Authentic voice of a generation

Step into Masai Sepuru's world — where township life and timeless questions collide

- Donovan E Williams

Masai Sepuru is ordinary looking — almost indistinguishable from the many young people you might encounter on an average day in Joburg.

He does not have an “artist's look”. Artists are known to be flamboyant in their sense of style, pushing the boundaries of fashion — that is not Masai. He's more concerned with pushing a different set of boundaries — those of the spoken word.

I first took notice of Masai around 2018 at one of the World of Words (WOW) extravaganzas when they were held in Queen Street, in the Johannesburg suburb of Kensington.

Hector Dibakoane, a 2024 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans finalist, created WOW in 2017 as a platform for poets of various abilities to share a stage.

WOW has grown into a celebration of all things positively African. It is where we witness young Africans, confident in their skins, gender choices and fashion sense, strutting their stuff. A WOW session can be described as a bona fide fashion runway.

Dibakoane has created a genuinely safe and free space that all should experience at least once in their lives.