South African Xitsonga rapper and poet Sho Madjozi was recently featured on VogueWorld 100, the fashion magazine’s annual roundup of talented creatives who are inspiring the world through their craft. In a post by the publication, Madjozi was described as “the radical new poster child for pan-African pride,” and her inclusion on the list is a huge victory for minority groups in South Africa, particularly Tsonga people, of which Madjozi is a member.
Since her rise to fame, Madjozi has made it her mission to elevate the profile of Tsonga culture and language to the rest of the world. “I found it important to keep saying to young Africans that it is cool to be Tsonga and to be African,” she once said in an interview. Most notably, Madjozi insists on rapping in Xitsonga on many of her songs instead of in IsiZulu and Setswana, the more more popular languages heard on the South African music scene. Madjozi also literally wears her culture, prominently rocking a colorful xibelani, a Tsonga traditional skirt, with pride.
Madjozi’s nods to her culture are significant, especially as young Tsonga people find it difficult to exert their identity in a world that sees them as stereotypically rural, timid and unsophisticated. As a ethnic group in South Africa comprised of around 6 million people, Tsonga people are often overlooked in the South African entertainment industry, as well as society at large. This is evident most pervasively on social media where Tsonga people are often made the subject of jokes and insulting memes.
These kinds of views have furthered the marginalization of Tsonga people across the country. But the successes of people like Sho Madjozi have helped to create a new positive narrative about this ethnic group. Madjozi is proud: yes, she was born in a village in Limpopo—she makes sure everyone knows this—but she is not timid or unfashionable. Instead, she is a fearless individual who is “poised to transform style, beauty, and culture globally” in the months to come. Through being herself, she has reignited a sense of cultural pride for millions of young Tsonga people.
Achieving recognition beyond our borders, Sho has brought a huge spotlight onto a culture that has suffered from erasure for many years. Her journey has been truly beautiful to watch.
