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Has MTV Base’s list of South Africa’s hottest rappers fallen off?
The annual MTV Base Hottest MC’s list event which often dominated pop culture conversations has come and go with little interest this year.
Blxckie. Picture: Instagram
Years ago, the outcome of the MTV Base Hottest MC’s list would have dominated social media conversation for days with fans largely angered by the fact that their favourite rapper was not given the recognition they feel he deserves.
Now, the double bill of episodes seeking to figure out who South Africa’s best rapper was for the year preceding the panel discussion has come and gone without much fanfare.
This is both an amusing and confusing outcome when you take into account the fact that MTV Base calls itself “a leading youth entertainment brand, famously known to be the best channel to stay ahead of today’s celebrity news and music”.
In an effort to maintain that title, the channel put together a panel of industry insiders to count down the MTV Base Top 10 Hottest MCs of 2022. An exercise that the channel has taken part in for about a decade now.
MTV Base Hottest MC’s 2022
The episodes for this year’s countdown were broadcast on MTV Base (DStv Channel 322) on 1 and 2 December and the two-part series, was hosted by Tshego Koke.
He led a panel filled with people that MTB Base calls “Hip Hop culturalists and game changers who know what it takes to reinvent the wheel”.
The channel invited people like Kyeezi, French Fry, Uncle Partytime, Misa Narrates, Marz Ambrosio and DJ Fif Laaa to the panel for this year’s discussion.
According to the channel, the MTV Base Hottest MCs list considered rappers who “beat the pandemic frenzy with excellence in reinventing their brand offering looking at musical bars and lyrics, sales, buzz and a globally recognisable x-factor in the overall presentation and market relevance”.
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The channel further argued that “South African emcees who have not released any music in the past twelve months struggled to rise to the top of the list, however, those who have consciously decided to release music really took their artistic genius to the next level”.
So, who made the list?
Well, mainstays of South African hip hop such as K.O, Priddy Ugly and Nasty C made the list alongside younger artists like 25K, Lucas Raps and Blxckie who came out tops.
The MTV Base Hottest MCs for 2022 are:
- Number 10: Lucasraps
- Number 09: Big Zulu
- Number 08: Priddy Ugly
- Number 07: Emtee
- Number 06: 25k
- Number 05: A-Reece
- Number 04: Maglera Doe Boy
- Number 03: Nasty C
- Number 02: K.O
- Number 01: Blxckie
“Before we get heated up with the list not featuring your favourite emcee, or not happy with the ranking, it’s important to note that the Hottest MC discourse is not the same as the G.O.A.T discussion,” cautioned the channel which is known to anger a few fan bases with their list.
In spite of this, fans of artists like Thato Saul, Touchline and Flame have rubbished the list for not even taking the aforementioned artists into consideration for the list.
Others called out the fact that there were no female artists included on the list.
“Being the ‘hottest’ emcee does not suggest that you are the most successful or biggest emcee, it implies that you are the ‘hottest’ during that period. Obviously, in the hip-hop world being the hottest is organically associated with being G.O.A.T. So to our beloved hip-hop emcees and hip-hip supporters, if feeling as if your hottest MC was eclipsed by someone else, well, there’s always next year to drop those sick bars that create undeniable impact,” argued MTV Base.
READ NEXT: Meet the 2022 panellists for MTV Base’s Hottest MCs countdown
Compiled by Kaunda Selisho
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