Dank Neighbourhood: Music and Multiplicity
by Drew Haller
Finding A Home In Stellenbosch’s Dankest Neighbourhood
In a houseshare not far from the Stellenbosch University campus, there is a makeshift studio filled with students slash musicians. Passing around skyf and headphones, each of them takes a turn on the mic while the designated DJs fool around on mixing platforms. Stellenbosch: the second oldest town in South Africa and home to fresh-faced undergraduates, retirees and skaters ad infinitum. This is the red-stone-cobbled neighbourhood where creatives rub elbows in backwater bars and EPs are made for love, ad-libbed on campus and strategised in neighbouring vacation homes in Betty’s Bay. Or at least, this was the origin story for Dank Neighbourhood, a creative collective of 13 artists (more or less), whose only plan is to take it as it comes.
Who’s Who And What’s What?
Zwoog, Coutsyde and Sauce Side Up are the instrumentalists and producers. Bagman III, StratosFear, Young JD (The Easy Tiger), Reincarnated, The Don, Channel Profound, Neptune State, Uncle Evs, and Blue Boi provide the vocals. Not to mention their posse of supporting members, including Young JD and Channel Profound’s mother, who is present at every jam session and is lovingly referred to as the ‘lifeblood’ of the band. Overall, the environment is a welcoming space where members and passersby are encouraged to throw themselves into the mix and see what happens.
Dank Neighbourhood started jamming together in 2015, and they picked their name at the beginning of 2016. Two years later they had recorded their first song, and in 2020 — in the midst of the pandemic — they released their first album, Anthropology. According to Bagman III, the cumulative group started as “an informal safe-space for a group of like-minded friends to create and share art with each other.”
“A lot of our content definitely comes from a ‘freestyle’ environment. There is full freedom to improvise. I think a lot of our creativity comes from the synergy of neighbours working on a song together and having the space to try what they like. Our best music comes almost as a by-product of us having fun. That is how we started in the first place and I think it is a driving force in our music.” — Blue Boi
Escaping The Small Town Spin With Industrious Hip Hop Beats
Ebbing and waving between languorous low-fi beats, looping guitar riffs, keyboard progressions, drum and bass drops and relentless rap verses, Dank Neighbourhood’s sound is impossible to label. One thing that is inarguable, however, is the exceptionally escapist motif that is present in each and every song. Filled with anticipation and a burning impatience with the present, Dank Neighbourhood’s releases are teeming with wanting. Wanting for more, wanting for a culture shift in a town filled with electronic music and rock ‘n roll, these musicians court you with their very big visions for the future of hip hop in Stellenbosch.
Fame, money, drugs, sex, philosophy and friendship — they speak to the undying lust for earthly pleasures that all artists in their 20s seek. Their music is filled with relatable observations about the gratification and disappointment that arises when we attempt to resolve dreams with reality, as well as the adversities of racism, depression and anxiety that plague most of us.
“If you let yourself go and become part of the music, it can be very powerful. It can sometimes be very tiring to put yourself out there and share one’s darkest moments. But it opens up reflection, it’s like a canvas that you paint with thoughts and emotions. Once you get it out, you are able to understand why you feel that way. The community aspect of creating music is ancient and tribal, we build up collective energy when performing or engaging in a jam. It reminds us that we are all connected.” — Zwoog
No Rules, No Labels. No Compromises, Just Additions.
Dank Neighbourhood is distinguishable by their ridiculously varied sound. yet despite this multiplicity, there is somehow coherence. Without any one continuous element between each of their releases, they are consistent in their inconsistency. This transience leaves room for promising change, development and adaptation. The fashion of the album seems to offer the limelight for all of the artists equally. Their versatility is further evident in the experimentalism of their diverse tracklists and their defiance of the traditional, nuclear band unit.
The band members come from various places around South Africa, including but not limited to Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Pretoria, Cape Town, Somerset West and Knysna. With such a wide range of cultural influences, backgrounds and artistic visions, you’d expect that the band would need to make many compromises. But Dank Neighbourhood emphasises the need to give each other respect and creative freedom. They encourage each other to pursue the beats that interest them, never enforcing strict rules or expectations. Fortunately, this ad hoc structure leaves room for flourishing soundscapes that surprise listeners with unexpected collisions and choruses that surpass strict genre definitions.
