Cream - Bruin Brood

Cream is a Cape Town-based rapper whose ability to seamlessly weave together vivid narratives about ‘hood living, coloured identity in the Cape and the odd party reference places him a step ahead of other emcees on the South African hip-hop scene. On his 17-track debut Bruin Brood (‘brown bread’ in Afrikaans), he takes you on a guided tour of the Cape Flats, where priests and thieves, activists and killers, dwell side-by-side – usually in harmony, but often also in death-defying duels of the mind, body and soul.

Cream has pinpoint efficiency with his flow. You can feel his years of hard work slipping through the mic. If you pay enough attention, you begin to appreciate his lyrical prowess. Producer Wayne Robinson (aka Hipe) considers him as one of his favourite rappers, citing his “presence and confidence in the recording booth”.

 ‘Die Music’ transports one to a crossroads between RZA’s vocal-heavy sampling technique and sloppy drums and Isaac Hayes’ Blaxploitation-era finesse, offering the chorus ‘Let The Music Play’. Now delve into the words, the technique, and the breath control.  ‘Innie Ghetto’ is a lighthearted summer song that conjures up memories of beautiful women dressed in “skinny jeans, dik sokkies and stilettos". On ‘Afdruk’, Cream adopts the persona of a reggae singjay, fuelling thug-life romanticism over a soundscape that reeks of 90s West Coast hip-hop – that bright, hi-hat-happy melancholia underpinned by a bassline that sounds like it just rose from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, landed on Muizenberg beach and then got dragged inland to Hipe’s production chambers.  Other songs range from the upbeat (‘Thought He'd Neva Do It’) and semi-poppy (‘Running Around’) to the emotionally-charged (‘Raak aan elke Reenboog’) and straight-up filthy and hardcore (‘Stamina’).

Throughout, Cream never falters from his super-refined, breakneck-speed flow. He speaks the language of where he is from. He understands his environment, engaging not only with hip-hop listeners but the community at large. In short, he communicates effectively. This is a brilliant project. Perhaps his next will be even better - he definitely has it in him!