Thread: BOOM SHAKA. The hits, the message and a South African youth revolution.

A couple of disclaimers.

1. This thread will focus the music they made in the group (1993 - 2000)
2. I'll try to go in chronological order but take that with a grain of salt
3. There's very little footage from the 90s so the quality of the footage I found is terrible

Boom Shaka was the pioneering kwaito group that was signed to Kalawa in 1993. The formula was simple yet effective with each member having a role.

Lebo was the lead female vocalist, Theo was the lead male vocalist , Junior the reggae rapper and Thembi the hip hop rapper.

It's 1993, Bubblegum music is losing popularity in the SA townships and Apartheid has just been repealed. After decades of political struggle and freedom music the black youth was looking for a new sound and a soundtrack to celebration.

Boom Shaka debuts with It's About Time

The message was simple. The youth was tired of talking politics, it was time to dance, to drink and to twerk on stage while doing handstands.

It's About Time would become on of the best selling songs in SA history at a time when it wasnt even sold in CD and Cassette stores.

After the post Apartheid influx of African foreign nationals moving into townships caused xenophobic attacks, Boom shaka uses the their first LP to counter growing xenophobic rhetoric in SA.

1994's Kwere Kwere becomes the groups second major platinum hit.

By the end of 1994 Boom Shaka is the biggest group in SA. Their hair, their clothes & their dance moves were being replicated throughout the country.

With It's About Time and Kwere Kwere they're also the first act (along side Arthur) to get kwaito on mainstream radio.

1996 is the year Boom Shaka releases the follow up album It's Our Game (No Need To Claim).

The first single Thobela becomes their biggest hit to date and the song of the summer (I hate the quality sorry but you get the point).

Found this early performance of Thobela. Get into the fits.

The group releases another hit single with the dancehall dipped "It's On" in 1996 (hate the quality but you can tell their making money now because the video has a budget)

Also can you believe the girls are only 17 here.

This is also around the time Lebo Mathosa becomes LEBO. She sings an instantly iconic hook on a Trompies song Magasman and it becomes the biggest hit of the year.

(if you don't know the lyrics to this hook, are you even gay?)

Bonus clip of a teenage pre-Mafikizolo Nhlanhla Nciza lipping the hook for Trompies because Lebo ofcourse was unavailable.

If parents were uncomfortable with the sexual nature of Boom Shaka's act before, Ibuhlungu is the when they really start complaining.

This is the least subtle sexual innuendo I've ever heard in a song. Yet again it's a hit.

As mentioned before Lebo is a bona-fide solo superstar (and honestly so were the other members) before she even leaves the group.

Here she's playing video vixen in one of Arthur's biggest hits an most questionable videos.

1998 is the year that turns Boom Shaka into cultural phenomenons.

It's the SAMA Awards 1998. The group debuts a new single, their remix and dance version of Nkosi Sikelel' (The national anthem). They dance and gyrate as they sing... The backlash is IMMEDIATE!

People send complaints to the BCCSA. The video is never shot and money is donated to charities. The group explains that they wanted to teach the youth the anthem.

The scandal was so big it led to the infamous comments by Nelson Mandela about his dislike for the group.

They release their third album Word Of Wisdom with the lead single FREE. The message is clear that passed just fighting for political freedom, the new generation is fighting freedom of identity and being able to define themselves.

Free becomes one of their signature songs.

With Free the group also creates one of the first gay anthems in South African music. Lebo herself would come out as bisexual years later and be involved in serious relationships women.

The same year they release Gcwala an empowering instant club classic about self love. The song is yet another platinum hit for the seamingly unstoppable group.

Lebo appears as a video vixen in yet another major kwaito hit single for Trompies's Madibuseng. Get into the styling for this video, we don't talk enough to about 90s urban fashion.

So after labels problems they leave Kalawa over some pay and royalty disputes (side eyeing Oskido and the gang) the group release Ain't No Stopping Us under their own label and becomes the second act in SA history to own 75%of their masters.

Yet another platinum record.

The group would disband in 2000 to great solo success for Lebo and Thembi. Before they did they released their last smash hit. Bambanani was an anti-gang anti-violence, anti-aids & anti-xenophobia collaboration with iHashi Elolimhlophe in the wake of a crime spike in South Africa

In October 2006 the groups lead vocalist died in a car accident on her way from a performance. She was only 29 years old.

Here's Thembi talking about their last day together and the morning she found out.

Part 2 of the interview.

That brings us to the end.

Thank you for coming on this long ass journey with me. Stan Boom Shaka, support Theo, Junior and Thembi for being pioneers and trailblazers also follow my account