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You have landed at Africanhiphop.com
You have landed at Africanhiphop.com, the home of Pan African Hip Hop.
This web site, originally called 'Rumba-Kali' was initiated in February 1997 as a platform for information and discussion on hip hop from the African continent.
> Read more
------------------------- What's happening down there
Subscribing to the Africanhiphop.com mailing list allows you to get exclusive monthly hip hop updates from all over the continent. Members of our list also get to hear new Rumba-Kali online radio shows before they are announced on the website. The archive which goes back to 1998 is also accessible to members. Last week's update was about hip hop in Tanzania.
You can subscribe now by filling out the form.
> Mailing list
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Kenya charts
As our East African Hip Hop Charts originate in Dar es Salaam and are very much Tanzania-centered, we offer some links for popular Kenyan hiphop in online realaudio. Interesting is Kelele's top 10 while you should also keep an eye on the Capital FM East African charts.
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Rockers Tanzania
We are proud to announce that we have teamed up with Tanzania's hardest working entertainment journalists in getting you the latest on the urban music scene out there. First we have Rockers magazine, which has been bringing the 411 on hip hop in Dar es Salaam for some time now. Peep their website, and keep in mind that we are preparing a realaudio presentation of some of the artists featured in Rockers! Visit Rockers magazine here:
> Rockers
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Site updated
What? You still visiting this old site... we have updated! Click here to see the Africanhiphop site in its new design.
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Audio battles
African history may have taught you about battles in the desert... on the beach... the steppe... but this is a new era and we are fighting with lyrics on the web. In the past months, an increasing number of emcees have discovered our Battle Forum. Now a new dimension has been added by the Ghanaian-origin mc Agrikulcha. He recorded a battle reply while in the studio working on his album, and we have uploaded the mp3 audio file. Download it at the forums, and if you have recorded a reply please contact us by mail so that we can put your reply track online too.
> Africanhiphop Audio battles
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New West-African hiphop compilation
On 14 November, the first-ever West-African hiphop compilation cd will be released by German label Trikont. Bringing tracks by the best groups from the 'griot countries' of Senegal, Gambia and Mali, 'Africa raps' is an essential purchase. Compiled by journalist Jay Rutledge, it features the following names: Abass Abass feat. Daby, Xuman & Bibson, C.B.V., Gokh Bi System, Omzo, Sen Kumpe, Da Brains, Djoloff, Da Fugitivz, Pee Froiss, Abass Abass, Les Escrocs, BMG 44, Positive Black Soul and Tata Pound.
The official launch will be on the 14th of November in Club 2 on the Kirchenstrasse in Munich (Germany). On this occasion none other than Pee Froiss will give a live show! SO if you are in the area, make sure you get a ticket.
We'll give you a full review soon when we get the promo cd. In the meantime check out the label's site.
> Trikont website
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Black August
An unprecedented large number of American emcees visited South Africa recently as part of the 'Black August' tour which reached Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The package included Talib Kweli, Jeru and Dead Prez. Criticism of earlier foreign hiphop artists' visits pointed to the fact that kids from the townships were frequently unable to attend due to high prices and the downtown location of the venues. This time around, efforts were made to lower the prices and in Cape Town the artists collaborated with the local hiphop scene gathered to organize a free concert in Princeton High, a school in Mitchell's plain which is one of the larger townships in Cape Town. Despite the short notice, the concert was reported succesful. Other than the frequent African Hiphop Indaba events, there are few major hiphop events organized close to the homes of township dwellers.
From Johannesburg we have more on the official event and the messages of revolution that the artists wanted to share with the audience.
> Read the report on the Joburg gig
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Shika Lako: Mind your business!
Tanzanian hiphop crew X Plastaz have completed the work on their debut full length cd 'Ushanta' which is released this autumn through the Africanhiphop.com label.
To introduce the audience to their new sound, the single 'Haleluya / Shika Lako' was released to East African radio stations on 7 September 2001. The single is a strong double a-side with the moving 'Haleluya' commenting on the many misfortunes that the Tanzanian nation has to endure, and 'Shika lako' advising certain people to mind their own business. Production is by P-Funk (Tanzania) and Kid Sundance (Holland); the latter also took care of mastering.
At their website you can listen to audio snippets of the two songs. Later this year the xplastaz.com site will be fully loaded with pics, biographies and online video.
> Visit the official Xplastaz website
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Hare tales
The hare is a well known character in African oral tradition. Few people are aware that he can also rhyme. Senegalese emcee Doodou, better known as 'Njombor-bii' (a Wolof word meaning 'hare') created some confusion in Senegal with his nick since the people of Senegal used to refer to the president by that name.
This is not to say that our Njombor-bii is pro- government or a pop rapper. He's inspired by the underground and his first cassette 'Djogolo si mann' which was released in Senegal last year, is mostly a 'do-for-self' project. Currently living in Amsterdam (Holland), Njombor teamed up with Daba of Deftek promotions (also see the Marginal clip below) to make the single 'Hip hop' into a music video. As it's about to debut on Senegalese television, we have the worldwide premiere right here on the web.
