Artist Lution uses the theatre stage to present hip-hop as more than a music genre, bringing together rap, dance, graffiti, spoken word, deejaying, emceeing, and other creative disciplines in a production that explores the culture’s broaderartistic value.
Titled The Elements: A Freedom in Motion, the production will take place at the Eswatini Theatre Club on Saturday from 7pm to 11pm. Supported by the Freedom 250 grant, it will feature Washington, D.C.-based hip-hop artist Konshens The MC alongside Lution and other local creatives.
Rather than presenting hip-hop solely through a concert format, the production is designed to place the culture within a theatrical setting, allowing audiences to experience its different elements as connected forms of creative expression.
For Lution, the decision to use theatre is part of a broader effort to create space for hip-hop to be treated with the same seriousness and artistic consideration given to other performing arts.
“For me, The Elements is much more than a show. It is a celebration of hip-hop as a culture, as a language, as a form of self-expression, and ultimately as an expression of freedom,” he said in an interview with a media house.
The production brings together disciplines that have historically formed part of hip-hop culture, including deejaying, emceeing, breaking, graffiti, knowledge, live music, dance, spoken word and rap.
Lution further said said the Freedom 250 grant was important because it allowed him to move the concept from an idea into a live production involving different creative disciplines.
“The Freedom 250 grant allowed us to take an idea and turn it into something tangible. It is not simply about giving an artist money to make a piece of art. It can give an artist the ability to bring other people into the process and create an ecosystem around an idea,” he said.
That ecosystem is expected to include creatives from different backgrounds, with the production using hip-hop as a point of connection between artists and audiences.
Lution said this approach also reflects the way hip-hop has developed beyond its origins in the United States and found different expressions in communities around the world.
The inclusion of local creatives alongside Konshens The MC is therefore positioned as part of a cultural exchange between Eswatini and the United States, while also giving local artists an opportunity to work within a different performance environment.
For Lution, theatre provides the production with an opportunity to move the conversation around hip-hop beyond music and into a space where its different artistic components can be experienced collectively.
He also sees the production as a way of creating opportunities for younger creatives who may be looking for spaces where they can experiment with their work and develop their artistic voices.
This emphasis on young creatives forms part of Lution’swider view of hip-hop as a culture that can contribute to the creative economy while providing opportunities for artistic development.
The production also seeks to challenge perceptions about who hip-hop audiences are and what a hip-hop event can look like.
Lution encouraged people who may not traditionally identify as hip-hop audiences to attend the show, arguing that the culture reaches beyond some of the stereotypes associated with it.
“If you don’t consider yourself a hip-hop person at all, I would actually urge you to come even more, because you might discover that hip-hop is much bigger than the stereotypes associated with it,” he said.
The presence of Konshens The MC adds an international dimension to the production, with the Washington, D.C.-based artist joining local performers for the event.
For Lution, however, the central focus remains on creating an environment where the different elements of hip-hop can meet on one stage and demonstrate their place within the wider performing arts landscape.
The event also provides an opportunity to explore how a culture that has evolved across different countries can be interpreted through local creative voices.
