South African Paul Stubbs was born in New York, while his parents were in exile during the final years of apartheid. He returned to the country he calls home in 1991. At the age of fourteen he started writing rap lyrics, and he has come a long way since then. Now he is known as Bakaman, rapper of the duo Jam Jar. The other half of the duo is known as Soundproof, the producer of the two and also a thriving power behind the local Trance scene.
As Jam Jar, they make rap music with hints of Electro, Glitch, Hip-hop, Dubstep and a slight touch of guitar to some of their tracks. Stubbs: “When he (Soundproof) linked up with me, we started putting together beats that go from the head-nod, break your back to the kick drum stuff, to the throw your hands in the air and let me smell your stink!”
And making crowds stink is a hobby they do well, using only their own authentic sound. “Hell, I’ve got a fu@%in’ job, and that allows the security of not having to rush or compromise the music that we love to make.”
The duo has ambitions to take their sound all over the world. “We want to travel with this music, and be able to be influenced by as much as possible in terms of experiencing other places. First and foremost, of course, is to be Cape Town and South African stalwarts, and keep playing all the festivals and parties that we can to the city and the country that we love.”
Here are some of their tunes for you to enjoy. First is Jimmy’s Debute, about a handpuppet named Jimmy Fazzaa:
Phat Cat Wet:
And finally something chilled out, Change To Grade:
More recordings can be found (some even downloaded) on their Soundcloud page.
[…] African Bakaman has been written about before on Jackplug. As frontman of the duo Jam Jar, Paul Stubbs was kind enough to do a small interview. Together with […]