“It usually starts with someone getting the ball rolling on a beat, some lyrics, or a freestyle. Then the neighbours just add to whatever that initial spark was. No real compromises. Just additions. I think if everyone had to have their say in most songs, we would end up with a “spoiled broth”, as the saying goes. For instance, while making Anthropology in Betty’s Bay, the Zwoog and I kind of bonded on the Supunapena track. We both love getting a little dark and abstract. So in a late-night, drunken state we recorded a lot of that song, which has a number of made-up words. My point is, the theme or spark was dark, weird and abstract, and then a few of us — like Bagman III and Uncle Evz — just added to that. No compromises. Just additions.” — StratosFear
“That’s the thing about hip-hop, it’s more than just a genre. It is a culture. As you’ve mentioned our group is diverse, but we found a common culture in hip hop, and that was a great stepping stone to learn more about each other’s backgrounds and cultures.” — Reincarnated
Amalgamated Ambitions
Entirely self-funded, Dank Neighborhood sources beats, mastering and production from their community of friends and family. They also manage their social media, youtube and gigs themselves. Perhaps it’s this self-made, startup strive that gives the band such charm. It’s as though you’ve met every one of these rappers before on a student night out, and you’re getting to hear their big break. Some of the band members have been friends for longer than 16 years, and others only just met each other on their first recording session. Regardless, the bonds of communal creative expression are evident in the playfulness of their discography. Bagman III says that their creative process has “no rules and no labels”. Where one song delights, another contemplates.
An Anthropological Point Of View
This amalgamated approach is clear when listening to earlier works from Anthropology. Released in 2020, Anthropology was probably Dank Neighbourhood’s biggest success to date, accompanied by a grand album launch. The tracks from Anthropology are a demonstration of fearless and indulgent youth. For example, Grandma’s Piano sings to hostility with waking life and the self-gratification that sometimes comes from following one’s boundless ego and imagination. “A lot of deep shit but I go shallow instead because I want money, a house in the country, a whole bunch of fans that really wanna fuck me and some that really love me… Envisioning the crowds when I rap and the sounds when they clap, but I’m sitting in the living room, my dog on my lap.”
These relatable lyrics are finished off with an anthem for any university playground: “Nights much longer than the days are. Friends on the couch just chilling. Seems like everyone’s longing for the weekend. My God, what a beautiful feeling.” These deeper songs are balanced with the earnest genuity of the live sessions of Django Unchained and StratosFearic Introduction. In both cases, the bravado is stripped down to reveal a couple of homies troubleshooting lyrical brilliance on top of pulsating beats, in a beautiful behind-the-scenes moment that reminds you just how fun it is to jam out with your closest friends.
Then come the darker, more cinematic tracks like Mighty Betty, Spoken Word, Anthropology, Socrates and Jesus, Supanapena, and the infamous Fifa22 — whose fast-paced drum and bass beats incite you to headbang almost immediately. Clearly, their diverse group has helped them create a multifarious sound that doesn’t abide by one culture or refer back to a singular influence. By amalgamating their ideas and unique individual sounds, the band is able to produce a wide range of bangers.
Coordinating Culture, Inspiration and Expression
“In this day and age, we have been exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of cultures from around the world due to social media, YouTube and just living in a multiracial South Africa. We ain’t living in isolated cultural bubbles that our parents did. This I think has coerced Gen Z’ers into amalgamating a new Frankenstein-like culture where you can pick and choose things you like (and don’t like).” — StratosFear
“Dank Neighbourhood draws inspiration from all corners of the soundwave dimension. Each member expresses their own inspirations through what they bring to the group, creating end products that are a large mix of ideas, all gelling together. To name a few inspirations, groups like Brockhampton and Tribe Called Quest come to mind, but the list of individual inspirations are endless.” — Courtsyde
Join The Neighbourhood Watch
With such an inclusive approach to creativity and music production, Dank Neighbourhood has created an exciting new model for music and self-expression. There is a lot on the horizon for them, and you can follow up with them via Youtube and Instagram. Be sure to also check out their Spotify, where you can find their 3 latest singles for 2021 - Come Clean, Dream Slow and Tokyo Drift. Otherwise, be sure to keep an eye out for their live performances. Alternatively, you can get a sense of the band’s soundwaves by listening to the curated Spotify playlist that they made just for us. If you’d like to support them, check out their shows or even get involved with them on a musical level. Who knows, you might be the next dank neighbour.
