Sobering Podcast Weighs In On Whether There’s A Prejudice Against A-Reece In SA Hip Hop
Sobering Podcast Weighs In On Whether There’s A Prejudice Against A-Reece In SA Hip Hop. A-Reece’s popularity among fans in the South African hip-hop scene is truly extraordinary. The renowned rapper’s ascent to prominence is greatly attributed to the steadfast backing from his devoted Slimes fanbase.
Despite the immense love and support from fans, there’s a prevailing sentiment that the Pretoria-based rapper isn’t receiving adequate acclaim within the South African hip-hop culture. Speaking during their first episode of 2024, the Sobering Podcast hosts Kabelo Moremi, Kitso Moremi and Mokgethwa tapped into a discussion about A-Reece‘s not having enough recognition from his industry peers.
The discussion arose when A-Reece was conspicuously absent from the top 10 in the list of the Top 50 SA Hip Hop Artists of All Time. “You know guys there’s an agenda, I got a conspiracy dawg, I won’t lie. My conspiracy is like, for these mainstream lists and all of the lists, there is a prejudice against Reece,” Kabelo Moremi said.
Thabelo expressed the view that the South African hip-hop industry treats A-Reece’s work as if it’s merely ordinary, lacking the recognition it deserves to be at the forefront of the list among the best in the game. “We acting like what dude is doing is normal. All of the things that we feel that he’s supposed to do quote on quote seem to be counting against all of the things that he’s actually doing, it’s the weirdest thing,” Thabelo added.
Regarding the question of whom he would exclude from the top 10 list to make room for A-Reece, Thabelo clarified that his perspective is not solely derived from Boss TLee’s list. Instead, he considers other lists that have featured A-Reece, albeit seemingly as a formality.
“My thing is that this statement I just put out right, is more on a broader scale it’s not really based on this list because there were other lists that came and I mean the televised list. They always have him (A-Reece) on the bottom half of that list just to say just be there.
“If you look at what he did in 2023 it was on par with whoever was probably in the top three if not better. The homie had the highest streaming hip-hop album of the year,” Thabelo said.
