With the ever-expanding amapiano movement assimilating Mzansi rap artists, such as with the exemplary cases of Sizwe Alakine and Khuli Chana, it’s no longer a taboo for South African hip-hop stars to play in the yanos territory. Late last year, one of the country’s iconic lyricists Senzo “Kwesta” Vilakazi teamed up with Kabelo “Kabza De Small” Motha to drop their debut joint album, Speak N Vrostan, an amapiano record with hybrid influences of Kwaito and hip-hop sensibilities. Directed by Bannz Version of Ofentse Mwase Films, their first music video, ‘Huzet’, features Teargas alumnus Ma-E.
Fantastic in nature, the ‘Huzet’ visuals begin with mundane kasi happenings, gusheshes doing doughnuts and spraying ghostly plumes of smoke in the air. The denizens of Katlehong gawk up with their jaws hanging, beholding the sight of a bucket hat-wearing Kwesta towering over them, the size of Godzilla. The visuals cut to Kabza rapping while perched atop a basketball backboard.
The visuals see Kwesta rapping his portion of the song as a toy-sized version of himself (as seen in the scenes where he performs sitting on a toy car improvised from an empty milk bottle and the grating of a steel fence). He also shares the spotlight with a super-sized Kabza de Small when he himself is an earth-shaking giant who kicks up gusts of wind and dust with every step he takes.
Ma-E makes his entry into the visuals with an equally absurd intro as he dangles on a gold chain, hanging like a living pendant. The ‘Lie 2 Me’ songwriter, in other scenes, multiplies himself while other versions of him seemingly walk into and out of him, synchronising themselves with his performance.
The ‘Huzet’ visuals make light of the ordinary. At the same time, the music video presents a metaphorical portrayal of Kwesta and company being the giants kasi people look up to while simultaneously being among them as everyday people by merely being in their presence.
Watch “Huzet” here:
