In Apr/May 2011 HYPE released an historic cover with late, great, uTat Madiba. On the other side of the cover was lyrical freedom fighter Slikour with his then-protégé Kwesta. Here’s what you may not have known about this historical double cover issue:
– We had to obtain written permission from the Nelson Mandela foundation to get the green light to have our father on the cover, as well as to get official images
– That issue is now standing in the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg
– We shot the Slikour and Kwesta images at the Apartheid Museum. The images were taken by Jurie Potgieter
– Slikour had just dropped Ventilation Vol. 3 that featured the track Blacks R Fools. HYPE was the first media outlet to question Slikour on this song and base the entire cover story around it. This song went on to attract much controversy only a year later when he released the video
– We had been asked for a while to make our CD a digital download. This was the first issue we did so, officially launching the www.hypemusic.co.za website. Although downloads were successful, it had a huge impact on the copy sales which took a dramatic decline for this particular issue, proving that our readers still value the physical product
– At the time of this issue we had just come out of the recession, leaving the Editor, Simone Harris, as the only member of staff at that time, with only a handful of freelance writers to assist her in compiling this issue.
– While at the apartheid museum for the cover shoot, we got to interview the museum’s Deputy Director, Wayde Davy. We asked her if the late Madiba had ever visited the museum and this is what she had to say: “Yes, Madiba has visited. We have been fortunate to have had him here on two occasions. His response was: ‘Very good, very good’ – or something similar. Of course we were all in awe. After that handshake, I was very reluctant to wash my hands for a while!”
RIP TATA. A FATHER TO MILLIONS. A HERO TO ALL.