Egypt: How We Did it When the Media Would Not

fisttap @tomolefe

A fascinating back-story on the role of Egyptian bloggers and artists in society in the years before the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the days leading up to his fall and the state of the revolution thereafter.

Source

Shake the Dust

The amazing clip above is a preview from an upcoming documentary, “Shake the Dust which features hip hoppers from all over the world. Made by emerging film director Adam Sjoberg, the film tells the story of b-boys, and girls in poor communities from Uganda to Yemen to Haiti who all connect through the universal language of hip hop. Acknowledging the universality of music, Sjoberg writes of hip hop culture: ”

"although separated by cultural boundaries and individual struggles, are intrinsically tied to one another through their passion for break-dancing and hip-hop culture....“Shake the Dust” uses b-boying to show commonality and humanity in cultures that are affected by war, disease, and poverty. It seeks to paint a picture of the struggles the characters have– but only as a backdrop to the real story: one of hope and beauty."

Interestingly, there's a side story that developed out of making "Shake the Dust" in Yemen Sjoberg met up with some Somali hip hoppers who dropped some rhymes about the futility of war, their ancestry and forced migration.





For more on Yemen's b-boy crews, I recommend Tom Finn's article, on Sana'a's breakdancers. Apart from insight into how hip hop as universal livelihood and source of creativity for Yemen's youth, the different class mix and multi-cultural dancers stood out for me. The main group featured in this article is The Blast Boyz who are described as "a motley bunch of refugees and expatriates, harking from Canada, Tanzania, Iran, Somalia and America." This is an important thing to remember at a time when there's so much political focus on Yemen. It is often presented as a monocultural and monracial society and yet Yemen like many other Arab countries is visibly multicultural and thousands of years of interaction with countries on the Horn of Africa. Depending on what you believe, modern humans are said to have migrated out of Africa through Yemen and milleniums later, the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba (Makeda) ruled over the then south Arabia and parts of the East Africa. Presently there are at least 700 000 Somalis in Yemen as its one of the closest countries for people fleeing conflict or seeking a better life. Obviously, migrants are in the minority (23 million pop.), but they're some of the small everyday stories which are part of the current, mass anti-government protests which will hopefully topple Ali Abdullah Saleh. On the impact of the protests on hip hop and family life, Finn writes:

"Social stigma, the b-boys say, is the only thing stopping them from joining the ranks of protesters who have been camped outside Sana’a University for the past two months calling for Yemen’s ruler for the past thirty-three years, President Ali Abudallah Saleh, and his family to leave power. “My father would disown me, simple as that,” says Danny Al-Basry, another Iraqi considered one of the crew’s most talented members. “But if things get much worse here, I will have to join them.”

Like many others, the boys say they feel alienated by social expectations that are no longer achievable as a result of the deteriorating economic and political situation. For some of them, b-boying is not only a means of expression but also a vital way of escaping from these looming pressures as well as the monotony and tedium of everyday life in Yemen."

b-boy in yemen

fotocred: adam sjoberg

jacked from www.jonatascouto.com

fisttap @tomwfinn

Miss Doctor Remixed

Miss Doctor Remixed by Akwaaba Music
From Akwaaba Music:
Miss Doctor was one of the biggest hits this year in Ghana. Appietus’ tight production has been booming throughout the entire country since last spring, so six months later it’s a special treat to see the vocals land in the hands of an army of young producers throughout the globe. On this EP we present some of our favorite submissions to the Miss Doctor remix contest. As usual choices were difficult and most likely quite imperfect. But we hope this small sample helps to propel 4X4 into new club stratospheres, and helps to turn new heads onto Ghanaian beats. 

The first remix featured in this blog post is called Dance Kill Move:

Dance Kill Move – Sweden/Colombia: we instantly loved this cumbia/reggaeton/dancehall rework by this young Swedish duo. Funny how it came about: last summer Ricardo – the beatmaker in this duo – spent a few weeks in Colombia, where his family is from, soaking up the cumbia, vallenato, porros, champeta and reggaeton. Then upon his return, stumbled upon the remix contest. Luckily for us, his summertime love affair brought Miss Doctor that much closer to the Colombian coast. Escucha fuerte!
 
To read the summaries on the rest of the remixes and find out how to access the music, please visit Akwaaba Music.

In DOPE Music We Trust

Mhlobo Wami

This is Teargas. A South African kwaito group that raps and sings in Zulu, English and Sotho comprised of two brothers and a friend (plus background musicians?). The main members consist of Ntokozo “K.O.” Mdluli from Piet Retief in Mpumalanga, and two brothers Ezee “Ma-E” Hanabe and Bantu “Ntukza” Hanabe from Soweto, Johannesburg. Teargas was signed to Electromode Music in 2005, and subsequently released their debut album, K’shubile K’bovu. They fell off my radar, being in the Diaspora its easy for one to be out of the kwaito loop, so I've only just discovered this song. (I thought it kind of weird to discover a band called Teargas at a time when Egyptian and Tunisian forces are using gas to crush civilian uprisings (upcoming blog post).) ...Anyway, Teargas are an established band in SA, having been nominated for a SAMA Award (SA Music Awards) for the 2007 album 'Wafa Wafa' (Due or Die). They've since released another two albums, their latest being Teargas 101 that dropped in December 2010. They seem to be doing big things at the moment and may it stay that way. Sky's the limit.


About this song, Mhlobo Wami is Zulu for My Close Friend / Relation - in other words his wife who cheated on the video's actor/singer with his good friend called James. The song basically relays how he got played out, and expresses his pain and disappointment. I'm sure the video is quite clear on what the song is about for those not conversant in Zulu. Lovin' the Mzansi style Dougie dance towards the end!

Kilimanjaro Studio Sessions

The Noisettes deliver a brilliant cover Miriam Makeba's Kilimanjaro for Levi’s Shape Of What’s To Come campaign. The studio-session video above is of lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa covering the Miriam Makeba classic. I love that she gets the Zulu pronunciation and clicks right and she even worked in a li'l accent there, but still gives the song a modern twist. Props to the bad and backing vocals too! Very nice blend into Never Forget You and switch back to Kilimanjaro.


You can download this session from Goodies | Shape What's To Come

In DOPE Music We Trust

The Jody McIntyre Interview

 much thanks to latentexistence (Twitter) for putting this on youchoob
Had it been anyone else who's not anti-establishment this interview would have gone smoothly, but the reporter was grilling Jody and appeared to insinuate he'd been responsible in some small way for the police's actions, but I'm glad he stood his ground. Great interview!
#demo2010
#solidarity
#dayx3

Old Song. New Video

This is a track by Comrade Fatso and Outspoken ft Chabvondoka which came out over a year ago and last month the official video was released. I posted the live version of this video some months ago ( iCan't hyperlink) and I still prefer it to this one. This is more sanitized and clean whereas the other one was much more potent because it was live, but still this is a nice video, some cool graphix. I don't know why the Shona translations are wrong - maybe not wholly wrong but they are incorrect in several places, these are just a few: hapana chakanaka means there is nothing good and toonana kuma streets means we'll meet in the streets, at 1:29 ivovanoenda kustars isusu tino atengesa means they go to stars (the night club) and we sell them (a play on the club name and the poor selling stars). Not nitpicking but #justsaying.

If you would like to know more about these guys checkout www.comradefatso.com. 

Global System of Hip Hop Supremacy: Soprano was Number 1 in France

Soprano - Hiro
Uploaded by coco6213. - See the latest featured music videos.

Please note that Soprano was number one for two weeks, three weeks ago and is currently at number 16, in the World Album Charts he reached 30 and made it into Switzerland's Top20.

From This Is Africa:

Besides the US, do you know many countries where a rap single can enter the sales charts at Number 1? Soprano, a Marseille-based rapper from the Comoros Islands, sold almost 30.000 copies of his second album ‘La Colombe’ (The Dove) in the first week of its release! The last time a hip-hop artist entered the charts at number 1 was a year ago with Diam’s(who also happened to be France’s bestselling artist in 2006), also on Hostile Records, sub-label of Capitol/EMI France. 

Of course, the EMI marketing machinery is working well, and Hostile has been the top French rap label for many years. However, Soprano’s success is definitely not only a marketing one; he’s not a big muscles/big voice/big whatever shiny accessory-type guy: he represents a new generation of rappers who don’t take themselves too seriously and laugh at their own caricatures, as you can see in this video ‘Crazy’, in which he raps about his mad generation (the track has taken the dance floor by storm).

Another track, ‘Hiro’, was spontaneously taken up by the mainstream and underground, much to the surprise of his record company who didn't see it as an obvious commercial hit. The huge demand led to its release as the second single. It’s about heroes and historical role models, and it’s deep and political.

SOPRANO, THE MAN

Despite the speed and magnitude of his success, Soprano remains humble, conscious and full of humour. ‘La Colombe’, the album title, is a reference to his first song that became a hit on the underground and to his constant search for peace. His motto is “Une colombe dans la plume et un corbeau dans le flow” (A dove in the pen and a raven in the flow).

