Rashid Kay On Why SA Hip Hop Has A False Status

Rashid Kay On Why SA Hip Hop Has A False Status. The conversation around an artist obtaining a certified gold or platinum award is an ongoing conversation and it seems there is not an end in sight around the hot topic. It has become a norm for a record label to award their artists with plaques to celebrate their success. Rashid Kay has opened up about what he believes to have created a false status about Hip hop music in South Africa and it seems plaques are at the root of the problem.

The outspoken radio personality shared that people lying about obtaining plaques have presented a false narrative about the genre. Rashid went on to share that plaques presented by labels are nowhere to be seen on the official RiSA website. In his tweet, Rashid wrote, “Niggas lied so much about plaques that it gave SA Hip Hop a false status. These label presented plaques are nowhere to be seen on the RISA website.” He also added in his tweet that, RiSA is the only organisation that can verify and certify plaques.

Rashid did get a bit of flack on his post from his followers but some posed some valid questions to Rashid. One tweep asked Rashid, is it wrong for a label to present an artist a plaque based on the numbers they have versus what RiSA sees. Rashid shared that RiSA will not certify the plaques given by label if they do not tick all the boxes. Another tweep shared that just because labels do not submit receipts of their sales to RiSA, it doesn’t mean the sales were not made.

“Not defending anybody, but just because people didn’t submit receipts of their sales to RISA doesn’t mean they didn’t make those sales. RISA only provides certification after an application/notification is made. The only thing a RISA certification provides is credibility,” shared the tweep.

The Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa) is behind the certification of Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum sales and streaming certification awards. According to the RiSA website, certification is open to member recording companies only and a third-party auditor to be tasked to review applications that meet the mandatory sales requirements. There are different configurations that are listed on the RiSA website that determine if an artist record will be certified. For an album to be certified gold, 15 000 units need to be sold and for platinum, 30 000 units.

It is unclear, who Rashid’s tweet was directed at but according to the recent, RiSA certification’s A-Reece’s digital single, The 5 Year plan has been certified Gold, it is the only hip hop record featured. The recent certification period is from April to July 2021.