*A Collection of Supressed Thoughts* comes and result of a longstanding friendship between Metaphysics and Trenton Birch who met back in 1992 on the Jozi Hip Hop scene
-----------
Now based in Germany, Metaphysics is best known in the Southern Hemisphere für his work as a member of the award winning grioup *A Peace Of Ebony* and is renowned for his work in television as the infamous presenmter of the Shell Road to Fame talent show during the erly 90s
Metaphysics has since gone on to perform live on stage with luminaries such as Afrika Bambaata, A Tibe Called Quest, Common, Busta Rhymes, Wu Tang Clan, Wyclef, Mobb Deep an numerous other Hip Hop heavyweights. He has established himself as one of the most dynamic rappers from the African continent, from New York to London, he cab truly be said to be Africa's foremost global hip-hop ambasador.
Metaphysics has a discography that spans more than ten albums and sevral singles. He has produced numerous projects, both for himself and international stars - the most recent of which includes the likes of Reggae super stars Buju Banton and Mr.Vegas. Back in the year 2000, Metaphysics astonished people in his hometown of Harare, when he appeared on a Maria Carey music video. Not long afterwards, he features in a Whitney Houston music video. It was then that local musicfans realized that they had their own international star representing the continent on the global music industry circuit. From that moment. Metaphysics has never lppked back. His side project *Flop Dem Crew* hit number 12 on the German reggae charts. The albums Zion and Noiz he did with the top selling German Group Söhne Mannheims, peaked at number one in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. To date the Zion and Noiz projectshave sold millions of copies collectively.
So how does he do it? *I never hesitate when it comes to switsching between musical styles* he explains. *I encompass Hip Hop in all it's forms - from old school and new school to future school* he says. The musical and lyrical form of Metaphysics' work is a variation of styles and influences. From Ethnic African and Ambient Industrial Grunge to Mainstream & pure Underground Hip Hop *I try to stay focused on a socio-politican edge and combine spirithual methaphor and hard punching reality within my lyrics* he referates. *It's all about elevating people's mind frames and having a good time while you are at it* he explains. Metaphysics is on top form and is on the forefront of pushing the new generation of african born artist into the international music sphere.
His latest offering is a collection of tracks that he has put together during the last few years of his hip hop journey. Have a listen to some of his tracks on the site and you like buy it! Support African Hip Hop!
und noch was ziemlich altes.. aus der peace of ebony und kataklizm zeiten
Metaphysics on solo tip
Recently we interviewed longtime hip hop artist Metaphysics from the Kataklizim group, who gave a run-down on hip hop in Zimbabwe (see here). Not long after, early November he surprised us by popping up in Amsterdam again where he was recording a single for a newly established American-European hip hop label. More importantly, he has a record deal in Germany and a solo album coming out soon. The Kataklizim thing is still going strong and soon he will hook up with his partner in rhymes Tendai who studies in London. Mau-Mau Released a single 'Who is the Mau' in January 1998
Kataklizm
Formerly known as 'Peace of Ebony' (for early lyrics, go to our lyrics page; to hear more recent Kataklizim stuff check out our Snd & Vid section).
The following article was written by by Ralph Borland and published on the SLY website... "Hiphop duo Kataklism will be doing a little mcing, though having seen Herb and Tendai at Stella Chiweshe's concert in the Harare Gardens the night before, they're likely to be a little frazzled. Fortunately for them, the crowd is small on this greying-over afternoon, and we leave after a brief set. They're also up for a set at Circus Night Club that night, but somehow I think it's going to be Club Duvet instead, or they're not going to make their appearance opening for the Zimbabwe vs. Zambia match at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The crowd Tich wants is the crowd Circus had on Thursday night, big gym boys with Timberlands and American athletic gear, mixed in with the occasional expensive suit, and the fliest girls I've seen in Harare.
Mmm, where do they go in the daytime, 'cos I haven't seen these on the streets. It's a predominantly black and coloured crowd, and with the highest cover charge of any club in Harare, you either have connections - that's mostly the dredd-locked mcs and your occasional reporter - or you're well-heeled. It's a very smart, hip crowd under the pink neon sign in the Viper Pit bar, (though not a speedballing celebrity in sight) and the newly refurbished interior with its mirrors and white tiles, chrome furniture and potted plants is oh so Miami Vice. The bass is just on the unpleasantly loud side with the dancefloor empty, and the tunes are strictly imported hiphop and r'n'b. They're big on the new r'n'b style, uptempo, and the hiphop is straight up commercial, no underground. Some nice tunes, a good night out, but nothing particularly creative going on here.
It isn't the kind of hiphop Kataklism are into producing. Herb, Herbert Schwaamborn, was the centre of the group A Peace of Ebony, who produced one album in about 1992, and then disbanded. There were three of them: Tony now mcs with BlackFoot Tribe in Harare, getting some radioplay. George Phiri, whom I know to be a talented singer and mc and whom everyone tells me is definitely going places if he conquers a little lifestyle problem, raps alongside ragga mc Potatoe for Andy Brown and the Storm, who pack out venues several times a week with a Shona jit, afrorock, jazz fusion style. Andy Brown's a veteran of earlier crossover group Ilanga, who made an impact in the late eighties. "When A Peace of Ebony took their music down to Gauteng, they made a big impact on the music scene with their house influenced hiphop beats" local music journalist and producer Dennis Tapfuma tells me, crediting the crew with - excuse me - influencing the development of kwaito in South Africa. He reminds me that Arthur too is a Zimbabwean.
Kataklism's new album is as musically diverse, within a broadly hiphop genre, as that earlier project which incorporated housey beats, mbira playing, singing and mcing, programmed and live drumming. Herbert's new music has gained in maturity over the years since then, programming in his bedroom studio, playing his keyboards and making his samples. This new album is hot. There's a slow kwaito pulse behind much of it, under layers of jazz and hiphop influence, and Tendai and Herb are lyrically intelligent and verbally dexterous. Look out for their video. Their music is Zimbabwean without being part of the established genres of Zimbabwean music. This is a problem.
The buying public want traditional Zimbabwean pop. Kataklism's set at the National Sports Stadium got little reaction from the povo. It's great that local stars outsell any foreign artist - this I heard from the head of pop station Radio Three, Admire Tederera - but the tastes of the people are limited mainly to the jit, chimurenga and more recently sungura forms, genres that have ruled the industry. "Young musicians find it difficult to break into the industry because the majority of the population is rurally based, and identify with what is generally local. People would rather just listen to local hiphop than buy it - if they buy music from other genres, they'd rather buy international artists", continues Admire. It's a common complaint amongst musos in Zimbabwe. If the music they produce sounds closer to an international genre, then they get pigeonholed as an imitation of something done better overseas.
Germany: Exclusive Interview With Metaphysics Posted on Tuesday, November 30 @ 08:59:25 SAST
Time for the legends! The Interview you have been waiting all year for. Africasgateway caught up with the man, Metaphysics to bring you this exclusive interview. Read on…
Welcome to Africasgateway. We chilling with Metaphysics. Yo, Meta what's up?
Yo, what's going on?
Thank you for having me on Africasgateway. I always log on and its one of the realest sites where you can keep up to date to what's happening in the African hip-hop scene. Big up.
When people discuss southern African hip-hop and its pioneer hip-hop groups like Peace of Ebony or obscure underground hits by Kataklizim, somehow the name Herbert Schwamborn always pops up. Who is this mysterious character who seems to have had a hand in so many projects? Who is Metaphysics?
Yeah. Basically I'm Metaphysics and all those names you mentioned are projects I've been behind; creator of "Kataklizim", creator of "A Peace of Ebony"...
I'm just a hip-hop head trying to get ahead.
Many people were feeling Kataklizim, mainly due to the very dope video that Channel O has had so many times in their play list. What happened to the group?
