The Lesotho Rap Archive Project
The Lesotho Rap Archive Project is an exciting endeavour that explores and chronicles the evolution of hip hop and rap in the Southern African region over the past two decades.
In a digital age where moments and trends pass by us quicker than our collective attention spans, capturing the creative zeitgeist is more important than ever. This is especially true in under-resourced regions where infrastructure may be lacking but talent certainly is not.
Exploring the cultural origins of a movement provides a valuable glimpse into the past, serving as a wellspring of inspiration and establishing a benchmark for quality. Beyond this, it fosters a sense of identity while preserving a rich heritage. This makes endeavours like the Lesotho Rap Archive Project (LRAP) all the more laudable.
Spearheaded by Tello Leballo, aka Dallas T, and Tseliso Monaheng, the project highlights underdocumented seminal events in Lesotho hip-hop and traditional accordion music (famo) from the last 20 years. The LRAP takes place over the next seven months, unfolding through various mediums: a series of podcasts, a film, a native language writing programme, and articles and think pieces, all focusing on the history and contemporary landscape of rap music and hip-hop culture in Southern Africa.
Dallas T, the project manager, is an influential DJ in his own right, and founder of Lesotho’s first online radio station, Sky Alpha HD. Monaheng, the creative director, is an internationally recognised documentary filmmaker and journalist. Masero-born Monaheng’s recent film, A Gentle Magic, which explores the resurgence of skin-lightening products in South Africa, had its premiere in New York as part of the African Film Festival.
Together, they’re ecstatic about mining their Basotho music knowledge to champion the Kingdom in the Sky’s underrepresented sounds and lift the veil on its rich artistic lineage.
The endeavour is backed by the Sound Connects Fund, Music in Africa Foundation, Goethe-Institut, as well as the European Union in Lesotho, with plans to establish a pan-African artist network. They join the ranks of other archival projects such as Hidden Years, which documents the development of Masakanda, the ‘Zulu blues’, and forms part of the greater South African Music Archive Project.
So far, the Archive is brimming with a diverse range of posts, from think pieces about Lesotho hip-hop’s trajectory to the role illegal MP3 downloads have played in the scene. LRAP has kept it current too by profiling hitmakers like Ntate Stunna and scene custodians like Hympthatic Thabs, an affiliate of the Queenstown-bred Kendrick Lamar collaborator Yugen Blakrok.
Whatever these cultural guardians document next will be worth following, fanning the flames of Lesothan creativity while building diasporic bridges. As Monaheng puts it, “There’s power in the archive. There’s power in ownership.”
Alongside rap music's rich culture, the LRAP also focuses on famo, a fascinating genre created by Basotho migrant workers in the 1920s. Many famo artists do not write nor read music, making documenting the style all the more important.
The Lesotho Rap Archive programme will be hosted on Sky Alpha HD and their website over the next seven months through audio broadcasts, film and text.
Words by Neil Büchner Jr for Letterhead
Lesotho Rap Archive Project website and Instagram.