Publications
The Braai Show
SABC 1 (DStv channel 191) Wednesdays, 6pm
2.5/5
This week the global culture of hip-hop was blessed with another thunderous Verzuz battle as Ja Rule and Fat Joe went at it, hit for hit, in Madison Square Garden. It got us thinking about a local grudge match, one that has stretched on for years now.
The battle for the throne of local hip-hop between Cassper Nyovest and AKA has spilled out beyond the recording booth to altercations in the street – which we don’t condone – liquor endorsements and now hosting the same TV show.
Cassper has taken over the hosting duties on The Braai Show, which AKA held down in its first season. Now let’s be real, their diss tracks, Cassper’s Dust to Dust (2015) and AKA’s Composure (2018), were newborn-baby weak.
How exactly are you out here as a rapper attempting to diss someone with a T-Pain-sounding chorus? Too cute to be taken seriously, but the spirit of competition is what hip-hop is built on, and these cats serve that by the plate.
AKA has a Cruz Vodka deal – at least we think he still has it – and naturally Cass followed this up with the announcement of his own “luxury” alcoholic brand, Billiato. (The streets are still trying to figure exactly what kind of alcohol it is.)
AKA had a sneaker deal with Reebok a few years ago, which went south, but the few pairs that came of it are now a rare street commodity that are relished by his fan base, the Megacy.
Meanwhile, Cassper inked a deal with local sneaker brand Bathu, releasing some joints that look more sus than the Master P sneakers, but not quite as bad as Kwesta’s UrbanArt Bolts.
Cass and Mega also tried their hand at cross-over albums with AKA’s Touch My Blood (2018) at first polarising because of its pop-focused orientation. It did wonders for him on the charts, and this is something Cass hates, obviously.
So what did he do? He dropped Short and Sweet (2019), which saw him embrace kwaito tones and an Afropop allure.
Cass filled stadiums, while AKA preferred to release joint albums, such as the well-received and celebrated Be Careful What You Wish For (2017), alongside singer and producer Anatii. Just this year he worked on You’re Welcome, a joint project with Cassper’s former protégé Costa Titch.
The beef – no pun intended – around The Braai Show has even trickled over to the court of law, which is so not street.
READ: AKA’s show goes on, but his battle is far from over
You see what they’re doing, right? This is gamesmanship at its finest. By our score, AKA wins the battles of soles and he arguably won the battle of the cutest diss singles. Cassper reigns over arenas, and we just need him to send Trending a few bottles of Billiato so we can update you on the booze battle.
The beef is so thick now that they are literally trying to take each other out of the frame, and SABC1 was smart enough to facilitate this.
In the new season of The Braai Show, Cassper steps up to the grill and flips meats purchased from Woolies. To the creators of this show – try as you might, your audience can still tell what shop you’re in and which brands you’re using so please just keep the cameras focused.
Cassper chats up a storm with the likes of former Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi, comedian Mpho Popps and former boxer Dingaan Thobela.
The Braai Show is a good look for the channel but, at the end of the day, rappers need to rap.
Way too many of them are hosting TV shows and all the emcees with shows and podcasts are not rhyming as well as they once did. Consider Joe Budden, 2 Chainz and Nasty C, who had a short stint of podcasting in which his music was arguably a little diluted. Da LES has a podcast now too but not much music.
You know where A-Reece is right now, probably in the studio, just like YoungstaCPT – and we don’t mean the TV studio either.
This show consists of placid, one-on-one interviews with a subtle injection of food content, although the dishes that have been explored don’t really look too demanding or outside the box.
Maybe they should get a chef to handle the cooking – this guy lives in a mansion, where the show is filmed, and drives Rolls Royce Ghosts and Bentleys. Would a fancy chef not be a fitting look?
Shout out to Phil Mphela who reported that Cassper’s version of the show pulled in 2.2 million viewers in its premiere week, while AKA’s did 2.88 million in its first week. Cass could also use some work on polishing his interview style. We need a joint Cassper album soon but, for now, the battle for the throne continues.
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