That's good to know. I am surprised that video got so much rotation on Channel O in South Africa. It's unfortunate that we never got an album to follow it up. But I am really glad... - Yo! Sorry. I got my man next to me trying to distract me, a brother by the name of Xavier Naidoo…-
Haha. Big up to Xavier.
(shoutouts, sounds like they having a party in the background)
Now you said the Kataklizim album never came out?
Yeah the Kataklizim never dropped in SA. We didn't have money to actually print it. But we did manage to do the video and I am really glad it's still on rotation. I still get a lot of love from the energy off that. We were just trying to be creative at the time, using the minimal resources that we had then: basically a camera, an editing team and just pure energy.
Who was handling the production?
It was me, basically…
Big Up.
At that time we were still trying to come to grips with production. Our music styles at that time were still developing. It was also hard trying to figure out a direction with our sound, whether we were to go for an ethnic sound or more of that NY gritty sound.
For the young heads can you tell us about Peace of Ebony?
Yes, POE was 1992. My first band I put together after I came out of high school. I can say that today, its one of my most successful projects.
Basically we had seen these cats like Universal Zulu Nation, ATCQ, the whole movement, STETSASONIC, etc… Everybody at the time in hip-hop was Afro-centric and we just felt that we had to create that African identity and that's what it was.
It was sort of a young, innocent-like stage in African hip-hop and it's us as musicians or emcees trying to develop. When I look back at it now I see it as an innocent project.
Tell us about your current project "Soehne Mannheims"?
" Söhne Mannheims" is a band of 14 members based in Germany. The leader of the band and main dude Xavier Naidoo is half South African, half Indian, -the brother that was shouting in the background. Right now I could say its one of the top German bands out there. It's a very spiritually oriented band in the sense that we are trying to break down systems; political and brainwash systems.
Its not hardcore hip-hop or hard core pop. It's just the fine line. It's just a collection of musicians creating a movement that is quite revolutionary.
How did you hook up with Xavier?
I was running the underground circuit at the time and my rep was expanding. Xavier's DJ heard about me, and at that time they were looking for an emcee that could express himself verbally in English. They asked me to come through, to check if I was on the level or whatever. Vinny was just blown away by the lyrical content and introduced me to the rest of the members who, including Xavier from word jump were like, "you a part of this".
His (Xavier's) joint with Rza last year was a banger.
Yeah for real. Rest in peace to ODB!
For real, rest in peace to Dirty.
Crazy… But yeah, definitely the joint with Rza was a No 1 single. He also signed a guy by the name of Carlos, who engineered the 36 chambers album.
How come we didn't get to see you on the W.A.R. (World According to Rza) project?
Too much red tape man. Too much bureaucracy. The people behind it were major labels and they were targeting more well known / commercial figures from the region. By the time I got connected to what was going on, it was too late as most of the tracks had already been recorded.
I was feeling that project for connecting hip-hop heads from all over the world (or at least Europe).
Yeah, the intention was good but there was definitely an element of economic motivation. It still took someone like the Rza to be creative and hook something like that up.
It's nice man, since then I have had the chance to share the stage with Cappadonna and Inspektah Deck. I rocked with the Rza himself. Those cats are real, man. People you listen to, try to emulate and its cool to finally meet them and speak to them one on one.
Which producers or artists would you still like to work with?
Right now I am trying to develop my own skills. There was a time I had like 50 names. I still admire the works of J-Dilla, I'm feeling 9th Wonder, Blockhead, dude that produced Aesop's first joint and Def Jux. Those cats...
There are a lot of creative people, even in SA. The beats coming out now are banging!
Yeah, the scene is growing.
Definitely and I think just the accessibility of a pc and technology has just increased the level.
You got some dope social-conscious/deep tracks for real but peeps want to know what happened to Metaphysics the player or maybe you were never really that?
Yo, I got thousand aliases man. I got Crack Baby, that's just one of my aliases. He is wild as fuck, a vulgar character! I just dropped a new promo album called Black Butterfly and that is mad jiggy. It's got some ill ass jiggy tracks. It's all about expressing yourself in many ways. I m not trying to confine myself man.
