It was Core Wreckah who first put us on to Lesotho rapper Kommanda Obbs a while ago. Asked for some background about this video, Kommanda tells us that “Ts’epe was shot in the mountainous villages of Bela Bela and Maputsoe in Lesotho. The aim of the song is to instil confidence in youth so that they embrace their cultures while learning about other cultures. The video introduces the album, the movement and the official Sesotho version of hip-hop. ‘Ts’epe’, which could be translated literally as ‘iron’, is used figuratively in this context as hard-hitting lyricism. The radio dj’s in Lesotho and certain parts of South Africa are really supportive. The video is currently playing on Lesotho TV.” We can see why.

Further Reading

The people want to breathe

In Tunisia’s coastal city of Gabès, residents live in the shadow of the phosphate industry. As pollution deepens and repression returns, a new generation revives the struggle for life itself.

After Paul Biya

Cameroon’s president has ruled for over four decades by silence and survival. Now, with dynastic succession looming and no clear exit strategy, the country teeters between inertia and implosion.

Leapfrogging literacy?

In outsourcing the act of writing to machines trained on Western language and thought, we risk reinforcing the very hierarchies that decolonization sought to undo.