Mon, 05 May 2008 02:01:46 +0200 http://www.africanhiphop.com/ Africanhiphop.com en-us http://www.africanhiphop.com/images/logo.gif http://www.africanhiphop.com/ rahh@xs4all.nl http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article228.html Imagine yourself performing in front of a crowd of thousands, with more than ten security people guarding the stage. Still someone manages to walk up on stage and snatch your chain. This happened to 50 Cent when he performed in the Pavilhão da Cidadela in Luanda, Angola on May 2nd. He went after the thief in the crowd, but this move was immediately followed by mass hysteria in which the thief escaped. We wonder: what are you going to do with 50 Cent's jewelry in a town like Luanda? Mon, 05 May 2008 02:01:46 +0200 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article227.html As you know, our community has had a chat room for a while, in close collaboration with Baobabconnections whose members can also acess the same chat. For some time it flourished with lively discussions at all times, but the script was also buggy and in the long run it wasn't really fun to use. Good news: since last friday we have an all-new and fully functional chat room! It looks more fancy and has some extra functionality like nice icons, chat history and a little customization. So, go there now and you may have to stay logged in for a little while for others to start coming in. Afternoon (central European/African time) is often the best time to find others. Any problems? Just post 'em at the forums. Go there now (popup - so enable popups for this site), log in and you will be able to access the chat using your login/pass (make sure to select 'Africanhiphop.com'!) Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:58:59 +0200 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article226.html If you're around Brussels tomorrow (19 April), make sure you check out an evening of African hip hop documentaries at the Théâtre Molière. Titled 'African Hip Hop in the movies, la soirée', it brings together five documentaries on hip hop in Africa, most of them in French. The titles: - Doto/Silence! (Jérémie Lenoir, France/ Togo) - Waga H H, de l'ombre à la lumière (Eléonore Yaméogo, Burkina Faso) - BXL-LBV, Mapane Number One (C.Wielant et T.Locus, Belgium/Gabon) - Get on Da Kar Sophie Perrin (Sophie Perrin, France/Senegal) - I Love Hip Hop in Morocco (J.Asen & J.Needleman, USA/Morocco) The evening, organized by our friends at Lezarts Urbains together with Ubuntu asbl, is presented by Lyrical 44 aka Manu from WaBMG44 (Senegal, now living in Belgium) and dj Smimooz. It's part of the programming of the Festival des Cinemas Africains. Then, by the end of the year you should make arrangements to come to Amsterdam for the 4th edition of the Africanhiphop.com filmfestival. More about that as we will get more updates in the coming months. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:09:58 +0200 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article225.html The 3rd Annual Trinity International Hip Hop Festival is about to kick off in Hartford at Trinity College on the east coast of the USA, not too far from NYC. Like last year, the 3-day event has a strong focus on African hip hop. US-based African hip hop artists performing include Blitz The Ambassador (Ghana), Shokanti (Cape Verde), Abyssinian Creole, African Underground ft Baye Musa (Senegal), Azbac (Senegal) and Krukid (Uganda), TEM Blessed (Cape Verde/Guinea-Bissau) and Zimbabwe Legit (Zimbabwe). Other events include a graffiti workshop, a b-boy battle and a panel discussion about the early days of hip hop with old school pioneers Grandmaster Caz and Tony Tone (Cold Crush Brothers), Grand Wizard Theodore (the inventor of the scratch) and DJ Disco Wiz. Dates: April 4th, 5th and 6th Entrance: free More info at the official festival site. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:12:20 +0200 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article224.html In 2008, African hip hop seems to finally have entered the academic world on another level. After the conference at Harvard (see our previous news on this page), next Friday there's an 'all-art panel discussion on African hip hop and music videos' at New York University. Moderated by artist & academic dj Spooky, panelists include professors Jesse Shipley, Bard College, and Michael Ralph, New York University, together with Shaheen Ariefdien (Prophets of da City, currently studying anthropology in Toronto) and Ben Herson (Nomadic Wax) to discuss 'the emergence and current state of hip hop in Africa'. Also attending is our staff editor, Mustafa Maluka, so expect an update soon. Friday, March 28 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 19 University Place, Room 102 between E. 8th and Waverly Street. Bring a photo ID to enter beyond the security desk. