Baamogetswe: The ill Militant, Waddup famo?
This is one of the most anticipated interviews I’ve conducted this year, for
the purpose of the fans and followers would you be as kind as to introduce yourself.
Shynin Armour: Peace Spook, Wasgood? I go
by Shynin Armour AKA the ill Militant of SCF representing Hip Hop to the
fullest!
Baamogetswe: Let me start by thanking you
for the effort of this interview, it’s been in the works for the longest time. I’ve
been following your material for over a decade so I am more than informed about
your content and what you been doing for South African Hip-Hop but for those
who are unfamiliar with your line of work, please just give a brief description
of your origins, your place of birth, where your grew up and so forth
Shynin Armour: I was born in Baragwaneth
Hospital South of Johannesburg and raised in the notorious streets of Meadowlands
also know as Ndo’faya one of the first and also the largest townships in Soweto.
Baamogetswe: I’ve noticed a lot of artist
put aloft of thought into their rap aliases and usually have the most
interesting explanations as to what led them there, so why Shining Armour??
Shynin Armour: I switched aliases growing
up trying to fit in and been called by names that resonated with what I was
about and now that I think about it, I think I had a name for almost every
transition I went through and none of them felt right. Then Knight in Shynin
Armour came about and I loved the idea of the name as it had a certain mystery
and no one ever knew what the Knight looked like or how long his life span was
then I realised that Knights die like every man who exists and the Shynin
Armour remains and is worn by the worthy, so I dropped the Knight and became
what remained: Shynin Armour
Baamogetswe: What is it that you saw or
heard that made you fall in love with the culture? Did that also influence your
decision to pursue it as a career?
Shynin Armour: I used to watch BOP
Television every morning when TV finally came on (For those that didn’t know, TV
programs aired at 5am every morning back then whether or not your TV was on u
had to wait till it was official) and I would check out dope videos of Kriss
Kross, Method Man, The Roots, the list is endless given the fact that it within
the cultures golden era, but what attracted me to Hip Hop was the sound, vibrancy,
word play, fashion styles and the authentic feel it gave me every time I was
exposed to it. It influenced my child hood like Kwaito Music did but the
decision was still a seed growing in my life, till Kwaito Music eventually
phased out.
Baamogetswe: You and a couple of other of keepers
of the culture such as Dark Spark and Addict to name a few are part of one of
the most influential rap groups in Johannesburg called “The Social Commentary
Forum”, How did you guys meet and at what point did it click that you have
musical chemistry?
Shynin Armour: I’ve always been one for
unity and being part of the Hip Hop culture is where you see it all play out
well. So I had a vision of working with some of the illest emcees at that time
and taking Hip Hop to the next level on a joint effort of dedicated
artists. I looked around the people I
chilled with or I was around and realized that what I was looking for was
already around me and so I initiated the meeting, many where called and only a
few heeded the call, those who heeded now for SCF.
Baamogetswe: Many of us have been waiting
for a follow up to the collectives to the debut album titled “SOCO FLOW”.
I’ve realized a lot of the SCF members are working on solo projects; can we
look forward to another SCF release? It’s been rumored that some of the members
decided to leave, how true is this?
Shynin Armour: Yes you can look
forward to another release from SCF with a different forum of artists, in fact
the album is almost complete and its titled "SOCO FLOW 2" a follow up
to the first and the reasons we called it that Is because there is only two
guys left, myself & Joint Pusher, from the first original and we linked up
with various musical creative’s with a fresher outlook to have a forum of
artists who have direction and know what they want and do through action and
not just talk.
Yes it’s true. All the guys you saw when we
started SCF are no longer in with the new and I like the way you put it
"They Decided" and to be honest I have no idea what they are up too.
Not everyone you start with will be there with you till the finish. I wish them
all wealth, good health and success on their endeavors, we still good
peoples...
Baamogetswe: You are one of a few artists
in South Africa pushing black consciousness and i would categorise your style
and content as on par with Elsirven Sativa of The Hempire Media Movement better
known as South Africa’s “RAPtivist”. This explains your collaboration with El
on the joint “Amandla” also on Elsiven’s EP “The Magnificent Sirven”.
Tell us a little bit about where you draw your inspiration from.
Shynin Armour: What I go through inspires
what I write. Most of the time its issues that affect me directly and
indirectly. I live in the moments I create firstly then those I stumble on, it don’t
matter what I end u writing about, it has to be real to me as I am in this
life. I’m documenting my life through beats and rhymes so being myself more
makes it that much more interesting...
Baamogetswe: You’re an independent
artist correct? Tell us a little about the hardships you’ve encountered as an
Indi artist, do you sometimes feel that it’s harder for you to break your
record as opposed to an artist with a record and distribution deal?
