Fans celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary at Back to The City

With a 100 rappers, 40 DJs and 13 graffiti artists, Back to The City (BTC) celebrated Hip Hop in its entirety on Saturday at Johannesburg’s Mary Fitzgerald Square to much appreciation from patrons who attended.

“Thank you, Hip Hop fans for joining us at Back To The City Festival as we celebrated 50 incredible years of this culture that moves us all. Your energy and passion made this celebration unforgettable,” read a statement from the event’s social media pages.

BTC is an annual one-day hip hop festival that takes place at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown. The event has been hosted annually since 2007.

It was previously held on Freedom Day each year but since the Covid-19 pandemic, it was moved to October.

A celebration of Rap

The festival celebrated 50 years of hip hop and 40 years of the genre’s presence in South Africa. One of the pillars of Hip Hop in South Africa, Amu, celebrated the 20th anniversary of his album The Life, Rap & Drama.

Celebrating the album which came out in 2003, rapper and producer Amu invited some of his biggest collaborators on stage last night, including Zola who performed his classic Ghetto Scandalous which features Amu and KB.

One of the day’s stand-out performers included actress and rapper Mandisa Nduna, who goes by the moniker Zulu Mecca on stage.

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International act, Mobb Deep who were represented by one half of the duo, Havoc was also one of the night’s best performers.

Speaking to The Citizen, BTTC organiser and founder Osmic Menoe said he booked older international acts as a way for catering 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 said.

 “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,” Osmic explained, adding that the costs would reach over R5 million if he were to book two international acts.

Fan reaction

In previous years, patrons have often complained about pick pocketers and other criminal elements disrupting the show, but fans were complimentary of the festival’s organisation this year.

“I loved how safe the whole festival felt . From parking at the mall , through the Market theatre to the Sci-bono entrance . There was Visible policing and security ! Volunteers and the people who were wearing yellow T-shirts( info),” wrote Tshiamo Tshida Mosenyi on Facebook.

“It even looked like there was less pick pocketing incidents as well. Osmic Menoe and Back to the City Festival , you did your homework and curated a superb Event that took us “Back to the City” ! Big up star.”

While Sihle Nyeleti TheStar Mtetwa said thie year’s instalment was his best by far.

“2023 Back to the City Festival  was my best thus far, I’ve been to all except two and this was my favourite by far. Met a lot of my FB friends, saw people I ain’t seen in forever and life was spoken into me in a way I can’t describe. Will make time to type out a review of the whole show.”

“For now though shout out to Osmic Menoe , Rashid Kay, Pumla MsHiphop Lorna and everyone else that put this impeccable show together. It looked and felt absolutely amazing.”

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