When the kwaito/house track 'Township funk' by Mujava got a UK release in September, the b-side remix was called 'Africanz on mars remix'. A title seemingly chosen because it sounds a little absurd and dreamy, yet it also breathes the optimism of a new era where racism and a history of oppression can no longer hold you down from reaching to the top.
The US elections victory of Obama, son of a Luo father from Kenya, to many is an important landmark in the struggle. But aren't these the USA elections: what difference do they make to the African continent? And is Obama really the lost African son who held on to the African dream? Read on and discuss in the African hip hop forums.
A good read at the Dailybeast blog: music critic Touré calls Soulja Boy on the carpet. Are Soulja Boy's comments ignorant or sarcastic? Is it because he's too young to remember the conscious lessons of the emcees that came before him? Or is he really only caring about the bling?
Touré: "Last week in Atlanta, I got to interview Soulja Boy Tell Em. I found out just how young he really is. He was one of about ten rappers I interviewed in one day for my BET show, The Black Carpet. I decided it'd be fun to give all the rappers part of the Proust questionnaire. I thought it'd be a way to get beyond image and into who they really are. Most of the guys gave good, thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive answers. I asked Juelz Santana, “How would you like to die?” He said, "Loved."
Then came Soulja Boy Tell Em. I asked him, “What historical figure do you most hate?” He was stumped. I said, "Others have said Hitler, bin Laden, the slave masters..."
He said, "Oh wait! Hold up! Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa."
My jaw, at this point, was on the ground."We wouldn't be here," he continued, having no idea how far in it he'd stepped, "to get this ice and tattoos."
Wow. Never mind that diamonds come from Africa. Never mind that there were many generations of pain in between leaving Africa and getting diamonds. Never mind that the long-term cataclysmic effects of subtracting about tens of millions of young, strong people from Africa over the course of a couple of centuries is a large part of the reason why Africa now appears so distasteful to you. Never mind all that, Soulja Boy. You put country first."
Steppin it up again with three new international recordings as well as a new weekly slot on Dutch national radio! Cape Verde, Angola, Tanzania and the rest of the continent are well served in this episode. In this show, we introduce new member to the African hip hop radio family, dj Dona from Kenya, currently dwelling in the States.
Revoltod invites Cabo-Dutch artists Black Wolture and Concept to his studio for an interview and exclusive freestyles and Cavera serves up a platter of hand-picked Angolan real school tracks. Meanwhile, GMB, J4 & Threesixty are back with their regular show which is now broadcast weekly on Dutch national radio: Fun-X and to celebrate they are joined by in the studio by Madcon, the multi platinum selling Norwegians from Eritrean and South African birth.
What would you do with a little fortune made in the oil or diamond business in Angola? Investing in property is an option. This video shows some of the dwellings being planned and built as we speak. Luanda is one of the most expensive cities in the world and a decent appartment can set you back 2000 to 3000 U$ (American dollars!) per month, though rents go up to 15.000 per month. In other African capitals you can almost buy a house for that kind of money!
Read this article to get an idea about the housing situation, and the scramble for land that forces Luanda's poor out of their houses.
The soundtrack to this video is a song called 'Mwangole' by Embaixadores.
Almost a decade ago, Bisso na Bisso were the first African rap group in the diaspora to have a degree of commercial success. Composed of a number of artists who were already enjoying solo carreers such as Passi and members of 2Ball, Ärsenik and Neg'Marrons, they merged African inspired beats and a radio friendly hip hop.
Looking back, their 1999 release 'Racines' is a true classic. And then the group was silent for nearly 10 years, but French-Congolese producer Kaysha (by way of Twitter) brought it to our attention that they are recording their follow-up album, and Kaysha is working on beats. The video above was the first track to reunite the group on wax but their Myspace has 2 more recent recordings.
Good news for those who like to spend a lot of time online. The notorious chatroom has been bug-fixed which means that you can now stay logged in as long as you like. We tried it out and have been online most of today without any trouble. Now we need to re-populate the place! So click on and join us there (popup) and don't get mad if we're quiet because we have a life, too!
Other site-related news: we are currently running a beta test for the improved Africanhiphop.com site! Many new features that are currently being tweaked. If you'd like to join the beta test, let us know.
