Joshua Govender

Words have power: the power to break, to make, to heal and to make a person believe. What are you saying?

I recently discovered how important my words are. I always knew that words are a powerful tool, both positive and negative. What I did not realise is how much power my own words have.

I recently had a conversation with one of my friends. It was late, I was tired, and we were just talking about life. I began to encourage him and speak life into his situation. It was quite a long conversation, and by the end of it I felt a bit drained. Sometimes speaking to people is tiring, to be honest.

Later that night I got a text – and it was something I never expected: It was my friend, thanking me for all the encouraging things I said to him! To be honest, I forgot half the stuff I’d said.

Then it hit me: words do have power. For the first time in a long time, out of the many people I speak to, this one particular example hit me hard.

In the society we live in, we have to remember that our words carry weight. It carries people’s hearts. You have the power to make or break someone with what you say.

Let’s be a society that builds up instead of one that breaks down. You have the power to build a nation.

Let’s start with the right words.

God Speed.

The streets don’t love you.

How many times have you heard that before? You know, often we give in to what society says we must do or become or be and we’re so consumed by the praises or the false hope the world gives us. When are we going to stand for something?

If I had a dollar for every single time I heard someone say that the streets are all they have, and they have to do what they have to do, I think I would be a millionaire. How many times I’ve heard that living the fast life every night of the week is the way life should be!

The most frustrating part is when you see a person with so much talent, yet with no direction. It’s like they’re aiming in the dark hoping to hit something. Believe me, I’m not trying to bash anyone, I’m being honest. If you don’t have a purpose, the streets won’t love you – it will chew you up and wait for its next victim.

The last person I met said he loves Jesus but he sells cocaine because he has no choice – its the only way he can survive. To which I replied: “If Jesus had to come right now, would you still sling dope?”

Don’t become bound to what society says; don’t let the world tell you how to live. You are created for greater things – far greater than you can imagine, yet you choose to live a small life.

Can I tell you why the street don’t love you? It’s because they’re not willing to tell you the truth. Don’t hear what you want; hear what you need. Be honest, grow and take ownership. Don’t rely on a man; rely on the only Man – the one that loved you even though you ain’t right.

If you stand for nothing, you will fall for everything. Be strong and courageous and don’t forget: smile a little. It just means you don’t have to give a damn about what people think.

God Speed.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis.

It’s one of Biggie’s famous lines – but it brings up a whole lot of other memories. Whatever happened to the classics?

One of my first memories is playing Mario kart on our small, barely working TV, but I loved it. You can’t beat the classics. It was like we found satisfaction in taking out the cartridge, blowing on it, and restarting all over again. Whatever it was, there was and still is nothing like it.

The funny thing is these days more and more people are trying to source some of the older game stations – especially the older Nintendo. Its like people want to feel that sense of being a kid again.

Don’t get me wrong, PlayStation and Xbox are great gaming stations, but to be honest, when you wake up early in the morning and you’re barely awake but you are owning people on Sonic… there’s nothing more satisfying. The gaming world has grown beyond what we could even conceive, and it’s awesome, but if we are real for a few moments, I still think the classics are what people remember best.

Games like Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Pong, Street Fighter, Contra, and many more are the games that made gaming what it is today. They were simple – yet still difficult enough to keep you up all night.

The one thing I regret is not having my super Nintendo anymore. I recently found myself having one of those “if only” moments: If only I knew they were coming back… I would definitely have kept mine!

Years later, gaming has moved on, yet we still reminisce about the past. Let’s keep the classics alive.

God Speed

To most of us, Yasiin Bey is better known as famous rapper Mos Def – and he has had a huge hand in changing the music game. Growing up on hip-hop you better believe Mos Def was always part of the collection! Different in his own way; yet still rapping about what matters.

To the shock of many, Bey, now living in Cape Town, has made an announcement on Kanye West’s website that he will release his last album ever in 2016. To some, it’s exciting – to others, including myself, it’s actually quite sad to see that this legend of rap will not be doing what he loves.

Bey announced his retirement over a voice recording of him freestyling, called “No more parties in SA.” He spoke about his recent run-in with the police, and his arrest because of complications with his “world passport“.

In the recording, he maintains that he did nothing illegal, and that he is upset about the situation.

I am excited for his last album ever, but still sad that I won’t be listening to anything new from him after that. I pray that this is just a huge overreaction on his part, and he continues to make music.

No matter what your name is, Yasiin, you will always be remembered as Mos Def. Stay strong – there are still hip-hop fans out there who appreciate you!

God Speed

The other day a friend and I walked around a neighbourhood that we weren’t familiar with. Let’s just say it wasn’t our “hood”. Still cool, though.

We walked along the main street of this suburb and found some really interesting shops, one being an old thrift store. It was pretty crazy to me because I didn’t know that thrift stores this cool existed in South Africa.

We walked in without hesitation and discovered the coolest army jackets, leather jackets, caps, shirts with Egyptian writing on it, old flannel shirts, shoes. Name it and we found it. It was like walking into hipster heaven.

I think by far the coolest part of the store was their LP collection – they had everything from Pink Floyd to old school hip-hop albums. We were like kids in a candy store. We left pretty satisfied even though we didn’t buy anything.

