Notes from the Underground

A cross-generational oral history of Cape Town, told through the underground hip-hop scene that turned rhythm, resistance and mentorship into a living education system.

Notes From The Underground traces the city's hip-hop movement from the 1980s to today, rooted in the Cape Flats. At its heart is the relationship between rapper Isaac Mutant and his daughter Lyrix, whose intergenerational exchange becomes a living archive of memory and transformation. Around them, MCs, dancers, DJs and graffiti writers map a broader story of a community shaped by displacement and resistance. Archival footage of forced removals from District Six sits alongside early hip-hop battles, framing lyric-writing as a direct response to oppression. Black consciousness materials smuggled into South Africa through books and penpals reveal just how global this underground scene has always been. Afrikaans is reshaped into defiance, queer voices reclaim space, and Knowledge of Self emerges as spiritual practice.