EKAS'LAM: SOCIAL COMMENTARY FORUM

S.C.F is a collective of mc’s working together towards a common goal. The members of the group are; Shyning amour, Joint pusher, Smurf, Dark Spark, Is and Addict. On the 24^th of February they hosted a hip hop show at the O.S.T in newtown. The place soon packed up by the hip hop masses that came to support the event. The D.J's wasted no time in getting the party started; rocking the dance floor with hot tunes and soon the crowd was dancing the night away. Before we knew it was already time for opening acts to grace the stage and it didn't take them that much to get the crowd going. The opening acts were African Monopoly, Cyrus the Virus, Addict and Future History. After the Opening acts D.J Pilzy Lee took control of the decks and rocked the crowd with their favorite tunes. Then the time had come for the main acts, amongst them was Mothipa, Projektah, Smurf, Dark Spark and the S.C.F. They had the crowd screaming on top of their lungs and enjoying hip-hop. This was really a night to remember and if you missed out don't despair, every last Saturday of every month it's on at the O.S.T where the S.C.F promises to bring you the best of the best in hip-hop. Big ups to S.C.F for their much appreciated efforts go out and support and you'll know what we hollering about.

PROFILE: CYRUS THE VIRUS

Phumelele Zikalala A.K.A Cyrus, born on the 7th of March 1982. Discovered the art of rapping in hip-hop when he was 14yrs old back in 1996.
Cyrus went on to form a crew with his peers named Grass Roots. They went on spreading their love for the art form in street ciphers and played a key role in developing the love of hip-hop in their home ground meadowlands. In 1998, they had earned their street credibility and were expanding fast, after merging with another crew of rappers from Alexandra they switched the crew name to U.R.O’s (Unidentified Rhyming Objects). During the same year U.R.O’s merged with Asylum Trybe which was one of the biggest crews at that time, in the clubs and on the streets.

By the year 2000 Cyrus had already developed his writing skill and went on to write his own solo songs. In 2002 he co-founded Dungeon Shack sessions together with a DJ Thabo and together they hosted a lot of rappers from Meadowlands during their mic sessions which helped to expose the hip-hop culture to the mainstream market in and around Soweto, to as far as the Vaal and Tshwane. In 2004 the Dungeon Shack session worked together with Black Hands Projects in partnership with all the local hip-hop sessions around Soweto, to organise a Soweto hip-hop tour. During the same year Cyrus released his debut E.P titled ‘The Real O’Sirus’ which was released independently and sold on the streets. In 2007 Cyrus took a break from music and was invited by the Cultural help-desk’ to develop his business skills for a year. He received a certificate for having attended classes on business administration. In 2009 Cyrus went back into studio to record his full length album titled ‘Journey to independence’ and after a long journey of recordings, the full offering is here which was released independently late 2010. In 2011 Cyrus established the X-GENERATION Musik to further help with managing his career that also led to the setting up of  a youtube channel purely dedicated to covering African raps and content spear headed by Cyrus the Virus. The channel features "The diaries of the illest rapper ever", a series of 16 bars from Cyrus to further promote art of  lyrics-ism in hip hop, live Performances by mostly Cyrus but also feature other rappers. Early 2012 X-GENERATION musik together with EGZABIER clothing and MOKHOZIKA enterprises teamed up to fund a project titled Team efforts media, to provide a media outlet for all their products via blogging. The address is www.teameffortsmedia.blogspot.com.

WINTER/FALL 2012/13

CYRUS PERFOMANCE@ NEXMOVMENT.wmv ( love what u do and do what u love)

EGZABIER CLOTHING: MODELED BY QUEEN'O'HEARTS( Winter/fall sneakpreview)

EGZABIER Clothing setting trends for the winter/fall of 2012/13... Once again it proves to be the house of Excellence, Elegance and swag and continues to set the latest trends.... BIG UP'S EGZABIER, TRULY INSPIRATIONAL... We look forward to the winter/fall full range. Queen'O'Hearts plans to heat up the whole winter. Watch out world she means business!!!

EKAS'LAM: STREET FASHION

MDLULI  ARTS T-SHIRTS.

This is a brother who knows the meaning of hustling, setting up stalls in local hip-hop sessions to push the brand. His collection of T-shirts has that raw touch, with original ideas he is bold and fearless...He epitomizes the sixth & nineth element of hip-hop, street fashion & entrepreneurship. BIG-UPS!!!!!!

EKAS’LAM: THE NEXT MOVEMENT

This is a local hip-hop session formerly known as Splash Jam now going by the name The Next Movement. It is located in Dube near the train station, a platform for the hip hop arts hosted every first Saturday of the month. This is where most talented rappers show cases their performing skills and market their independent products from music to T-shirts to branded caps, e.t.c. This month we got to witness the sounds of Fada Kaka; Cyrus the Virus and Truth Booth entertainment, at least that's what we experienced as far as the performances; which was enough for us because it was a heated event... Big ups to all of them!!! On the decks we had Mystical Ebony, D.BOI and more, blazing it up with hot tunes to keep the night blessed. We recommend this experience to all our readers the only downside is the transport factor for those who use public transport, but otherwise, great show indeed....