It made me think how eye-opening life can be when we decide to step out of our comfort zone. We discovered a place we could buy sick records from and also spotted a great place for clothes.

Wherever you may find yourself, don’t be afraid to step out and get a little weird. It’s in the weirdness of life where you make the best memories!

What’s your playlist?

You can tell a lot about someone by knowing what music they listen to.

It hit me the other day when I was scrolling through my own music, and I began to think that it’s funny how my personality matches my music. For example, I love hip hop, but I also love Christian music. I began to laugh at myself because it was a pretty good reflection of my personality.

Is this a good or bad thing? To be honest, I’m not sure. I think the type of music we listen to does ultimately affect the way we think and do life – but I think to an extent it’s awesome that every single person can create themselves through the music they listen to. It almost places the responsibility of whether it is good or bad on you.

Let’s be diverse. I think that listening to one genre of music makes you kind of boring in a way. It’s almost like being the colour grey. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from studying music over the past few years it’s that there is growth in diversity. Listening to multiple genres and appreciating the art behind the genre brings so much more clarity to the type of music you prefer to listen to.

I would have never known that hip hop is my first choice of music if I never listened to everything else. Be diverse, let your personality be relative to all, and appreciate the art.

God Speed.

OMG

I recently had an “oh my gosh” kind of moment. I was involved in a hit and run. It was probably the craziest and wildest thing I have ever experienced.

I was driving on the highway back home from a friend’s house when I noticed a car speeding up on my right side. He then hit me and I drove off the high straight into a fence – and he just left the scene.

I came out alright, a few bumps and bruises here and there. My car is a total wreck, but I’m happy to be alive.

Being in a situation like that made me think about a lot of stuff that I have never really thought of before, one question being “how did I even end up here.” Needless to say, it has been quite a season, but there are a few things I’ve learnt from this speed bump in life:

1. Think beyond yourself.

It hit me how I was living just for myself. I would make sure that I’m okay and I didn’t really care how my actions would, in turn, affect the people closest to me. In one accident, I almost lost more than just my car, because all I thought about was myself.

Think beyond yourself. The repercussions from your actions could affect the people closest to you.

2. It will get better

Trust me (and this is coming from a person to whom crashing a car was the least of worries), no matter where you find yourself or what season you are in – no matter how low you feel or how difficult it may seem – it can only get better. Stay steadfast.

Don’t live in a world where it takes something drastic to make a drastic change. Live life beyond yourself and trust that everything will work out better in the end. I didn’t mean for this to be such a “heavy” post, but take from it what you may. It’s currently helping me through my season.

God Speed.

Hello

I recently learnt the power of a “Hello.” It’s the most simple thing but yet so effective. How can one simple greeting become a life changing the thing in some people’s lives?

Walking down the streets of Cape Town and just noticing the culture we live in it was interesting to me that in an environment which is so social everyone is either to exclusive to talk or are to consume by their own doings.

I began to try challenge this environment by simply just saying “Hello” to people and the response was crazy. One person even responded by saying thank you for saying “hello.” I then began to realise that acknowledgement or recognising someone isn’t normal.

We live in the world where it is easy to become consumed by your own world and it may come off as being exclusive even if you don’t mean to. Exclusivity often hurts people, ultimately offensive is a choice but we as influential people shouldn’t give people a reason to be offended.

Make people belong, by placing value on them, even if it is just a “hello.” You can make someone’s day.

God Speed.

To Adidas or to not Adidas

From a young age I have always loved every other brand besides addidas. Im not sure why, I mean its not like I hate the brand or anything, I just have never been that interested in them.

Until about a month ago when I bought my very first pair of adiddas shoes, the funny thing is that they werent even the new sneakers and running shoes that are on the marlet now they where a reissue of an old high top shoe they made way back whne I was small. Im not going to lie but I was a bit nervous in buying them but as I put them on, I was honeslty amazed at how comfy they where.

Thus I began my journey of slowly starting to like adiddas, as a brand.

Its crazy how the brand itself is taking over not only the fashion industry but in every creative area we see and what makes them even “cooler” is that there is a type of shoe for every single person. Its like they where made for you and me.

I might not be the biggest addidas fan, but I will say this that if you havent experienced it, try it. If you havent bought one, buy it. I wear my ones 5 out of 7 days in the week and to be honest I love them.

Try something new.

God Speed.

Gentlemen of Streetwear

Backwards caps, big t-shirts, expensive sneakers, good hair whatever your flavour is in dress code you can still be gentlemen. To often people get judged by the way they dress. I say let’s give them a reason to ask questions.

It’s crazy the way dress affects the way we get treated or seen. I could walk into a bar with boots, jeans and a flannel shirt and get treated totally different to if I walked in with all black clothing and a snap back with my tattoos.

You being confident in your clothing is not about how you are seen but more about how you react when seen. Often we can try dress according to trend and vibe, and situations or people but the bottom line is if your aren’t comfortable in your clothes then confident in them.

Often I find myself being guilty of not being myself, especially when gong to trendy spots where I know for sure people is opinionated. Until eventually I didn’t really care. Whether I look like a thug, Hipster, Jock, hippy whatever style you may have, just know you are one awesome person. (haha) Don’t worry about what others think

I recently learnt to be the best means I have to be real. Be real with yourself and never let anyone tell you otherwise.

God Speed.