Get to Know New Wave Rapper saveHXPE Using His Music to Spark a Movement
Music from the landlocked nation of the blue, white, green and the signature black mokorotlo is one that beams with pride and the timeless heritage of Basotho lineage. Whether the subject of discussion is the raw and commanding presence of Ntate Stunna or the artistic versatility and musical unforgettability of the late tau ea Lesotho Malome Vector, the country’s mountainous ranges boast their own Mount Rushmore of immortalised musos who have stepped beyond producing works appealing to the current status quo, thus leaving indelible strokes of memorable music etched on unseen airwaves for the pleasure of listeners. With the torch still blazing, new wave rapper and record producer saveHXPE is set to not let the flame die.
saveHXPE recalled with fondness how his journey started with the love and unequivocal support of his late mother, embodying the Zulu saying: Inkonyane enhle ikhothwa ngunina. The rising hip-hop star shared the genesis of his career and how his name also came about.
“When I was nine, my mother bought me a computer, and that’s when I started making beats. She and I brainstormed on a rap name that I could use, and after we threw a couple of ideas around, ‘Hxpe’ came up. I even had this one cousin who stays in Dubai, who used to call me 808 Youngin. But after all that, we decided to go with Hxpe. Fast forward to 2017, my mother passed on, and I wanted to get rid of the name. When I told one of my friends that I grew up with what I wanted to do with the name, he was like, ‘What are you doing? What are you trying to do? Save Hxpe.’ When I heard that, I was knew that’s what I wanted to start using,” he said.
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Another link in the chain of the new generation of rap music, saveHXPE spoke about the challenge of being and sounding divergent as occasioned by his upbringing and his childhood influences. Speaking with a sense of glee and optimism, the musician viewed himself as yet another exhibit in the ever-evolving timeline of music, a polished and much more cosmopolitan model of those that came before him who were limited by the confines of space and time.
“I feel great about my music and my voice as an artist. As a kid who was born in South Africa but grew up in Lesotho, my background wasn’t exactly the best. People look at the fact that I went to a private school and whatnot and start forming certain ideas. How I sound as well does become a bit of a challenge for people here in Lesotho to understand. So, I’ve always stuck with the idea of making the music I want and that I want to listen to, and being an African artist who sounds the way I do is quite evolutionary to be honest. When it comes to the path I’m on at the moment as a musician, I feel good about it. and I know that people will get to know me more on a personal level because of the music. I mean there’s Tshepo and then there’s saveHXPE, but saveHXPE is saveHXPE because of Tshepo’s stories and what he went through,” he said.
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Coming from a family with a taste for the antique in music, a predilection which rubbed off on him, causing him to appreciate the many and different worlds that existed in the cellar of music libraries, saveHXPE revealed his influences musically and the type of music he grew up on.
“I grew up in a very music-inclined family, and they loved music as a whole. My grandma used to listen to a lot of Michael Jackson, Sankomota and Hugh Masekela. When it comes to rap and songwriting related to it, I’d go with Mobb Deep, 9th Wonder, Erykah Badu, and the Fugees – all the classics. That’s what my uncle put me on. Around 2012 when I started with music production because I started with making beats, that’s when I discovered Kendrick Lamar and it was all I could listen to because my uncle would always play him. I also listened to a lot of Rich Gang and Lil Wayne during those days, and those types of influences played a huge role in how my music eventually turned out,” he said.
While record labels and execs chased hits and chart success through their artists, saveHXPE cherished making a mark more on the young ones and leaving behind a legacy of selflessness with his OUTWORLD movement.
“I think music is a big philanthropy project or a path where record labels put money into artists so the artists can put out music and make a living out of it. In that case, the company can be seen as a non-profit in a way, but they still own the rights to the music. For me, personally. I run a movement called OUTWORLD, and with it I want to impact kids here in Lesotho. I did a music workshop here just recently and these are things I want to do more and to educate the kids in my country and the rest of the world. That’s the impact I want to leave – to know that by the time I die, I would’ve already taught a couple of people how to do this,” he said.
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saveHXPE shared his sentiments on the current state of hip-hop music, conceding that the culture needed to retrace its steps backs to its street-founded roots.
“When it comes to hip-hop, I do feel like more needs to be done and still can be done. In some areas, it’s okay but more needs to be done lyrically. I think that Kane Keid is one of those artists pushing the culture forward with the real raps. We need more of the beatboxing vibes, you know? At the corners, freestyling and all that. That’s what we grew up on. My homies and I would do that a lot. We’d read poems and freestyle,” he said.