Click here to watch (Realplayer needed; best results with cable modem).
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Back online - new look coming up!
On visiting this site last week you must have noticed that it was offline for a couple of days. All this was due to the "Code Red Worm" computer virus attacks which severly affected our host provider in America. Apparently the server that hosts Africanhiphop.com was in an IP address range that was under attack from the virus, and our provider responded by blocking traffic to the sites and updating the servers.
If you're interested you may check out a report on the spread of the virus at Caida.org
Upcoming at Africanhiphop.com - and a new look!
Despite the virus trouble, we have some site updates coming your way. A long awaited improvement is the transfer to a database driven site. This means that it will be much easier for us to do site updates, and that we'll also be able to accept article and news submissions from the readers! We're busy now moving all the info into the database, and you should expect this to be done within 2 weeks. Interesting new features of Africanhiphop in a new style include a rating system for new releases, optional subscriptions to customize the site layout, and more. You can suggest a new feature or site improvement - drop a comment in the general discussion at our forum!
Then there will also be a change of mailing list. Since Listbot are now going commercial, selling their software to Microsoft, we decided to move the Africanhiphop mailing list to a structure which is controlled by ourselves. As soon as the server is back online, we'll remove all your e-mail addresses from Listbot to our new system. Subscribers will be notified by e-mail of the changes, and you'll still be able to unsubscribe at any time.
Other updates happening this month: report on last June's Festival Mundial, new cd releases, a video by Njombor-Bi (Senegal), massive amount of new links.
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Taa-rap spicing up the scene
Who would have thought? The taarab music from the Swahili coast of Africa sounds so different from anything else you heard, that it's hard to imagine how it could fuse with hip hop.
Enter Cool Para, a 24 years old emcee - dj from the 'spice islands' of Zanzibar. In recent years when recording his music he used the facilities at the East African Melody recording studio, one of the few places on Unguja (Zanzibar) recording local sounds at affordable prices.
East African Melody is better known as Zanzibar's most popular taarab group. They didn't mind playing the backing track to Cool Para's raps, using a simple drum machine, bass, guitar and keyboard (the standard equipment for groups playing taarab's popular variety).
It wasn't a huge step to invite a taarab singer to do the choruses, and when the musicians abandoned a typical hiphop beat in favour of a taarab rhythm, the new style of 'taarap' was born. First heard on recording in our video 'Hali halisi', there is now a second offering of this style: a new song which you can view online in a music video recorded in Amsterdam and Zanzibar in early 2001. Soon on Tanzanian tv, now at Africanhiphop.com!
Click here to watch if you have a cable modem or ADSL
or click here if you got a 56k modem (4 minutes streaming realaudio).
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New 24/7 online African hiphop radio
Imagine a mailbox full of requests for new African hiphop online broadcasts. We have been putting hours of hiphop from the motherland on the web since early 1998. These 'broadcasts' have been among the more popular elements of the Africanhiphop site. Lately we have been experimenting with live broadcasts, and though they add the element of live feedback and requests, it's proven more useful to continue on with 'on demand' shows.
Another and all new option is the non-stop webcast which plays a continuous program of tunes, accessible at all time. So why not put a couple fist full of tracks online and accept listener requests?
Enter Rumba-Kali Radio: the world's first non-stop African hiphop broadcast!
Currently in its test phase, Rumba-Kali Radio (named after our original website) has a regularly updated playlist of rap tracks from all over the continent and from African hiphop artists abroad. You can send in your music too, and if it's good and relevant we will include it in the program. In the near future other content such as interviews will be added. For now you can blast exclusive new tracks by the likes of Tata Pound (Mali), Kalamashaka (Kenya), TicTac (Ghana) and Saigon (Tanzania).
How to listen?
- STEP 1: You will need a pc with a soundcard and either of the following software:
Realplayer basic (free download at www.real.com)
or Winamp (free download at www.winamp.com)
- STEP 2: Follow the link below to go to the Rumba-Kali Radio page and click the loudspeaker symbol to listen. You will get a pop-up which will ask you to configure your system so that your listening experience will be tuned to your system capacity.
As this is a test broadcast, we are open to suggestions and definitely also requests! Mail us at radio@africanhiphop.com with comments or questions regarding Rumba-Kali Radio.
> Go to Rumba-Kali Radio
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Defense d'uriner
Enough for now about Dakar being the African hiphop capital - even in Senegal there is more than just that piece of land with an emcee per square meter. Take Saint Louis, the old colonial town in the north of Senegal which is internationally known for its annual jazz festival. On a normal day life is more laid-back out there but the hiphop scene has made name in recent years. We already introduced Black Muslims who now have a tape on the local market, but there's more.
