Lesotho hip-hop has found a worthy contender for its first critic. Disser Disser, an elusive facebook character of whom I’ve just learnt about this morning, is a straight-talking, no-holds-barred, keyboard-savvy observer who’s taken full advantage of the web’s ubiquity (and relative anonymity) to, for example, respond to rappers’ invitations to their recording sessions with the statement “no,u should learn shit urself…tell me hore na o bina mmino ofeng (first tell me what type of music you sing)”. If cultivated, this brand of rap criticism could very well be the impetus needed to drive Lesotho hip-hop fully into public dialogue.
Or not.
Facebook states that Disser Disser joined it on December 7, 2013. In little over a month, this character has managed to offend a couple of rappers, most notably Shuffle, who’s hurled incredible expletives in the said character’s direction. Two things are going to happen: either the hip-hop community in Lesotho allows Disser Disser the space to exist, to grow, and to flourish by encouraging the apparent attempt at engagement; or Disser Disser becomes a thorny subject among the very community he’s addressing. Currently, the latter seems to be the case. Either way, Disser Disser is quickly becoming a point of discussion in Lesotho’s hip-hop scene, and shall continue to be for the next three months at least.
*Disser Disser on facebook
*Listen to Shuffle’s diss song to Dunamis’ KOL crew here
