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.
While MTV Africa (also known as MTV Base) has made Joburg, SA their home two years ago, until recently the channel didn't yet reward talent across the continent by way of an awards ceremony. And with the mysterious situation surrounding the South Africa-based Kora Awards where awards entries went 'returned to sender' as they seemed to have disappeared off the earth, there were few spots for artists around the continent to be promoted into the mainstream.
Then in 2007 Kora resurfaced in Nigeria, and this year MTV Africa steps into the scene with an annual event that will go a long way in promoting artists across the continent and internationally. The first edition of the MTV Africa Music Awards will take place at the Velodrome, Abuja, Nigeria on Saturday 22 November 2008. The TV registration will then be broadcast across the African MTV network and on select tv channels. In anticipation of the ceremony, the nominees will be presented locally in Johannesburg (5 November), Nairobi (8 November), DR Congo (13 November) and Lagos (15 November). The event is sponsored by ZAIN, the phone company from Kuwait which owns the Celtel brand.
The oldest conflict known to seperate mankind? Hardly, but the perceived gap between hip hop and bubblegum pop does have some history. In Tanzania it's played out mostly along the line between bongo flava and hip hop, or between 'commercial' versus 'underground', while these words do not necessarily cover the same semantics as we have been used to.
Irish-Tanzanian Kieran Allen, who dedicated his MA thesis research to hip hop in Tanzania, enlightens us on what factors are at play. Is there hope for quality and integrity in Tanzanian hip hop?
For some time now the hip hop community in Ghana has found itself living under the thick shade of the premier genre of music in the country, also known as hiplife. You don’t hear or read about hip hop anywhere in the media, this has led the foot soldiers or hip hop heads to practice their art in the confines of their immediate environment.
Bring in WAPI, the event originating in Kenya which showcases talent from across the board. Our reporter Sam Harrison Jnr created a photo report.
Ghanaian emcee M.anifest has been representing from the US for nearly a decade now. In the past 2 years his tracks have started to make waves, among others through African hip hop radio where 'Africa represent' was one of our favorite user uploads since we started the radio site in 2005. We spoke to M.anifest over the internet about his current album 'Manifestations' which has just dropped through Jakarta records in Germany and he sheds some light on an exciting collabo called African Rebel Movement.
"A big part of hip-hop is representing for you and yours. If Biggie did it for NYC, KRS put the South Bronx on the tip of the tongue of kids who hadn't even even stepped foot at JFK airport, then I barely find a reason to hide my origins. It's not just hollow pride in Africa or Ghana, its a real feeling of telling our stories to the world. Representing."
20-year old Comfort Ogheneruro Fedoke (Nigerian parents, born in Texas but calls Lagos home) is competing in 'So you think you can dance', a popular tv show on American tv.
Watch her dancing to an old school electro tune by The Egyptian Lover and judge for yourself: will she make it to the finals and win the grand prize of a one year contract for Celine Dion's Vegas show, a brand new car and $100K cash?
This devastating tune from dj Mujava is about to be released worldwide on the renown Warp Records (and This Is Music Records for the UK). Despite high expectations (and opportunities like the Tsotsi movie soundtrack), kwaito and related music from South Africa has not yet led to a worldwide craze in the way Brazilian favela funk has.
Maybe this one is a step in the right direction... It's already being picked up already by trendsetting radio deejays in the UK.
Release dates are September 15 (12 inch) and August 11 (digital).
After a long absence, during which we worked hard behind the scenes on the upcoming site changes and started a local version of African hip hop radio in Dutch, the African hip hop radio team is back with monthly updates and new presenter Amal.
The July 2008 show is filled to the brim with the hottest tracks from the past six months and no less than three interviews: Zubz, Rich Medina and Mawe2. Also from this month on, our veteran presenter Lee Kasumba (also known from YFM in Johannesburg) is back with a monthly update. In her contributions she focuses on upcoming artists from all over the African continent.
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.
"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.
