That's Kwaito Style

When Kwaito burst onto the South African music scene in the early 1990s, the infectious mix of chanted lyrics, slowed-down house beats and bass-heavy African percussion quickly became the soundtrack to a generation. Kwaito (from the Afrikaans for angry, though it's also township slang for hot and happening) was not just a sound, it was also a look: street threads and floppy Kangol hats worn with a new attitude. For young urban blacks, what got the party started was the fading of the old apartheid laws — suddenly they could spend a night in a club rather than under curfew. "The...

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