Do you think that it is necessary for "hardcore" artists to "water down" their content in order for their message to reach more people?
I don't know how it is back home, if we still censored as much. But out here, you got songs like "Fuck it" or whatever blowing up. So that era of washing down your music is way past gone. If you know your audience and who you trying to reach then you don't have to wash down nuttin.
It's up to the artist?
Its up to you. If you follow the audience you will do something poppy for more airplay. But hip-hop is hip-hop. We grew up on NWA, you know: that vulgar essence of hip-hop. You don't have to be shy of that.
What are your thoughts on the language debate going around that says mc's should really represent where they are from, hence they should rap in their own languages ("mother-tongues") and "keep it real"?
Like for me: When I was back home in Zim. We used to have songs that were specifically done in our native tongue, Shona. Because there are certain jokes or punch lines that you can't really do or say in English, so we did it in our native tongue. If you trying to reach a mass audience then you have to communicate on the common level.
But I'm down! If you know cats in Soweto, up in Zola, Alex, on that gritty, wordplay... Cats in the Cape Flats they got those puns and those certain words from cultural influences that you can't just emulate in English, then just SAY it! Why not? There's no rules to this here. It's about communication and if you communicate to the right people, the message that you're trying to convey comes across.
I know you also get behind the boards and do your thing sometimes. As a beat-maker how do you feel about sampling?
If the sample is nice, I ´ma snatch it! But I had a problem with clearing those joints. That's a B. Just trying to clear them, takes longer than making album. So now I am swaying away from it. And being surrounded by so many musicians sort of inspires me to play. But I survive off that (sampling).
"With confidence I turn my words into art" Dope lines man. How do you find inspiration to write? What kind of zone do you have to be in?
I grew up listen to the real cats, Rakim, Krs, and Nas. I grew up amongst wordsmith's. Peeps like Aesop. People that when you are alone, listening through the headphones and you turn the volume up, they can take you and put you in the picture. I always felt it is necessary that if you working with words then whoever is listening should be able to feel you; to be able to stand with you, in that rhyme.
Honestly, its motivation coming from cats that I listened to before.
You have done television work before so I guess you always had an interest in the visual arts. How was the experience working at the SABC?
I did "Shell Road to Fame". I did inserts and started a video production work for Arthur, Makhendlas and the Kwaito scene-
Quickly, how you feel about Kwaito?
What?
Kwaito music?
Its dope man. But it depends because there is some funny-bunny-gaye shit out there. I'm feeling the raw stuff.
True, true…Now, back to the SABC. Was the Old Guard willing to try the new ideas you guys were bringing to the table?
For me it was a case of survival. I had to pay the rent. To a degree you had to confine your creativity to what they wanted. But I'm a renegade. I grew up on hip hop music, and hip-hop at that time was about change. Slowly they came to grips that they couldn't stop this cat! It wasn't only me, there were other cats too: Tim, Crooked Tooth... Renegades trying to change the face of the industry.
But TV is still the system. At the end of the day I was just using the system to get some ends to do what I wanted to do.
Your video discography is quite impressive. When can we expect a DVD compilation for those that can't hunt down all them joints or those too gangsta to watch MTV?
I don't know if I'll put it on DVD because I don't think it's worth charging people for those particular videos. But if I can, it should be possible that you can just contact me and I will send them to you.
I remember an insert on the "INSIDE INFO" magazine and it was about you driving around going to various record labels, looking for a deal. Do you remember that one?
Yeah, I never got that record deal man. Shit never happened. *laughs*
Your exploits were unsurprisingly fruitless. How frustrating was it to find a deal for a hip-hop artist back then? What excuses were given to you by the labels then?
The thing with major companies is that there are too many people in positions they don't really have no control over. Everybody answers to someone else. Or you dealing with some guy who is in charge of the Kwaito department but goes home and listens to his Rock albums.