Shynin Armour: Yes I am independent and
loving it. The hardships are there when doubt creeps in. Getting your music
played on radio and TV is an ongoing mission for an indie artist. When you’re
at the bottom with no record company backing your authentic ideas it’s always
difficult. You have to work twice as
hard to get where you’re trying to go. There is recording, PR, Distribution and Marketing and the hands
on grind that follows, these are some of
the things you have to lock tight (on any product to be honest) as an
entrepreneur or indie artist to at least be on par with these wack rappers and
with everyone rapping nowadays your grind is taken lightly cause of all these
modern day mumble rappers running the air waves these days. A lot of old Rappers who been in the game and
are considering dumbing down their content to stay relevant to the times, old
man your age could also be a factor so stay in your lane and save yourself the
stress. Distribution is all an indie artist ever needs really but that never
stops me from being who I am and doing this Hip Hop thing the way I want to.
Baamogetswe: Infiinite Hip-hop
congratulates you on the success of your blog as well as the consistency in
your mixtape releases (K.I.M). Tell us a
little about which artists you worked with on the tapes, as well as whom you
got on production.
Shynin Armour: I have worked with a lot of
Artists and producers and still at it. On
the K.I.M tape I worked with the likes of Joint Pusher on "Rolling
Stone", Neo Beats on a joint called "What do I do", Rhyming Type
on "Next shit" and I threw in the "now or never" street
remix as a bonus joint of the 18 joint tape and on the production I got
Dynamic, Tux, Jonny Handsome to name a few of the 11 producers featured on the
project...
Baamogetswe: SCF has a track featuring one
of South Africa’s hip-hop icons, Zubz the last letter ( Fire on The Mountain)
How did you meet each other and whose idea was it to put the joint together?
Shynin Armour: We met through the Hip-Hop
circuit and the love of creating new music. We needed another fresh single to
promote our second coming album and Joint Pusher came with the idea to go Live
on the next single. That’s when the skeleton was constructed and the following
day we had Lerato from Urban Village & Ginger came in and magic was
created. Zubz only heard the beat after it was done and he was excited and
happy to create the song with us. Two weeks later after those events the track
was done and ready for the world to hear... You can get the joint on any
musical platform you can think of or hit up scfsa.blogspot.com and get your
fix.
Baamogetswe: What can we expect from
Shining Armour and SCF over the next couple of months? Any new projects we
should look out for aside from “SOCO FLOW” 2?
Shynin Armour: You can expect more music
from myself, my 10th Year celebration in the game with my first release on the
28th October 2007 the event is called #10YearsShynin taking place at Roots
Restaurant in Soweto last Saturday of October 2017. As SCF you can look out for
our 5th Annual SOCO Show Block Party on the 17th December 2017 at Meadowlands,
Soweto in collaboration this year with local brands. Other than that keep your
ears on the street and see the future reveal itself...
Baamogetswe: We are all anticipating the
5th Annual SCF block party, can you shed light on your DJ line up and Confirmed
Artist set to perform at the event?
Shynin Armour: The Block Party is taking
place in Soweto, Meadowlands Zone 9 bus terminals. This year is going to be
epic as we have collaborated with great local brands to give the best event
experience to the people the best way we know how. The Performance Line up will
consist of local rappers, bands and comedians as well as dope Djs with a
surprise guest from a well known commercial act. Indigenous and arcade games
for the young at heart by Oil and Graffiti paintings and workshops held by
Trackside just to name a few of the activities as I cant reveal much for now so
check out www.scfsa.blogspot.com for more info.
Baamogetswe: Aside from the block party,
where can we catch you rocking on stage?
Shynin Armour: You can catch me @ Roots
Restaurant, Soweto on the 28th October, 29th we in the Vaal in support of Big
Zulu. Besides that I can rap for days yo! So if you are a promoter reading
this, it’s not too late to make your show better than it is. Book me and watch
your show become unforgettable... Hahahaha Im foreal tho….
Baamogetswe: If you were to use three words
to describe what hip-hop is to you what would they be?
Shynin Armour: Therapy - Culture -
Reflection Point
Baamogetswe: How would you describe Shynin
Armour’s sound in one word?
Shynin Armour: Timeless
Baamogetswe: Just to bring your fans and followers
up to speed before we wrap this up, how many Projects do you have out in total?
Shyning Armour: I have 5 Projects in total:
Rong Ruff & Rugged (Trilogy) - SoCo Flow - K.I.M Mixtape
97 tracks recorded and released since 2007
to date.
Music/Events: www.scfsa.blogspot.com
The Keep it Moving Mixtape - 2017 (Free download)
http://mfi.re/?kdzmd0c25zj00s7
http://mfi.re/?kdzmd0c25zj00s7
Soweto Stories of Africa - 2016 (Album)
m.audiomack.com/album/shynin-
m.audiomack.com/album/shynin-
Videos
WordPlay - 2017
https://youtu.be/5pONbtDXLdY
https://youtu.be/5pONbtDXLdY
Amandla - 2017
https://youtu.be/atfggoEIMgU
https://youtu.be/atfggoEIMgU
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