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:25:59 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article223.html In addition to our regular webcasts at African hip hop radio, since March 2008 we also have a monthly 2-hour show in Dutch at Lijn5, the urban music site of Dutch public broadcaster NPS. The show, simply called African Hip Hop Radio, is presented by GMB (emcee/actor), J4 of Africanhiphop.com and dj Threesixty (legendary dj/producer). Even if you don't understand Dutch, tuning in will be worthwile for the exclusive tracks you get. Also available as an mp3 download or subscribed podcast. Some highlights from this month's playlist: Movaizhaleine (Gabon) - Nous TMK Wanaume Halisi (Tanzania) - Mami ft. Karen Mukupa (Zambia/Denmark) Pan Africans (NL/Somali/Surinam) ft Junior Lion (St Maarten) - Concrete Jungle Wonderkid Bounce (Ghana/NL) - Chase your dreams Ntjamrosie (NL/Cameroon) - Trick you Jean Grae (US / South Africa) - Love Thirst Manifest (Ghana) ft Krukid (Uganda) - Slow your roll Zaki Ibrahim (South Africa) - Daylight AY (Tanzania) - Changisha Asa (Nigeria) - Jailer Blind Alphabetz (UK/Sudan/Mozambique) - African rhythms Sway (Ghana/UK) - Black stars · Have a look and tune in at the Lijn5 website. Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:42:11 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article222.html Enjoy this rough video taken with our phone at Q-bert's performance in the heart of Johannesburg, on the 19th foor of a building in the middle of the Central Business District, 1st March 2008. Let Q's hands speak for themselves (if you want to see more, there's a part 2 on Youtube). By the way, if you didn't know exactly who Q-bert is: he is one of the greatest turntablists alive, rumoured to have been banned from participating in the DMC world finals in 1995 because he was unbeatable (a false rumour, by the way). Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:46:42 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article221.html After the dj Green Lantern African mixtape, the next step in taking African hip hop to an international level is a conference from 13 to 15 March 2008 at Harvard, one of America's most prestigious universities. Titled 'African Youth Development through Art and Technology: the Role of African Hip Hop', the conference will bring together artists, music industry professionals and scholars from Africa and the diaspora. According to the press info, 'this conference will explore the influence of Hip-Hop in Africa and will bring to light the pressing issues that are echoed in the lyrics and images displayed by youth from the townships of South Africa to the suburbs of Paris. The presence of Hip-Hop in Africa and the wider Diaspora allows us to see Hip-Hop’s ever expanding reach not only as an art form but as a cultural force that shapes youth culture and affects social change globally'. While African hip hop has been the subject of academic study since the mid 90s (also see this article wich we wrote in 1998), a conference exploring some key themes can certainly contribute to more understanding, more opportunities for artists and scholars, and the public sharing of research - too often, academic papers are no easily available, especially to the people who are the subject of studies. Some of the tentative panelists: Shameema Williams (Godessa, South Africa), Yunus Mohammed (Aang Serian, Tanzania/US), Emmanuel Jal (Sudan), Juma Assiago (UN Habitat, Kenya), Trenton Birch (Afrolution, UK/South Africa) and yours truly, Juma4 from Africanhiphop.com. Other names to be confirmed, website coming soon. Entrance to the conference is free. A list of the panels and invited speakers can be found at the Conference website. Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:30:48 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article220.html In the past years, mixtapes (technically: mix-cd's and sometimes even non-mixed cd's) have come to be instrumental in breaking new hip hop tracks, especially in the USA. Huge quantities are pressed up and sold in an informal network of distributors and vendors. The big mixtape deejays names include DJ Clue, Kay Slay, Whookid, Green Lantern. Now the latter used to be Eminem's dj and still works with Jay-Z, who he joined as a tour dj on his African tour last year. Wouldn't it be nice then if Green Lantern included some African hip hop tracks in his mixes? Well it gets better... film director Femi Agbayewa (Real-Livin Films) in association with Green Lantern's Team Invasion and Africanhiphop.com presents: God's Own Country - the Movement mixtape hosted by dj Green Lantern! A proper African hip hop compilation presented by