Kriss Anti-B: Anti The Bullshit

Busa
Apr 13, 2015
3 min read

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The Anti-B stands for ANTI-BULLSHIT.

And that's the guy that walks in to meet me in Braamfontein. A self confessed "Weird Kid", nothing about Kriss says conventional. We click almost immediately as our inner rebels find and play with each other very much like Nala and Simba in the Lion King #Allhomo [see what I did there?]

How I met Kriss is a very interesting tale...ok well, not really. I posted something on our page and he liked it which made me very nosey. And so I stuck my nose into his business and well...tada! Kriss battles and gets paid for it. He gets booked for it. How is this exciting thing happening in SA whilst I am not aware of it? Who dropped the memo? I had to get you all the story and this is what he said.

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Give us a glimpse into your world

You have to realise something. The independent movement in SA doesn't "exist". If it existed, independent music would be found at a certain shop at a certain mall. There are no structures. So people are building structures. A lot of people are realising that damn, we all wanna make money off of this thing. So we're in the early 70's of American hip hop. American hip hop didn't start make money until the late 80's, before that they were building, getting themselves out there. Which is what Skwatta Kamp and HHP did back here. I mean running festivals, customising sneakers. All things that need to be in the "main stream". What's going on is that we're building.

I'm not new to hip hop, but I've been away from it for such a long time so I don't know any of the new industry leaders or influencers, you know I'm trying to make my way back. So I'm excited and shocked to find out that battle rap is something that's going in SA still.

Dude it's HUGE! Crazy huge bruh... Look, interms of that. I think you're pretty aware that there are two worlds I mean, and this is globally. I mean whether you go to Japan or Western Europe, Eastern Europe...but independent hip hop, I hate when people say "underground" hip hop coz when you say underground people have a certain image of dirty, bummy, we're broke. You know there's a certain misconception but anyway, to talk about leaders and what's going on? There's the mainstream which will always be controlled by corporate ideals. And corporates are allowing a certain townshipness. They are bringing back that sort of 90's kwaito feel. Hip hop with an African Twist. So there's that world. But there's an indie new school. Their trendy , their on the street making doccies, making films, but they also make good music that can go big any day.

You're such a visionary. You almost like, have a mission statement for everything that comes out of your mouth. How does that feed into the different projects you have right now. I know you have quite a few.

Exposure to the world. I'm nomadic in nature. I think I've lived in like eight or nine townships. I get this from my mom. Also, growing up with a different vision of what it was to be a black kid. I couldn't identify with uKhozi fm, but I could identify with Yfm. Some of my hero's are the most rebellious people, and most influential people of all time. Your Jimmy Hendrix, not the necessarily the music but the revolution. A lot of people ignore that shit. Skate culture. The guy that started Woodstock. I can't take the average. And also, I read a lot [I can tell]. I'm open minded. I'm curious.

Kriss 101:

Im an allround artist,recording artist,battle rapper,perfoming artist,writer
I organise alternative arts events,event MC
I'v hosted the BoomBox S.A in newtown,jhb,
Founder/organiser of the The Annual Indie Hip Hop Expo,
Founder of Trippie Conceptz Recording Artist @R.U.S.H studios
Online presenter for R1Wradio.com
I'v battled @scrambles4money(jhb&cape town) Battlechronicles(eastern cape)& I got a battle @battlezone on da 25th april(kzn)
I've perfomed @BoomBox S.A,Splash Jam,The Next Move,The Streets,Beneath The Surface 4/20 Celebrations,The Realm,SOCO show&various other independent funded events around Gauteng & Durban.
Busy Recording a project called "The Champion Spit Game Vol1" & a collabo with The Garankua Hip Hop Community paying homage to hip hops golden era '88-'94.

I have officialy dropped the word underground from my vocabulary. Things like that will happen when you sit with people who are so passionate about a movement they make it so hard for you not to see it through their eyes. Check out Kriss' merchandise TRIPPIE HIPPIE which he sells personally: