise has a subtle axe to grind, starting his verse (as does Tumi) with a direct reference to Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter, Olympian and phenomenal record breaker. Zubz considers Bolt a symbol to many of perseverance, focus, single-mindedness, the aim to keep “running and running and not stopping”— someone unable to be kept back. Later in his verse, he steers towards darker waters, recalling the media outcry and misunderstanding that surrounded him at the time of the xenophobic attacks, highlighting his own ‘outsider” status as a Zambian-born artist. Then he ties it all together with how ‘they’re bothered when I screw with them with ‘tracks that offend ears’.”
For all the bravado displayed by both in what Zubz defines as ‘ultimately a venting track”, there is also a moment of professional self-awareness, in which Tumi expresses regret at the fact that he doesn’t rate as highly with his cousins as an ‘artist to watch” as DJ Sbu.
Both MCs engage in some biting wordplay. Both are sharp enough to couch their words in self-awareness recalling voices like Guru, Rakim, CL Smooth and other conscious MCs that were to follow, ones almost out-dated in the eyes of those new to the game. Yet it was painfully relevant to those invested in the future of hip-hop as an art form, especially here in SA.
As if to highlight this, Zubz finishes with lyrics that could as easily have come from Tumi in principle, lyrics that could serve as a manifesto for what is required for local hip-hop to have a future as big as it dares to dream: ‘Got so much more to bring and I ain’t even started / I traded in ‘The Rapper’, so I could be “The Artist”.
Tumi (featuring Zubz) – Usain BoltThis song appears as a hidden track on the Tumi’s album Whole Worlds (2009).More podcasts
Usain Bolt – lyrics
I am running
No stopping
Can’t hold me back now
I came to shut it down
No matter what they do
I’ll be victorious, victorious
Tumi:
Newsflash: “USAIN BOLT JUST QUIT RUNNING!”
Looked back, like you can’t fault the kids stunning
Said it was the crowds yelling
That pumped the steroids in him
Feeling so Air Jordan he could break records wearing denim
Slow down at the finish give him shit to remember
A picture, a centerfold, the image of carrying gold; the winner
That episode ended
Now its an old legend
Stripped of his gold medals
They are awarding the slow turtles
I want the score settled
So I am gone speak open lettered
Address it to all journalists, all audiences
The rappers and broke urban kids caught on the fences
Like do we support the Pros or ball with the Da L.E.Ss
Ordinarily, I am more concerned with ethics
Your belief, your agenda, not really who the freshest
But F it,
I am gone liposuck this shit off my chest hairs
Tummy tuck, can’t stomach you fucks
And that’s urgent (pronounced ‘That Surgeon’)
First and
Foremost
Its hard to speak local
When you’re global
And you always rolling in a league of your own
Ozone, outta here
Atmosphere is unknown
We are not peers I am in a different time zone
I am bright, when its dark for you
My night is your afternoon
And some things you like I might not salute
Its nothing but love for you
I say it with absolute
Respect, the rules say gotta check your crew
Motswako the new shit, a movement
But not quite, cuz some how
Ego seems to ruin it
Who is the king of it?
Tuks is, Zeus is, Khuli is,
All the while Jabba’s profile became stupid
Skwatta went solo, Flabba made porno
Slikour went Patrice with that Ventilation logo
He’s more business than flow so
I am feeling like a show-off
Too fast for the races when I go off
Its so wrong
But it gets to me
That my cousins don’t check for me
I take it personally
That they be on that DJ Sbu Vibe
So I work with Bricks like Group 5
Don’t call it new house
Homie, we build a new start
Zubz:
Newsflash: “USAIN BOLT JUST QUIT RUNNING!”
How could one man pushing his dream uplift hundreds
I trained just the same as him
Learnt the rules so I could play out the game like him
Stadium: On Your Mark; Get Set
When I spark, you’re wet
Look how dark it gets when your heart gets vexed
I Zimbabwean, yes, and I feel it in my bones
Lived in Jo’ burg, yet, I don’t really feel at home
‘Cos it’s horror when your brother’s getting smothered in paraffin
Just ‘cos he’s from the wrong part of these borders
And all of them are cool with me, I “rapped here ten years!”
But they’re bothered when I screw with them with “tracks that offend ears”
Ban me this year, throw rocks at my art
But I’m standing next year, top of the charts
An innovator I make my own moves
Tumi, they stay confused
I don’t play by their rules they’re booty
Ass Cheeks
Never question my profession
Zubz The Last Letta at his best in a Recession
Barely moved by what makes the daily news
‘Cos these God given eyes see clearly through the air pollution
So if I’m sporting them, I’m endorsing them
And I don’t wins awards, I’m awarded wins
Got so much more to bring and I ain’t even started
I traded in “The Rapper”, so I could be “The Artist”.
Every week, the M&G chooses one great song that says something about what it means to be South African. We write from the perspective of the listener, and in the belief that art is greater than artists will ever know. Suggest your own great South African songs here.