In Her Own Words: Thando Buthelezi

Hello Hip Hop, I Must Be Going....

I started writing when I was very young, probably eleven or twelve. I started with writing songs. I had an ear for music and I’d sit and figure out how I could write for different genres by emulating the songs I’d be listening to at the time. I did this as a way to train myself to become a songwriter. Now because I could not sing to save my life, I gravitated towards rap music because with rap, I could perform my own songs. But it was more than that. I fell in love with the culture and started collecting hip hop. I remember having to save for weeks so I could buy Pro Kids first album “Heads And Tails” when it came out. Now, I’d just come into the game and I was very much into your commercial cats, however as I started to grow in hip hop I discovered the underground scene where I then started listening to a lot of female emcee’s via HYPE Magazine which I bought primarily for the mixtape. Funny enough though, I didn’t start performing until I was in college, I used my high school years to hone into my craft and just as I was feeling ready enough to take the stage and break out, I met poetry.

Unfaithful...

There were these poetry sessions happening in a room on a Friday in college and after running past a poster asking me if I was a rapper (which I considered myself to be) and if I wanted to showcase my talent (which I was now ready for), I decided to attend these sessions just as a way to prepare myself for the hip hop sessions. Now as far as I was concerned, Lebo Mashile was the only poet in the world. I’d seen her on TV on that show of hers where she’d recite towards the end? And to be honest, I didn’t even tune into the show for that, I tuned in for the skit that played at the end coz that was my jam. Hard as it may be to believe, I went through a phase where poetry bored me and I just wasn’t into it. When I met poetry, I was into hip hop, and I was a faithful lover. So sitting there waiting for my turn to perform was boring. But the culture got under my skin. The warm, accepting culture that quite often envelopes poetry and so little by little, I became drawn in.

Hip Hop Don’t Know How To Treat A Lady, So I Left That Nigger For Poetry...

I fell in love with the poets first and poetry later. There’s this misconception that all poets by default are enlightened souls who walk around with a halo on their head. And I wanted to fit into this crowd of ‘higher beings’ but the only way to fit in was to become them, and so I performed my raps on stage in the hopes of still fitting in. I was...but not in the way that I’d hoped. See I still wanted to be a rapper amongst poets however when I got off stage and was congratulated, people would tell me how much they liked my poem. This did not make me very happy, and did damage to my self-esteem. What I found though was a place where I could rap on stage about my life in a manner which spoke to me. I often used my guitar to accompany me and while that was very well received in the poetry world, hip hop was hanging on tightly to the hardcore-ness of it all and wasn’t feeling me as much. So I went where I was accepted and continued performing at the poetry sessions. Gradually I became less obsessed with wanting to be received as an emcee. I even began to tweek my writing learning how to recite my rap lyrics which resulted strangely in my first ‘poem’ called “Hip Hop” where I wrote: Hip hop don’t know how to treat a lady, so I left that nigger for poetry. Soon after, I went hard into honing my reciting skills. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, what kind of poet I wanted to become and what I didn’t see myself becoming. This led to me setting yearly goals for myself. Last year it was becoming Word and Sound’s: Queen of The Mic, this year it’s about getting my work out. I currently am doing this thing where I’ve taken fan favourites from my recitals over the years, recorded them anew and put them together in a compilation of my best work according to those who listen to me. The audio tape is called: Cross Word Puzzles. I’m working towards making it available readily from most music retail stores, but for now, I sell it at the shows I perform at and take orders from my facebook page

Thando is the founder of Office Poetry which is about creating a generation of professional poets. About it she says:

"We don’t take ourselves seriously, and because we don’t take ourselves seriously, the next person won’t. I feel like I’m at the point where I want to get into a boardroom and really be listened to. But because of the pressures of sounding and looking conscious we’re struggling. Businesses also need to get to the point where they stop paying for everything else except our talent. Like, I’ve had people say, ‘I can’t pay you because I had to pay for the venue.’ No. It’s not just a poem. I had to practice using props, needed to get my timing right, poured every effort into this. Poets are at fault too. We need to get to the point where we have our ducks in a row when we’re approached by businesses because if you treat it like a profession, others will too. Things like paperwork, dressing in an appropriate manner as well as not being afraid to ask how much you’re getting paid must come into play. I started Office Poetry on my own but as it went along people started to believe in it and wanted in. Poetry is not so big here, so now it’s also about creating work for ourselves. That’s when we have to move away from the title of just being a poet, and actually acknowledge that before you were a poet you were a writer. And as a writer, you have bigger opportunities now, so that’s when we bring poets together and we do this writing thing. There a poets who write short stories, scripts, copy. So now what we do is come together and sell content"

Upcoming Poetry Events in partnership with Office Poetry:

• The Annual Sandton Poetry Show that happens at the Nelson Mandela Square. This year it’s on the 6th of September.

• The Phenomenal Women Show; a selection of nine brilliant female poets performing on the 9th of August. See here for more details:

• Place an order for the album on PushArtWell.com

• Thando is currently on a national tour, her next stop is Qwa-Qwa on the 1st of August. For more information and bookings contact officepoetry@gmail.com