Emile Jansen aka Emile YX? has been named the Lead SA Hero of The Year for 2016 at the 2016 Lead SA Changemakers Conference held Century City Conference Centre on 20 August 2016.
Emile who is also the Lead SA Hero of The Month for April 2016 has dedicated his life to changing the lives of young people on the Cape Flats and since 1998 he has impacted thousands of lives through his Heal the Hood project
Emile is a founding member of the Hip Hop group Black Noise and among many other things he also heads up the Heal The Hood Project.
Heal The Hood is a non-profit organisation, which includes the community outreach projects he's initiated through Black Noise. Heal the Hood also expands on the concept of giving back through shared knowledge, creating a sustainable network for artists, providing holistic youth activities, addressing community issues and creating a sense of self-worth.
Emile is not merely a stalwart of the Cape Town Hip Hop Movement but his work positively affects people across a wide spectrum of genres throughout South Africa and indeed across a diverse range of cultures all over the world.
Lead SA in a post on their Facebook Page wrote: "His ability to reflect on his experiences and his willingness to share those experiences with up-and-coming artists, within the industry, is a testament of his authenticity, not only as a creative, but even more simply as human determined to affect positive change in South Africa."
Bruinou.com managed to catch up with Emile, so when we asked him if there is anything significant about the award that he would like to share with us, his response was a clear vindication of why he genuinely deserves these accolades from Lead SA.
"I believe these acknowledgements of myself, the Heal The Hood Project and others from the Cape Flats, hopefully directs people to the many others who are also doing similar work on the Cape Flats and in Hip Hop Culture."
Congratulations Emile YX?. We at Bruinou.com are extremely proud to be associated with you and we are truly grateful for all your support and content contributions throughout most of our existence.
LISTEN: Emile spoke to Kieno Kammies of CapeTalk's Breakfast Show
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