Back to the City: Osmic on why he never books younger international acts

Founder of hip hop festival Back to the City (BTC), Osmic Menoe, is often criticised for booking old school hip hop artists, but the organiser of the festival, which has been running for 17 years, says this is done to cater for the older generation.

“I always say the older generation is hard to get out of the house because they now have kids and families. The old school acts are artists who they grew up listening to, so the international act is for them,” Osmic tells The Citizen.

BTC is an annual one-day hip hop festival that takes place at Mary Fitzgerald Square, in Newtown, Johannesburg. It has been hosted annually since 2007. It was previously held on Freedom Day each year but since the Covid pandemic, it was moved to October.

The international act

The likes of Jeru The Damaja, Pharoahe Monch, Elzhi, and EMC are some of the international old school heads that have performed on the BTC stage. Last year Talib Kweli and renowned producer Madlib made an appearance at the festivals that attract over 20 000 people each year.

There was speculation that this year will be headlined by US rapper KRS1, but Osmic explained why it’s difficult to get the much-loved wordsmith. “I did reach out to him, but the problem with KRS is that he doesn’t fly, he does want to come,” says Osmic.

“How do I get someone from America to SA on a boat?”

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With hip hop celebrating half a century of its existence, Osmic says this has made it hard to find international acts that are available. “Everyone is quite busy. I’m sure you’ve seen online, that there have been a number of festivals happening in the State celebrating 50 years of Hip Hop.”

But BTC has already found their surprise international act. “We’re busy finalising the contract now.”

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Not feasible

Despite the older rappers being attractive to the more senior heads, Osmic says booking someone that’s current is near impossible. When questioned why he can’t book two international acts who serve both the young and new, he explains how costly it would be for the festival.

“Someone like Joey Bada$$ would cost about R350K and it’s not feasible to book someone like that to BTC because that’s an entirely different show on its own. International acts are on stage for about 35-45 minutes,” explains Osmic, saying the costs would reach over R5 million if he were to book two international acts.

Cassper and Nasty C absence

There is a glaring absence of Cassper Nyovest and Nasty C on the BTC line-up that includes the likes of Kwesta, A-Reece and old school group Cashless Society.

Cassper and Nasty C had a press conference at the Hip Hop Museum (also found by Osmic) on Tuesday to launch their world tour which will include stops in Ghana, Tanzania, England, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Dubai.

“They’re in the States at the time, but there’s something cool we want to do with Cassper… like do a video from the US and show it on the day of the festival, but we’re still discussing it.”

The line-up has more than 50 acts, made up of rappers and DJs. “The line-up is reflective of the journey of the culture. But it was about who is accessible – like some old school groups don’t talk to each other or they’re no longer together,” says Osmic.

Nadia Nakai, Pretty Ugly and Big Zulu are some of the headliners.

South African producer Amu is celebrating 20 years of the release of his classic album, The Life, Rap & Drama and is expected to take the stage to perform songs from the album released in 2003.

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