Emile Jansen, who has become synonymous with using hip hop culture to uplift communities on the Cape Flats, returned home from the USA earlier this month to launch his latest book.
Reconnect the String: The African Origins and Healing Power of Hip Hop Culture, launched at Bertha House in Mowbray on Friday September 16, is a retelling of 40 years of Mr Jansen’s life experience “interwoven in storytelling that’s connected to hip hop culture locally and globally”.
Mr Jansen, who now lives with his wife and children in the USA, is originally from Grassy Park and goes by the name Emile YX. His advocacy and community work are done through an organisation called Heal the Hood.
His latest initiatives, he said, were focused on promoting reading. The first of them is the 4 Rs Project – the Rs representing writing, reading, remuneration, rehumanisation – which incorporates Buy a Local Book Month, and was launched on Thursday August 18.
The second initiative, 40 Heal the Hood Book Clubs, was launched on Sunday September 18.
“In order to take our power back, we decided to launch Buy a Local Book Month to sell the 480 books needed for the 40 Book Clubs for 2022. We are encouraging South Africans locally and internationally to support this effort as a means to get youth reading, thinking, debating,” said Mr Jansen.
Reconnect the String, he added, is about localising hip hop culture’s heritage and drawing parallels with first nation people globally, as well as its deep Bushman connections.
Mr Jansen said with breakdancing being included at the 2024 Olympics, he had seen the opportunity “for people to see the greatness of Africa in the dance”.
This, he said, was needed to rehumanise Africa. “It is my attempt to make Black Lives Matter (BLM), because black lives are African Lives.”
Mr Jansen, who was in the USA when George Floyd was murdered by the police, told Southern Mail: “I saw the BLM movement go global and I felt that it was my duty to create more spaces where our African stories can be told to help people see how great Africa actually is.
“I returned to do the 4 Rs project in South Africa to encourage others to write their own story. We lost so many people and libraries during Covid, we must document our own stories.”
Mr Jansen said his book launch, at which he had hosted 60 people, had been followed by a book tour to primary and high schools around the Western Cape, to inspire the establishment of book clubs at all schools.
“I am continuing to ask people to buy PDF copies of the book online, while we place these books in the schools and communities that need them to encourage change.”
The 40 Heal The Hood Book Clubs will form part of the classes that are currently hosted in 15 schools and communities. At these schools, said Mr Jansen: “we have learned that many young people are drawn to reading stories that they can identify with and that are culturally relevant to their realities.
“We have thus decided to share such stories with these 15 school book clubs and give the opportunities to 25 other interested communities or individuals that wish to host these book clubs and monthly online gatherings.”
For more information contact Mr Jansen at 081 486 5635 or email emileyx@gmail.com
