Stogie T: hip hop, IP and all that jazz

• Author: Catherine Jewell and Edward Harris
• Position: Information and Digital Outreach Division, News and Media Division, WIPO

Stogie T performing at an event at WIPO’s Geneva headquarters in April 2022, to mark World Intellectual Property Day 2022. (Photo: WIPO/Berrod)

Why is music important to you?

For me, it's the only way of being in the world. I'm useful as a musician to my community, my country and the world. That's what gets me up every morning.

What drew you to hip hop?

Hip hop was the most vibrant form of music in the eighties, when I grew up. Hip hop always felt "on" to me. It spoke to me. I also have a knack for talking fast. Then, one day, someone gave me an envelope for doing what I thought was just a passion and the rest, as they say, is history.

Tell us about your musical development

I started out as a rapper in the streets with all my rap friends. That was exciting until it felt limiting. Until it didn't allow for all the poetry I read, all the Tchaikovsky I fell in love with. So, spoken word became more attractive to me. But I also had this rap thing with music and beats in my locker. These eventually merged into a band called Tumi and the Volume, which was me, as a spoken word artist, with a musical band performing my poetry. I toured the world with the band, but that meant what I had built in South Africa started to dwindle. So, I decided to record some solo classic hip hop work to keep the name relevant within the hip hop genre back home.

In South Africa at the time, there was this live music scene, with its poetry and varied styles, and then there was the classic hip hop scene, and they never quite met. It was incredibly frustrating and because I wanted to walk into every room as my full self ─ sincerity, honesty and authenticity have always typified what I do ─ I felt it would be incredibly dishonest to continue doing something just because an audience wanted that from me. Also, as I got older, I had different priorities, my world had changed and I wanted to continue evolving as an artist. I wanted to reflect a wider range of subjects and to give expression to South African stories. So I decided to change my name to Stogie T.

Why Stogie T?

I really enjoy cigars and stogie is another name for cigars, which for me reflects the idea of craftsmanship and the time it takes to craft a cigar, how you savor it and take the time to enjoy it. That's how I approach my art.

You recently signed with Def Jam Africa. What does this mean to you?

Def Jam Africa is a subsidiary of Def Jam Music, which has an incredible legacy in hip hop music. Signing...