one of America's top mixtape deejays. Artists on the mix include Eldee da Don (Nigeria), Dead Prez, Krukid (Uganda/US), X Plastaz & Jimmy Rage (Tanzania/Jamaica), Moubaraka (Comores/France) and Lil Wayne. Indeed a major first step towards the meeting up of the African hip hop scene with 'mainstream' American hip hop. Green Lantern's African hip hop mixtape is in fact the soundtrack album to a new Nollywood (Nigerian Hollywood) film called 'God's own country', written and directed by Femi Agbayewa, a Nigerian born film maker who lives in the States. The film and mixtape were officially released earlier this week. We spoke to Femi Agbayewa and asked him all about the film, the Nollywood industry, the mixtape and his thoughts about how Africa has become cool again in the international media and fashion world. Read the interview at Africanhiphop.com Download the film and mixtape (external link) Coming later this week: win free copies of the dvd and mixtape! Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:53:47 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article219.html Our African hip hop radio presenter Lee (YFM, Joburg) is currently on an African-wide tour to help select the best African battle emcee. At Africanhiphop.com she reports back about the hip hop scene in each country, and the events leading up to the final battle. Second stop, after Ghana, is Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. "Upon arrival at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar Es Salaam, I almost expected to walk into a cypher where guys would be rhyming. In fact I even half expected the immigration officer to start rapping or at the very least say something about hip-hop, as strange as that sounds. But I couldn't be blamed, because whenever African hip-hop comes up either in terms of information available, or on compilations showcasing African hip-hop or even documentaries about African hip-hop Tanzania is definitely one of the hotspots…from the outside looking in. So I was curious what it was like from the inside. I was nervous about the language factor too as I had been warned that most people didn't rhyme in English, let alone freestyle or battle. With all that in mind coupled with my list of have-to-meet-people and their contact details, the next leg of my hip-hop adventure began..." · Read the full article Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:25:42 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article218.html Gabon's finest Lord Ekomy Ndong returns with a video shot in the projects of Libreville. This track can be found on the album 'On detient la harpe sacree tome 2' by Movaizhaleine which is already out in Gabon; in Europe it will be available on Lord Ekomy's forthcoming second solo album. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:05:54 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article217.html On the occasion of the release of their all-new album House of Stone at the end of last year, we finally had a chance to chat with Dumi RIGHT, one half of the legendary diaspora Zimbabwean hip hop crew, Zimbabwe Legit. He speaks about narrow definitions of African hip hop, the cold record industry, DJ Shadow and a posse cut with African emcees. "Sometimes even outside the music business, listeners have certain, unfair, expectations that if you are African hip-hop you have to rhyme over djembe and mbiras only and all lyrics must be in your native tongue and every rhyme has to be about your country etc. That's like saying that west coast rappers should all rap about hitting switches and being pimps, or that east coast rappers should all kick battle raps, if anything that is what's killing rap music these days because everyone is rapping about the same thing." · Read the full interview Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:09:28 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article216.html In early 2008, our African hip hop radio correspondent Lee Kasumba - also known for being South Africa's top hip hop radio presenter at YFM - travels the continent with Channel O Sprite Emcee Africa in search for the best English language rapper. Lee reports about her experiences as she travels from Ghana to Nigeria and beyond. After a six hour flight and two hours being added to our day, we finally touched down at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. Because this was my first trip to Ghana, I didn’t know what to expect. I had a flood of questions running through my mind; “Would there be dope freestyle battle emcees?” “Did people in Ghana even care about the art of freestyling?”, “What if 50cent is the only reference point for hip-hop in Ghana?”