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Behind the song: K.O takes us on a caracara journey

Johannesburg – Over a year later, K.O’s hit song Caracara is still a club filler.

It came to represent a movement and culture in Mzansi, but what was the man thinking when he made it?

K.O recently opened up to Factory 78 about the track.

“When I made that record the one thing I had on my mind was that it’s taken SA hip-hop so long to have our own voice and our own sound. We had all the elements at our disposal but we chose to have a western way of doing things,” he says.

“I felt we had a challenge to find an original sound, our own unique sound that the world can go ‘wow!' I don’t understand half of what these guys are saying but I get it!” he adds.

Mentioning Kanye West’s signing of D’Banj, when he could have signed an English artist in Africa, K.O says it made a big impact on him.

“I looked at that and realised that these guys aren’t interested in us sounding like them or in understanding everything that comes out of our mouths, they are attracted to the mystique, the energy and confidence we have in ourselves as a nation.”

“I had all these elements playing in the back of my head when I was making Caracara. That’s why the video came out the way it did. What you see in the video is just a typical day in South Africa, in the hood. Those cars. That van had such an impact on SA urban youth cuture. I saw all these retro trends and thought what can I “retro” and I picked that car and boom!” he adds.

And here you thought the video was about Skhotane battles in a taxi rank…

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