Minister Gayton McKenzie Pledges R12 Million Funding For SA Hip Hop

Minister Gayton McKenzie Pledges R12 Million Funding For SA Hip Hop. Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, unveiled a substantial initiative to support South African hip hop. The government is committing R12 million to fund a series of 12 concerts aimed at promoting local talent and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the hip-hop genre in the country.

During his visit to the Hip Hop Museum in Newtown, Johannesburg, Minister McKenzie highlighted the importance of supporting local artists while urging them to advocate more vigorously for their place in the music industry.

“I love hip-hop but the main message I have for everybody here is that there’s something that we can all learn. But something the Hip-hop guys in this country should learn, you’re not fitting enough for your space,” Minister McKenzie said.

“Your space is being overtaken by different genres, you’ve carried the culture. You’ve carried the music industry, you’ve carried us,” he added.

@thecitizen_news Gayton Mckenzie pledges R12million to Hip Hop development in South Africa. For more information visit Citizen.co.za #fyp #foryoupage #thecitizennews #thecitizenlifestyle #southafrica #hiphop #hiphopmusic #hiphopmuseum #gaytonmckenzie ♬ original sound – The Citizen

The Minister further stated that South African rappers must advocate for their space in the industry so that he can support them. He emphasized the need for more concerts beyond just the Back To The City event, hinting at the possibility of financing 12 concerts a year. However, he made it clear that this can only happen if hip-hop artists collaborate effectively with him.

“We can’t just have one concert like Back To The City, we need like 12 per year. So I’m saying to you from my side as the new Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture we gonna change stuff. I’m gonna make a promise right here from our department. I do believe that we should have 12 concerts, Im saying for the culture there’s gonna be 12 concerts and we will pay for those concerts,” Gayton McKenzie said.

However, the Minister mentioned that there is one condition for his promise: ensuring they have a clear understanding of how many artists are involved to prevent the exploitation of artists during the funding. “There’s one condition before we will make a million rands a month available for the concert, but there’s one condition, we want to see how many people are working and how much are they getting paid. We dont want to fund exploitation,” he added.