Reason keeps the faith despite Metro music awards snub

The story of a sinner with a good heart is how rapper Reason, who continues to push the mental boundaries of his fans through his music, encapsulates himself.

With a stage name taken from the saying “everything happens for a reason”, Sizwe Moeketsi maintains his purpose has always been in music. And he has, over the years, made moves to solidify his place in South Africa’s  ever-changing hip hop landscape.

At his offices in Joburg’s Commissioner Street — whose rooftop on a monthly basis hosts his popular Koolin in The City events — the rapper’s confidence seeps through from behind his signature Ray Ban sunglasses.

Once a ‘backpack rapper’ — rappers who used to have their CDs in their bags and would jump at any opportunity to have people listen and possibly buy their work — the 28-year-old is now one of local hip hop’s “big dogs”.

With key endorsements from the likes of Sprite, to his songs getting airplay on all major radio stations and an enviable sneaker collection to boot, the Bad in December rapper continues to take strides to show why he is the "GaAHD body" — a play on the word God and the abbreviation of the second album in his music audio trilogy, Audio High Definition.

“The idea is God is the highest definition of self and when you operate at the highest definition of self — you’re God body. If you perform at the highest level [of yourself], that’s you operating at God body and there’s nothing anyone can do.”

This belief is what sparked the album art for his controversial The Realest Verse Ever (#TRVE) single last year, which depicted Jesus in sunglasses, holding two women with their bums showing hanging over his shoulders. The cover sparked outrage on social media.

The single was also the first from his latest album, Audio Re-definition (ARD),  the final installment of the audio series which kicked off with Audio 3D in 2012.

Despite ARD having brought out smash hits in the form of Yipikayay, featuring fellow hip hop royalty Khuli Chana and AKA, and Brand New — a collaboration with his DJ Akio Kawahito and hip hop legends Skwatta Kamp, the work has been snubbed by this year’s Metro FM Music Awards, which take place this weekend.

Reason finds the snub “puzzling”.

“I have always been under the impression that the station’s demographic enjoys my music — especially what would be classified as ’MY’ Hip Hop sound.”

Despite being overlooked, he maintains there’s no hard feelings.

“I celebrate them because they celebrate music, and music, as we all know, is bigger than all of us”.