Isaiah Rashad: In the City (Cape Town) by Sprite.
In the city... without trying to state the obvious or paint some elaborate visual scene, there are only a handful of concerts I’ve attended in my life that have left me content, speechless, and genuinely in awe.
The third of October was one of them.
At Ostrich Farm in Cape Town, Sprite & Steyn Entertainment brought together an evening that somehow managed to feel both incredibly considered and completely effortless. The experience launched in Cape Town on Saturday before moving to Johannesburg the following day. I can’t speak for the other metropolitan, although as a former Jo'burger, I know the crowd work is insane. I’ll leave it at that.
But Cape Town had its own kind of magic.
Imagine arriving at Ostrich Farm, one of Cape Town’s golden nuggets, with Table Mountain sitting in the distance, an actual ostrich farm on one end, a dam somewhere in the mix, and beach sand brought into the equation. Everything felt cool and fresh without trying too hard. It was aesthetically sharp, unmistakably Sprite, and deeply rooted in the world of hip-hop.
More importantly, the curation had a sense of ease.
Rum Gold opened with a live arrangement, followed by Sinead Harnett, with DJs moving through the space and holding the energy between performances. Then came the preempted build-up from YoungstaCPT, and suddenly the crowd was sitting in anticipation. Waiting for Isaiah Rashad.
Iconic is almost an understatement.
His arrival didn’t scream superstar. There was no unnecessary spectacle to announce him. He simply walked into the moment with this incredible sense of ease and presence. And then he started moving through the catalogue. Album after album, song after song, I found myself somewhere between listening and remembering.
At one point, mid-groove, I texted an old roommate.
There are certain moments in music that immediately transport you somewhere else. Isaiah Rashad did that for me. Listening to Cilvia Demo, The Sun’s Tirade, The House Is Burning, and his latest offering, It’s Been Awful, I couldn’t help but think about his career, the pressure that comes with being a TDE artist, and the distance between where he started and where he now stands.
It reminded me of watching Kendrick perform back in 2014.
Different artist. Different point in the career. Kendrick was still in the early good kid, m.A.A.d city era then. But the feeling was familiar. That same sensation of standing in a crowd, watching someone tell their story through music, and realising that somehow their story has become part of yours too.
I thought about that old roommate. I thought about the friends I used to go to shows with. I thought about what hip-hop has given me, what it has given the world, and perhaps what it has given Isaiah Rashad.
But I digress.
The festival came together beautifully. The music, the setting, the people, the production; everything found its place.
Compliments to the presenter and host, George the Groove. I’ll admit I’m biased here. How many times do you get to call the host of an incredible show a friend? Thank you for holding space the way you always do. It was good to see you on a stage of that scale, doing your thing, and even better seeing so many familiar Cape Town faces in the crowd.
Because I think that’s what that Saturday was ultimately about.
A break.
A collective exhale.
Sometimes you don’t realise how badly you needed a moment until the moment arrives.
And Isaiah Rashad was the answer.
He gave us the hits. He gave us the emotional records. He gave us the songs that make you want to move and the ones that make you stop for a second and listen. He was completely himself; cool, understated, playful, never taking himself too seriously.
At one point, he had the entire crowd chanting “cute as fuck” multiple times, which was, honestly, hilarious.
But somehow, even that felt like a perfect reflection of the man on stage.
One of the best. Although, if you ask him, he’d probably say pretty good with a smirk.
And perhaps that’s why the South African crowd was so ready to hand him his flowers — with an entire nursery attached.
A notable mention has to go to Thandi, standing right at the front with her sign:
“THE SUN’S TIRADE CHANGED MY LIFE.”
There was something about seeing those words held up in the crowd that stayed with me. I had just been thinking about the album, what it meant to me, what it meant to so many of us, and there it was written plainly on a piece of cardboard, held up by a stranger who had her own story attached to those songs.
It’s the little moments that made In the City memorable.
And maybe that’s the thing I’ll remember most about the evening.
The people.
Not just Isaiah Rashad the artist, but Isaiah Rashad the person we were allowed to experience for a few hours. A man who has made music that has travelled far beyond where it was first created, landing in the lives of people who have grown up alongside it, grown through it, and carried pieces of it with them.
For a few hours at Ostrich Farm, one hand held a Sprite cup and the other held a cellphone. But from time to time, people put it all down and just took it in.
The music did the work. And honestly, that’s enough.
Thank you Zay.
Comments