WATCH THE NEW TRAILERYour access to this service has been temporarily limited. Please try again in a few minutes. (HTTP response code 503) Reason: Advanced blocking in effect. Important note for site admins: If you are the administrator of this website note that your access has been limited because you broke one of the Wordfence advanced blocking rules. The reason your access was limited is: "Advanced blocking in effect.". If this is a false positive, meaning that your access to your own site has been limited incorrectly, then you will need to regain access to your site, go to the Wordfence "options" page, go to the section for Rate Limiting Rules and disable the rule that caused you to be blocked. if you were blocked because it was detected that you are a fake Google crawler, then disable the rule that blocks fake google crawlers. Or if you were blocked because you were accessing your site too quickly, then increase the number of accesses allowed per minute.

If you're still having trouble, then simply disable the Wordfence advanced blocking and you will still benefit from the other security features that Wordfence provides. If you are a site administrator and have been accidentally locked out, please enter your email in the box below and click "Send". If the email address you enter belongs to a known site administrator or someone set to receive Wordfence alerts, we will send you an email to help you regain access.critter hoodies old navyFor our new series, On The Map, we ask artists, DJs, writers, and general in-the-know people to tell us about what’s happening in their hometown’s music scenes—from the rising artists getting played across the city to the hot venues and new genres. cadbury hoodiesIn this third edition of On The Map, Sabelo Mkhabela takes us inside Swaziland’s rising Christian hip-hop scene.sons of anarchy clothing sydney

It makes sense that Swaziland would have a Christian hip-hop movement. Growing up there I was Christian by default. The religion is a bonafide way of being with an estimated 82% of Swazis in the country identifying as Christian. The kingdom being a Christian nation, and the haven of gospel music in southern Africa, doesn’t necessarily make it easy for Christian rappers. yoda hoodie with ears ukFinding an adequate space for Christian hip-hop to exist.vsx hoodie Apart from the few events devoted to the Christian art form, most notably The Life We Chose Concert (which last happened two years ago), Christian hip-hop artists and poets don’t have a reliable platform to showcase their craft. alabama hoodies at walmartThe church isn’t too accepting of a young man in sagging pants and a flat cap turned backwards talking about Jesus over loud 808s and hi-hats.authority zero hoodies

According to Swazi poet Poetic Soul, most people don’t understand the difference between religion and Christianity. “Things like dress code, language, even the way you walk, are all religion’s limitations,” he says as I join him in a gathering with his fellow brethren in a restaurant in the Swazi capital, Mbabane. Known as P1.7, the collective, which is open to everyone, consists of prominent Christian hip-hop artists and poets such as Skeel, Calliber, Wesley, Switch and X.O. They are the only visible Christian hip-hop movement in the kingdom. For Christian rappers in Swaziland it hasn’t been easy. “I’ve made some compromises,” says Skeel. “When a person saw me with a stack of CDs and I’d tell them this is my mixtape of Christian poetry and rap, I could tell they were losing interest. To win that person over I had to say, ‘But it’s also conscious hip-hop.’” The media, just like the general public, has been shunning the sub-genre. But things are slowly changing.

“They’ve become intrigued,” says Skeel. “In Swaziland it’s become some form of a new genre. For a long time, we weren’t getting the attention. Because things that are associated with Christ are looked down upon.” Skeel hosts a radio show on SBIS 2 (the English channel of the government-owned SBIS radio station). Titled “Euthology,” the show embraces Christian hip-hop fully, without any compromises. It’s one of the latest platforms where the sub-genre thrives. The front-runner of Christian hip-hop in Swaziland is undoubtedly Switch, the 2013 Hip Hop Artist of The Year at Swaziland’ National Arts and Culture Awards (NACA). “I wasn’t expecting to win,” he says. “I didn’t feel I was doing that much. We didn’t have that strong a presence in the industry. They didn’t even play us much on radio. Because it was something new.” He had just released his debut album, The Journey Begins, in 2012. It was his first release as a Christian hip-hop artist.

Winning the same award in 2015 wasn’t just a feat for the rapper, but a symbol that Christian hip-hop had arrived. The brothers of P1.7 were all introduced to hip-hop and poetry at an early age. Switch cites 50 Cent as one of the first rappers he ever listened to. X.O, the oldest member of the collective, grew up listening to LL Cool J and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Calliber used to battle-rap and Wesley was a Lil Wayne fanatic. The collective was started by Calliber, Pyramid, Nathan Ebed-Melekh formerly The Sword Skill Assassin, Tafadzwa Asaph and Limpo Mwenda back in 2011 (the last two aren’t rappers). “We said let’s come together and see what we can do, based on Proverbs 1:7–‘The fear of The Lord is the beginning of knowledge,’ which we looked at as the guideline to being a Christian rapper,” says Calliber. More than anything, P1.7 is a brotherhood. “Anyone who understands what we are doing and loves our music, I’d consider you as part of P1.7.” Aside from the members of P1.7, there are hip-hop artists in the kingdom whose music has undertones of Christianity.