Marginal is one of the finest exponents of the scene, and his tape was also popular all the way down to Dakar. Young sound engineer and video producer Daba - from Saint Louis but living in the Netherlands - made the music video to his 'Pisse, haine, rhymes'. Recorded at night in one of the main streets of Saint Louis, this is a straight-in-your-face production which goes well with the lyrics and with the foggy air it reminds of a classic Black Moon videoclip. Watch the video - exclusively at Africanhiphop.com! Mind the sign 'defense d'uriner' (forbidden to piss) which is 'interpreted' towards the end of the song.
Click here to watch if you have a cable modem or ADSL
or click here if you got a 56k modem (4 minutes streaming realaudio).
Also if you want more info on Marginal or on Daba's video productions you can mail her.
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Overflow: next level of Pan African Hip Hop
The outcome of a couple of hiphop workshops, recordings and conference that took place in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) in March 2001 has been presented to the public. The project, which brought together emcees from South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Holland in an exchange focusing on the role of rap as a medium, got plenty attention from the local hiphop community and lived on as the emcees met up again in Holland in June.
The promo-only single 'Overflow' has been released by the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa to all radiostations in Holland, and the cd will be available to the Tanzanian media soon.
Here at Africanhiphop.com we have an exclusive pre-listening party! Check out these 2 tracks which were recorded in Dar es Salaam, using a beat by veteran producers 2Tall and Skate the Great. The emcees are EJ von Lyrik and Mr Devious (South Africa), Hashim, X Plastaz and 'Fortune Teller' Steve (Tanzania), and 2Tall & Skate the Great from Holland.
Round Table (click here to listen, 4 min. in streaming realaudio)
Day in the Life (click here to listen, 4 min. in streaming realaudio)
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Hip hop in Dakar: a photo essay
In October 2000, Dutch photo journalist Mark Janssen visited Dakar to make a report on the vibrant local hiphop scene for music magazine Oor. His pics were published in the December issue alongside a story.
In the Gallery section we now present the best photographs from his series in 'super wide' format. Artists from high profile groups such as BMG44 and Yat-Fu are followed at work and home. The photographer used large negatives which captured every detail, as in the picture of a cabin at Sandaga market selling rap tapes.
Soon you will hear the new hits on the Senegal scene in our upcoming 24/7 streaming African hiphop radio!
> Hip hop in Dakar: a photo essay
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African hiphop forums
It's been a while since we last mentioned it, but we've worked on an African Hip Hop Forum (also know as a Bulletin Board). So... now you may post in the following forums. And if you have a good suggestion, we might just add another forum!
Battle rhymes: Show off your rhyming skills - in any language.
Wanted: Looking for a producer? Or just trying to get hold of an out-of-print African hiphop tape...
Swahili language: Discussion and rhymes in Swahili. Kwa machizi wote wa Afrika ya Mashariki na ng'amboni.
French language forum: Laissez un message ou freestyle en Francais!
Journalists & Scientists: Are you writing an article on hiphop culture in Africa? Or doing a thesis about rap history in Senegal? Here you can discuss topics with the only true experts: the artists themselves and their audience!
> African hiphop forums
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::: e n f r a n c a i s :::
Africanhiphop.com est en train de developper un section Francophone. Pour le moment on peut deja consulter des articles sur le rap au Senegal et les nouveautés de Dakar.
::: i n p r o g r e s s :::
:: August 29, 2001 ::
- Nouveautés de Dakar: k7 de Pee Froiss, Abbas Abbas, Rap'adio, émission Senerap...
:: August 26, 2001 ::
- Look what we found in the mailbox! New releases, and so many that we can't review them all at once.
:: August 22, 2001 ::
- Corrected the Njombor link, try again, it works now.
:: August 21, 2001 ::
- After the red worm virus attacks our server seems more stable now. So let's get back to the updates with a new video by Senegalese solo emcee Njombor Bii (see elsewhere on this page).
We are working hard to transfer the site to a new database driven system, this will take a couple of weeks still as Africanhiphop.com has grown so HUGE!
:: July 27, 2001 ::
- Back online: the weekly East African Hip Hop Top 10.
:: July 24, 2001 ::
- A new mp3 in the Snd&Vid section: Mr II's 'Makini'.
- If you visit the forums, you'll notice a new 'general discussion' board as well as a new look which is supposedly beneficial to your eyes!
:: July 19, 2001 ::
- Added the Cool Para music video (see on this page).
:: July 7, 2001 ::
- Tanzanian updates: the Clouds FM summer jam and all about the debut album of Unique Sisters, which they will promote as far as Japan.
:: July 2, 2001 ::
- Rumba-Kali Radio is now online! See the news update on this page.
- Added the Marginal videoclip - see the updates.
:: June 13, 2001 ::
- New MP3 in the Sound and Video section: 'Kazeze' by Tanzanian solo artist OCG (click here to download). This track is currently hitting hard on the airwaves.
:: June 2, 2001 ::
- A new section: the African Hip Hop Agenda! A listing of concerts, album releases, conferences, festivals and other related stuff. With this month: Festival Mundial in Holland, and a world premiere: a video of the Maasai-rap by Tanzanian group X Plastaz. Send us your press info, we'll list African hiphop events worldwide.