Riky Rick Boss Zonke (2016)
The idea that there must be a boss, sultan, chief, queen, don seems fairly consistent amongst peoples. Our current global system rests on a combination of politically elected leadership, autocracies and monarchies, the common thread being that there is always someone at the top.
The question many have asked is if there’s another way. Well, people are looking into it, and some of the research suggests that there are alternatives to centralized organizational structures but that they all still require some kind of clearly defined leadership structure. Perhaps it's our conception of what a leader’s role is and what they are entitled to that should be challenged, not the notion of leadership itself. The purpose of leadership is to serve and act on behalf of their organizations. It’s actually quite a responsibility or, as the Bard of Avon famously wrote, “uneasy is the head that wears the crown.”
Boss Zonke, as the late South African rapper Riky Rick called himself, was one of the BoyznBucks, the Johannesburg-based collective who were the kings of “umswenko,” which in BoyznBucks lingo means fashion. The direct translation of Boss Zonke is the boss of all, the boss of everything, and, respectfully, Riky Rick took fashion and its intersection with music to another level in South Africa. Today’s song, titled “Boss Zonke”, references his sartorial influence amongst his other cultural credentials. It's a bouncy banger that brings so many fun musical elements together – a must listen and an important song in South Africa’s hip hop discography.
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