9 Ether Movement are a young creative collective who are using music, fresh clothes, art and a lot of humour to get their name out to the world. Coming out of Nyanga, Gugulethu and Observatory, the crew has a ever shifting roster of members who adopt a dizzying array of pseudonyms- MC PocketKniife, Skhotane From Mars, Some Nasty Shit . They made their first foray into cultural consciousness with 2014’s Wawuphi, a kwaito inspired posse cut which highlighted their lyrical dexterity.
Since then the Movement’s Soundcloud account has been filled with group and solo tracks. On their Facebook page they list rap crews like Black Hippy, Odd Future and Wu Tang Clan as being their key influences. (Although they also make the absurd claim that Justin Bieber is their biggest stylistic ancestor… He’s really not). The latter are the best point of comparison. Along with the love of bizarre acronyms, 9:EM share Wu Tang’s love of dense wordplay and esoteric references. The BlackxIntellegence EP is filled with allusions to conspiracy theories, UFO’s and spiritual concepts. Complex lyrics float over smoky beats, reminiscent of the psychedelic hip hop currently pouring out of California. In fact, they even describe Cape Town as ‘the place where real psychedelic and extra-terrestrial music is at’. Their space fantasies are kept grounded in earthy humour, such as a hashtag used on their Facebook page- #WillRap4MoneyIAmVeryVeryVeryGood.
Having spread their message through Cape Town, 9:EM are now looking to export. They recently announced their ‘FIRST FUCKING PARTY IN JHB’ Held at Khona Daa Café on the 29th of April RealOnezzzAndFriendzzz is set to ‘feature live debuts of songs from the ‘Bree St EP’ by GREEKGOD and NINETY4. Aside from the debut of the Bree St EP, Yung Makhap$ will be accompanying them onstage to perform some 9 Ether and Ostrich Camp cuts, and we’ll also have guest performances from our good friendzzz Jay Beatz and Jusst Peace to round out the performances of the night. silkylavender also makes his DJing debut on the night. So all the familia in Joburg, please do come through !!!!’.
