Watching the game behind and with Enygma’s Mask

Ayayayaya! Anyone familiar with The Masked Man knows that’s his signature expression. What away to start an article?

If you listened to The Enygma Machine, you know Nobody cared; one may wonder about what? Hip Hop! But that’s just a story long gone; we do care call us guardians just like you, who bothered to follow the tempting article title. Without much introduction this article will take shape from the above mentioned and even more embedded ideas to show performance of the genre.

To some 2009 – 2012 is UG Hip Hop’s Golden Era. This is a time when the number of hip hop participants increased and had so many people aspire(d) all over the country. This is just about the time Enygma came out.

The mask best known first as the kitambala around Enygma’s face. This was a bandana or what Mun G called handkerchief on Battle off The Enygma Machine. This wasn’t a fancy mask and it was more like a bandit’s way to disguise him. Truth be told a few people where in tune with this face. Hip hop was getting new faces thanks to one more faceless being.

Yes the mask then improved to a black, sometimes white mask. This was more appropriate as regards masquerading him. The mask around 2010 -12 was just worn like headgear. For starters you could go to a tailor and tell him to cut your old sweater, make two holes for your eyes, one for the nose and another for the mouth. After the right head measurements too,  you would get a tailored mask… Hip Hop was taking the same direction; young rappers spent a buck or more to get something out of this investment. (The mask is a symbol by this time you know.)

The Masked man stayed with this thuggish mask longer and it is as if he was taking a break or something! The mask was really plain. So selfish one would say! And so it introverted, because it seemed to cater for one self. The rappers who lived around this time seemed to focus on hip hop in itself. The mask like hip hop allowed seeing things at self-development and sufficiency level.

And then came the perfect or extroverted mask. You know that army camouflage mask that shows a little more skin of Enygma’. (Okay not really) This is the current mask and it seems to be a more customized one, with perfect straps that allow him to masquerade and at the same time put on a show as regards outfit. This is a matter of involvement, same route hip hop took. This mask testifies for songs like Jjujju, Kyina, Embukuli, Mutima, Ziva Mutuuyo to name but a few. The implication is kicking out the box or realizing it just doesn’t exist. The box musn’t exist!

The current mask shows the different routes that hip hop in UG has chosen, to accept fusion, to work with the community (different communities), kicking the box and still promoting hard work and quality. Not everyone can get this particular mask right?  The same mask can be said to represent the different shades, sub-genres, rapping styles, hip hop activities and the different hip hop participants too. One can say, “one hip hop community different individuals”.

Not to underscore the years before the mask, the media and some individuals wore masks without eye holes; and so, they couldn’t see through what rap was promising. Now it is very clear it’s not only about rap, it’s about hip hop. We know they see now through a lens that is either shaped by individuals or a community (Radio shows, Blogs, NuveyLive.org include a few of those lenses).

When The Masked Man emerged the history around this time (2009) was important to record and remember. Before this time however there were events that a few are recorded and known. Our Hip Hop history should be told!

Works Cited

Enygma, The Enygma Machine (2015)

S.T.R.A.P, Futuristic Past (2015)

Views Expressed are of the Author

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