... I mean I knew about Reggie Rockstone the godfather of hip-life, who I was dying to meet. I had a vague understanding of hip-life and it being a fusion of high- life and hip-hop. I knew of Tic Tac and even V.I.P. With that said I still knew that firsthand experience was the only way of finding out what was really going on. · Read the full story Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:27:08 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article215.html Not too often do we find hip hop videos shot in Cape Town's townships, located on the massive Cape Flats on the 'other side' of the mountain. Terror Mc is from Ravensmead, located not far from the airport, and his new single 'Liberate yourself' was shot in both Ravensmead and the township of Lavis. Album coming up this year, for now watch the video to 'Liberate yourself' which does show that with a simple handheld camera, a few hours spent filming and some imagination in the editing suite, a lot can be done. This was directed and edited by Mustafa & Juma4 of Africanhiphop.com. Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:42:08 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article214.html To kick off this new year, also known as the eleventh year in the life of Africanhiphop.com, we are back with an extra long show from the headquarters. The presenting team of Drew & Juma4 is expanded with two new members who already contributed extensively to the African hip hop stable: GMB and dj 360. The four of them present a show full of new goodies from a pan-African perspective, introducing the new albums of Kah (Kenya), Zaki and Sky 189 (South Africa) and African hip hop radio's own, dj Wanlov. A couple of exclusives including a lost Nigerian rap from 1982 by Dizzy K, an unreleased Terror Mc track, new work from Stopa and Watengwa (Tanzania), Sway (UK/Ghana) and the original and very expensive (Ghanaian) record sampled on a track by Detroit rapper Guilty Simpson. Then there's Wanlov who by now has already settled back in Ghana. The current non-stop dj mix is one of the last things he did before packing his bags! Our dj Lee from South Africa also met up with him in Accra for the Channel O Sprite Emcee Africa show, stay tuned for the full report on Africanhiphop.com. · Read more and listen: show January 2008 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:34:55 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article213.html The 2006 album of Ukoo Flani, the Kenyan hip hop collective, was called Dandora burning. Two years later the title sounds somewhat prophetic. Our Kenyan correspondent and radio presenter Blaze reports at the Baobabconnections website on the current situation in Kenya, where violence erupted in the aftermath of the December elections, the outcome of which is not recognized by the opposition. Houses are being burnt down and in some places violence reminds of ethnic cleansing. · Kenyan presidential election watch 2007 · Tribalism, the Kenyan curse Also listen back to our Kenya radio special of July last year in which emcees from the slums of Dandora and Kibera and Kikuyu poet Githuku explained about the police brutality which at the time was directed towards anybody suspected of supporting the mungiki. Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:40:02 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article212.html In the last weekend of 2007, Senegalese-American singer Akon arrived in Senegal to mourn the death of Serigne Saliou Mbacké, the khalif of the Mourides and the last son of Cheikh Amadou Bamba. Serigne Saliou, a spiritual leader to the majority of Senegalese who follow the Mouride Islamic brotherhood, died last Friday at the age of 92. His passing away is an event of major importance in Senegal and among Mourides in the diaspora. Akon when being interviewed on Senegalese tv stated that he owes his success to Serigne Saliou, who was like a grandfather to him. Akon was in Nigeria for a show, but cancelled his performance in order to visit Touba, the residence of the khalif. Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:30:14 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article211.html On 14 March 2007, a new topic was started inside the Nigerian section of the African hip hop forums. The Africanhiphop.com free mixtape thread (with currently over 33.000 views) was an initiative aiming at bringing forum members from around the world together on one project. The mixtape has some similarities to the pan-African internet satellite project (the Rascom-Qaf1): it took waaay longer than expected to get all heads into the same direction and especially for everyone to come up with their contribution, but the end result is a very strong symbol of the power of joint forces... The mixtape speaks for itself so go ahead and get the free download exclusively here on Africanhiphop.com. Big up to Zero (a.k.a. the Apprentice) who guided the project, to all artists and producers and also to the American emcees who delivered their shoutouts. This project sets the trend for the next phase: a pan-African mixtape... The emcees and producers who worked on this mixtape include The Apprentice, Kahli, Oaks, C-Drill, Juice & Mr Rhed, Booggie 1, O.T., Teckzilla, R-cube & Enigma, N.U.D.I.V.A (aka Nameless), Modenine, Rukus ft Soulbrotha, MHP & Sublime, Konko (aka Donmash), Nfeeltraita, Fishe, Manoozy, I-Shine, Kid Konnekt, Teckzilla, Rae (str8 butta productions), Big Foot, MHP, C-Drill and Afterburna. · Read more and download Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:07:51 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article210.html From the African hip hop forums comes this link to a Youtube video of Eedris Abdulkareem performing an apology lyric in front of 50 Cent, whom he had humiliated in December 2004 by refusing to stand up from his chair in a private jet that was to take the artists around Nigeria. Yesterday (December 20) 50 Cent - who had previously vowed to never ever come to Nigeria again - was present at the Media launch of Kora Awards which has apparently relocated from South Africa and will be held in Calabar, Cross River State from 2008 to 2012. This raises some questions: -Why did Fiddy come back to Nigeria? -Should Eedris have given the apology? And why did he do so? -And what on earth happened to the Kora awards, last time we checked our entries were being returned as they were not picking up mail from their Po Box? -What does money have to do with all this? Discuss it here. Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:40:41 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article209.html African hip hop radio's own presenter Lee from South Africa (also known as presenter at YFM and editor of Y Magazine) is currently touring the continent for the new Channel O tv show, Emcee Africa. The talent search tours Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Angola and South Africa with its battle for the African lyrical freestyle supremacy. According to organizer Bonngoe productions, every winner of the local finale will fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, to compete in the grand finale spectacle event, filmed live for TV. The first prize is 10.000 U$ in cash (which we suggest he/she should change into euros or their local currency ASAP as the dollar is not exactly stable). What's more, the freestyle king receives a recording and video deal. Lee is holding it down throughout the continent: "I have always been a firm believer that the African continent has some of the most amazing emcees, it’s a big part of our heritage as story tellers, and I hope that this show will prove my theory right". The Emcee Africa team is currently in Accra (Ghana) where the local battle for national lyrical supremacy will take place on Saturday 22nd at Usher Forte (national monument). The television program will air in February 2008. Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:57:33 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article208.html We will be doing some technical maintenance on the African Hip Hop Forums these coming days. As you can see we have already completed a couple of technical improvements. updates. We needed to also update the looks of the forums, since our old design template doesn't yet work well with the technical innovations. So, for now you will have to get used to a new look! Obviously, your experiences with the new functionality are of interest - please share them in the Chit Chat section. Any bugs or inconveniences should be ironed out over the coming weeks, but keep us posted about it and in the rare case you can't log in anymore, just mail us, you can use the contact form at Africanhiphop.com. UPDATE: CHAT ROOM WORKING AGAIN Africanhiphop.com users can now access the chatroom again... after some downtime caused by the tech updates on the forum. UPDATE: EMBED YOUTUBE VIDEOS From now on, you can post Youtube videos inside the forum by using a BBcode tag. Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:44:18 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article207.html After his performance yesterday at the Hip Hop Awards, Senegal's biggest hip hop festival which takes place this week, the Ivorian reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly has been declared 'persona non grata' by the Minister of Internal affairs. The declaration, which forbids Fakoly to enter or leave Senegal, was issued on thursday, December 13 after the singer openly criticized president Wade and his son, whom he adviced during his concert to 'quit power if he loves his country'. Furthermore, he told the president to leave his son, Karim Wade, at home if he'd not want him to be auditioned by the National Assembly, a remark in reference to the controversy over the Commission of Infrastructure to question the leaders of the Agence nationale de l'Organisation de la Conférence islamique (ANOCI) which is chaired by Karim Wade. The Minister of Internal Affairs described Tiken Jah Fakoly's comments as 'staggering, arrogant and discourteous'. The reggae singer seems to share a concern about the future of the country; according to Seneweb, he had previously declared that Senegal is in danger in the same way Ivory Coast had been prior to the civil war which split the country in two between 2002 and earlier this year. "Like the Senegalese people, the Ivorians also used to say that they were all brothers and sisters, but you can see how things changed. So we have to be careful because things can always take a turn for the worse". The eviction of Tiken Jah Fakoly is bad enough, but we hope it won't have further consequences towards the freedom of speech in the country; on his solo album which appeared earlier this year, rapper Xuman in his song 'Njomboor' was openly critical about president Wade (njomboor, meaning hare, is his official nickname) and there are other hip hop artists who could fall prey to similar measures by the Minister. Then there's the position of reggae artists in society. Reggae in Senegal had just come to be more accepted with events like last year's 'Riddim4children' reggae festival which took place in peace, and in september this year reggae legend Ijahman played the Djoloff Reggae Festival at the Iba Mar Diop stadium. Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:26:40 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article206.html Last weekend some forum members decided to give our deserted chat room another chance, and sure enough... for the past two days it's been very active in there. So if you want to see what it's all about, log in to our forum and click the Chat Lounge link, or use the link below. Best time to try the chat room is until approximately 19 hrs west African time, so that's until 13 hrs on the US east coast. · Launch the Chat room Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:50:55 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article205.html As the end of the year approaches, the temperature in Dakar becomes bearable (some would say 'cold'), Senegalese abroad come home for their annual holidays and the hip hop community prepares for the 7th edition of the annual Hip Hop Awards. The festival, formerly known as the Senegal hip hop awards, was the first hip hop event in west-Africa on this scale, and today its focus goes beyond the borders with Mauritania or Mali. Like last year, Africanhiphop.com will be present throughout the awards week to report on the concerts and workshops, and to interview artists for a special edition of African hip hop radio, to be expected in January. Before that show we'll drop the November/December edition with a report of our Film night and Cabo hip hop special at Black Soil in Amsterdam. Some highlights of this year's program of the Hip Hop Awards: Yeleen (Burkina Faso), Ardiess (Benin), Fonetic (Togo), Koppo (Cameroun), Master G (Guinee), Dhalai-K (Benin), and from Senegal: Daara J, Keyti, Carlou D, Xuman, Matador, Mame Xa, Gaston, Black Diamonds, Pacotille and Canabas. Special guests include Lord Kossity (France) and reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly from Ivory Coast. The events are no longer situated exlusively in the former French Cultural Center, but also in the 'banlieue' of Pikine and even further inland in Diourbel: 7 December Esplanade de la poste, Diourbel 9 December Esplanade Complexe LS Senghor, Pikine 12/14/15 December Institut Francais 13 December Studio 2STV - Awards ceremony Download the flyer: front and back. Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:27:22 +0100 http://www.africanhiphop.com/Article204.html Salute to the great Mr Fat. He passed in the morning hours today in Cape Town, South Africa. Those that knew him will attest that he was unique in many ways. The rise of his stardom in both his hometown and beyond is a fitting testament to this wonderfully memorable character. From the days of Cape Town's hip-hop gathering place in the 90's, The Base, to his escapades with Jam B, and The Show (hip hop radio) at Bush, to Brasse vannie Kaap, he has always remained Mr Fat. We will miss you bra. May you rest in Peace. Shamiel X, Baobabconnections, Beatbangaz, Africanhiphop.com and all the old old school heads. PEACE! No news on the funeral yet. Will post more info here. Also see this interview with Mr Fat at Bush Radio Photo by Leon Botha Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:41:57 +0100