The sixth South African Hip Hop Awards took place at the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg early in December. It was, for the most part, a night  of reflection which filled attendees with joy and wonder, especially the staunch adeherents who were around when the scene was small and filled with more detractors than believers.

It was a night when Cassper Nyovest came full circle; he’d won in the multiple categories in 2013 when he first got nominated. He went on to become a mega-star, and had now returned home to celebrate. Cassper got onto the stage 5 times in total to receive among others, the Best Male and Album of the Year awards.

There were other noteworthy achievements as well from the likes of YoungstaCPT (Best Lyricist) and Rouge (Best Female), with DJ Bionic’s reception speech for his Honorary Award — he shared it with DJ Blaise, who wasn’t in attendance — a particularly raw moment where the length and breadth of the personal sacrifices people have had to make in order to build this scene seemed to be laid out and drawn in detail. This, as opposed to that bullshit tiff between Cassper Nyovest and Stogie T — a moment I left before witnessing — was the highlight for me.