That just gave me a deeper insight into how things work there. Those guys sitting in their cozy offices… their time is up!
It motivated me to become independent and that is the energy I carry on to this day.
From "Hectic Poetic" to "Söhne Mannheims", you have been a member of so many group efforts but you still have solo joints out there. What do you enjoy more, working with others or going out for self? Is creativity limited within a group?
Not really, especially if you working with masters of their trade. You can only learn.
I definitely prefer solo on my hip-hop stuff because then I work faster. But I also get a lot of inspiration working with a group or a band because someone is always taking it to the next level, to new heights. You can learn from those elements and apply it later on your own stuff. So I am comfortable on both ends of the spectrum.
What was your first hip-hop tape/lp? Can you still remember?
My first experience was, my grandfather bought me a ghetto blaster. I turned it on one Wednesday evening and the first thing that came on was a program called "Raptivity Jam" hosted by a cat called K-lib Tondelani (sp?). It was ill! One of the tracks that stuck to me was a track called "Fast Life", by Grandmaster whatever and I could relate to that shit. I was like what the fuck is this?!!
So on the next day I went out on a mission to find a tape with that kind of music. The first tape I got was Run-DMC. They were aight and I was lucky that my copy was an original. Some older cats wanted that and one of them told me he'd give me 2 tapes for that one so we swapped and I ended up with a MC Sheisty tape and Audio Two. Audio two just took it to another level!
Top Billing?
That was a classic man. "What more can I say?"
In unison: "Top Billing!"
What can we expect from Meta in the near future?
I don't know man. I'm trying to get back home and release some stuff. Look out for a January - February release of a compilation called "Collection of Supressed Thoughts" on Afro-lution Records, a new label by my man, Trent Birch. Cats back home better look for that!
It's a selection of tracks I have done over the last couple of years. Some hot, some lame... It's just to give cats an idea on how we have been holding it down this side. Either than that, everyday is a new track man.
As an experienced one, what advice do you have for young African heads on the come-up?
Be yourself & do you!
Realize what you intentions are. If you trying to make money, then come up with a solid business plan. If you trying to be righteous in this shit, then seek knowledge from those who have been through it before you. Just be you.
lol und noch eine hübsche selbst präsentierte discographie:
Posted 28-06-2004 at 12:35
Anonymous (aka Meta) Yea thank you too all of you posting on this thread its nice to know that heads out there are in touch...
Props Orion Pax aka Sub Zeez.
On a real much has happened after that video was shot way back in 98 (I think ?), I have over 10 New videos that I have directed and put out including a Porno Style Joint that my alter ego Crack Baby Did, thats my illest joint too.
VIDEOGRAPHY Peace Of Ebony (Vuka) Kataklizim (day and night) Mellow Bag (day to day) Metaphysics feat Defesis (EP) Crack Baby (that ass) Metaphysics featuring clueso (the disk) Metaphysics (its only right) Xavier Naidoo fet Metaphysics (id be waiting) Flop Dem crew (the way you move) Metaphysics (its a science) *new
Pluss in two weeks we do two new videos with my band, which enterd the German charts at number one this week ( www.soehnemannheims.de ) the site is in german though.
Im putting a DVD out with just underground videos soon, like my boy Lenny did in germany he made an LP with a video for each track cats out here put in work.
Hope to get some shit out in Africa this year so stay tuned.. Props to the only real Hip Hop Actavist LEE on YFMs HARAMBE the girl got vision more than the rest of these fake crabs out there !!.
You can Get my joints on www.amazon.com ELEVATED PERCEPTION and DIGITAL GARDEN
____________________ Die Neigungen des Herzens sind geteilt wie die Äste einer Zeder. Verliert der Baum einen starken Ast, so wird er leiden, aber er stirbt nicht. Er wird all seine Lebenskraft in den nächsten Ast fließen lassen, auf dass dieser wachse und die Lücke ausfülle. [ Khalil Gibran ]
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