HHP

In this episode of the South African "<em>Who Do You Think You Are?</em>" series, Vosloo gets to grips with Jabulani Tsambo, a.k.a. Hip Hop Pantsula, voted Best Rap and Best Male Artist (SAMA 2008).

HHP describes his music as motswako (Tswana for ‘mixture’), but the film is less about his success or musical influences, but delves into the Mmabatho icon’s background to reveal a complex web of heritage and culture – Tswana royalty and Xhosa commoner on his mother’s side, and Zulu and Shangaan on his father’s.

A few intriguing surprises are unearthed – particularly to do with Kgosi Mokgatle, his great grandfather and a Bafokeng chieftain at the time of the Kimberley diamond rush, and a rich history of social edginess despite our supposedly puritanical past. Ultimately, Vosloo’s film does what few others have managed and goes a long way to answering the question "what does it mean to be African?"