Also in the making: the September update of African hip hop radio with shows from Angola, South Africa, Kenya/Tanzania and Holland!
Then, the Africanhiphop forums are also quietly reconstructed, for now it's reorganizing the forum headers but we have more coming.
Best believe the HYPE: on the 12th to 14th of September, South Africa's hip hop mag, Hype Magazine, is throwing the first edition of their 'Hype in the streets' festival which culminates in the HYPE Hip Hop Awards. The event takes place at the Coca-Cola Dome (Johannesburg northern suburbs next to Northgate Shopping Centre) between 13-18 hrs on Friday and between 10-18 hrs on saturday and sunday. The host is none other than Lee Kasumba (YFM and African hip hop radio).
Being there you can expect the presence of most of the nominees listed below, plus a hip hop fashion show, soccer/basketball tournaments, mc battles and more. On Friday, school kids in uniform get in for free, to other earthlings a ticket costs R50.
Have a look at the extensive list of nominees which reads like a 'who's who' in modern hip hop culture in South Africa (they only forgot to include a 'best website' category!).
Sometimes it's good to see things in perspective. The little man in this video (Lil' Jojo from Nigeria doing his 'Mama oyoyo') was not even born at the time people first started saying hip hop is dead, so why should he care? Lesson learnt: the new generation may see things differently, but they have inherited a culture that they will mould into something new.
As for kid rappers: nothing new under the sun. Back in 1980, a Brother D recorded How we gonna make the black nation rise with his hand picked selection of toddler emcees from the community center (or were they grown-ups sounding immature?) going by the name of 'The Collective Effort'. What's even more fascinating than the composition of the group is the fact that this tune made history as the first conscious rap on vinyl.
"Come back from Babylon, back to the roots": in the case of Movaiz Haleine, the duo gets together from France to Gabon for the sixth edition of their annual Show du pays which traditionally brings together their local fanbase.
In Libreville, the open-air seafront stage Gabon Expo will be played on the 29th of August from 20 hrs, supported by Lestat XXL and Rod Nzeng. A week later, on the 5th of September, Movaiz Haleine goes up north to Port Gentil (Foire Municipale), from 20 hrs on.
Performances of Movaiz Haleine usually include a prominent role of traditional instruments such as the bwiti, a traditional harp as depicted on the flyer.
Michael Jackson about to be 50... are we really that old? Let's go back in time, 23 years to be precise - Mali, West Africa where the Bamako City Breakers used the monster hit 'Billy Jean' to perform a bit of playbacking and dance moves that remotely justify the name 'breakers'.
At the same time, other west-African capital cities like Dakar, Douala and Abidjan also had their local breakdance crews - the Abidjan City Breakers toured the region and produced a cassette plus a 12 inch!
Apparently even regional towns like Bonaberi (Cameroon) gave birth to their own City Breakers, making the Breakers concept a very early and succesful West African manifestation of the worldwide influence of hip hop culture.
Watch this rare VHS footage from 1985 from Amadou Phillip Konaté & the Bamako City Breakers and imagine yourself in the crowd.
You have landed at Africanhiphop.com, the foundation of African Hip Hop culture on the web. This site, originally called 'Rumba-Kali Home of Pan African Hip Hop' was initiated in February 1997 as a platform for information and discussion on hip hop from the African continent.
A good read at the Dailybeast blog: music critic Touré calls Soulja Boy on the carpet. Are Soulja Boy's comments ignorant or sarcastic? Is it because he's too young to remember the conscious lessons of the emcees that came before him? Or is he really only caring about the bling?
Best believe the HYPE: on the 12th to 14th of September, South Africa's hip hop mag, Hype Magazine, is throwing the first edition of their 'Hype in the streets' festival which culminates in the HYPE Hip Hop Awards. The event takes place at the Coca-Cola Dome (Johannesburg northern suburbs next to Northgate Shopping Centre) between 13-18 hrs on Friday and between 10-18 hrs on saturday and sunday. The host is none other than Lee Kasumba (YFM and 
"Come back from Babylon, back to the roots": in the case of Movaiz Haleine, the duo gets together from France to Gabon for the sixth edition of their annual Show du pays which traditionally brings together their local fanbase.
