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‘He caters to both markets’: Osmic Menoe on Benny The Butcher being Back to the City’s international act
Founder of Back to the City (BTC) Osmic Menoe says he’s found the ideal international act in Benny the Butcher
Osmic (L) has booked US rapper Benny the Butcher for this year’s Back to The City festival. Pictures: Joburg Culture/Facebook, Momodu Mansaray, Getty images
Osmic Menoe, the founder of Back to the City (BTC), says he’s found the ideal international act in US rapper Benny the Butcher for the 18th instalment of the hip-hop festival.
“He’s an artist that caters to both markets; the younger and the older generation who appreciate a certain kind of hip hop. He cracks that tight rope,” Menoe told 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 since 2007.
It was previously held on Freedom Day each year, but since the Covid pandemic, it was moved to October. This year’s edition will be hosted on 12 October.
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Benny the Butcher’s balance
Benny the Butcher is a US rapper whose style is considered authentic because of his appreciation for lyricism, something that’s often cited to be missing in most rappers’ music today.
He, together with his cousins Conway The Machine and Westside Gunn, through their label Griselda, began getting traction around 2016 and has solidified his place on the mainstream hip hop landscape, working with the likes of Mary J Blige and J Cole.
“It didn’t make sense to book him three or four years ago, he’d be seen as an underground artist,” Menoe said.
Speaking to The Citizen last year, Menoe said that the international act at the festival was for the older audience.
“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,” Menoe said.
BTC has previously drawn criticism from younger people who complained that the festival never books artists who are current.
In 2018, when Grammy award winning Chance The Rapper was in the country, local hip hop fans saw that as a missed opportunity to have a rap artist in their prime, on the BTC stage.
International acts that have performed at the festival in recent years include Jeru The Damaja, Pharoahe Monch, eMC and Keith Murray.
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Positive reaction
Menoe said there was anticipation about who the international guest was, through their ‘guess who’s coming’ competition where people had to make predictions.
“Fifty people got it right. I guess they had been expecting him,” he said.
Menoe said he’s seen an immediate positive response from the local hip hop community since announcing Benny the Butcher earlier this week.
“We’ve had more than three million impressions on social media since we made the announcement. People have been retweeting it and sharing it. Our ticket sales have also seen a jump,” said the entrepreneur.
“It’s refreshing to see that our gamble is working.”
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Hip Hop celebration
Menoe said the festival will be bigger this year with a theme park situated on the park near Bassline.
“The rides that will be there are not for four-year-olds. They are for people over the age of 18 and we’re targeting the kid in the grown up person. We want to give people that feeling they had when they went to Rand Easter Show.”
This year’s festival will include 100 stalls selling merchandise, streetwear, records, art, and accessories, and over 200 stalls with a variety of food.
The basketball courts and skating ramps are available for those who want to show off their skills. On-site, there will be gaming stations for the gamers. Graffiti artists can win big at the Graffiti Battle, as well as the 10K Challenge.
The organiser said this year will celebrate 40 years of South African hip hop.
“This year’s also special because we are celebrating 30 years of democracy as a country. Hip hop and poetry played a vital role in our history’s struggle and we want to celebrate our freedom,”
The line-up has more than 50 acts, made up of rappers and DJs. The line-up of artists set to perform this year also include Nasty C, Maglera Doe Boy, Stogie T and Priddy Ugly.
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