Soprano first started rapping in 1995 with his original band PSY4 de la rime (‘psychiatrist of the rhyme’), which consisted of two other rappers of Comorian origin and another from Morocco. They released three albums with the support of IAM (the first and still most respected French rap band from Marseille), all went gold, before Soprano took off with his solo album, achieving platinum status (+250,000 units sold). They are all still a really good team, working together and featuring in each other videos (videos that often feature their city of Marseille).

As you probably know, Marseille, France’s second largest city, is one of the biggest Mediterranean metropolis, has a huge North African population and is a very important community from Comoros Islands. Soprano frequently refers to his family struggling in Africa, and though he grew up on an uncomfortable estate he is aware of life’s possibilities uses music to encourage his generation to grab their chance and build a positive life. Not surprisingly, he has recently been elected one of the most respected personalities of Marseille, next to Zidane!  (Related news: Just a few days ago, men armed with AK 47 assault rifles killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded an 11-year-old in two separate drive-by shootings in Marseille - Full story at Reuters)

Soprano is now in the middle of a sold-out tour all through France, and is said to be ‘une bête de scene’ – which translates as ‘stage animal’ - as he has a lot of fun performing live. He’s also been brave enough to try the international market – quite rare for French-speaking rappers who like their messages to be clearly understood and usually want to make a quick buck - by supporting Austrian-German rapper [[Chakuza[[ on his German, Austrian and Swiss tour. The welcome was such that Soprano is now having a German release and his own tour early next year. We hardly need wish him luck as we believe his style and energy will transcend many more language barriers across Europe.

Follow him on Facebook, and check out his MySpace page for some beautiful clips of acoustic live recordings with fellow Comorian musicians.

LISTEN:
Spotify

WHERE TO BUY:
iTunes
FNAC
Amazon France
Amazon UK
7 Digital 

In DOPE Music WE Trust!

Lowkey: The Most Relevant Grime/Hip Hop Artist in the UK Today

‎"The real enemy is not the man to your front your facing with a rifle, it's the man directly above you telling you to pull the trigger" former British soldier Joe Glenton.

Chico and Rita

Chico and Rita is the latest animated film from Spanish director Fernando Trueba about a young Cuban couple who meet in Havana in 1948. Chico’s a talented jazz pianist and song writer, Rita’s a sultry singer. They both dream of making it big and the film traces their intense, sexy but turbulent love affair from Havana to New York to Las Vegas.

With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist, bandleader and composer Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita captures a definitive moment in the evolution of jazz music. The film features music by jazz legends Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter,Dizzy Gillespie and Freddy Cole (brother of Nat King Cole).

Chico and Rita is out on 19 November and is showing all over London. Check www.chicoandrita.co.uk for more info.

info from Wikipedia and The Telegraph

3 rounds. 12 minutes.

Audley Harrison 32 punches thrown, 1 punch landed. Just. One. The Hayemaker TKO.

Imitation is the Cutest Form of Flattery

Li'l Girl Dressed up as the fabulous Janelle Monae, all ready for Halloween.

I've no idea where the pic's from, found it on Threadbare via via via etc 

If you're reading this & it's yours, please can I have her, the kid I mean. : )

Music and Popcorn

Tenda McFly

This is Tenda McFly all the way from Brisbane, Australia and he's originally from Zimbabwe (aka Tatenda Chimbari). If you can be patient enough to tolerate all the hiccups on his mixtape, you'll like him (otherwise use Google Chrome for smooth listening). Y'can tell he's a graduate of the Lupe Fiasco, Kanye, and Saul Williams school of hiphop because he brings a similar, yet unique poetic edge to hip-hop, but he fuses it with indy and electro beats, creating his own sound. It can sound a li'l trite/generic in places if you sit through one listening, but that's your fault, one straight sitting of most albums will do that to you before you grow to love them. I'm not sure about the accent switching in places, but he's aight, dope like that. I'm still deciding on my favourites, but Definition, Sticks and Stones and Story of My Life are front-runners...But there's the issue of the name though. Can he use the name McFly? Isn't it copyrighted to the band McFly and unless it's one's birth name can he use it in the same way Daddy or Doctor was used by rappers in the 90's? Maybe McFly are nice like that and don't really mind who riffs off of their name.
Anyway, y'can sample and download his mixtape @ www.tendamcfly.bandcamp.com.

In DOPE Music WE Trust.

Umthombo: An Alternative

fisttap mahala.co.za

This is a new promo ad for Umthombo, a project to rehabilitate Durban's (S.A) street kids through surfing and other positive sporting and health projects. It's run mainly by former street kids who are now trained as youth care workers, social workers, advocacy leaders etc, Umthombo depends on the generous donations of the public so if you have second hand surfing gear or are interested in helping in other ways - through donation, gift-giving or volunteering please checkout: www.umthombo.org.

And the Winner is...

Liu Xiabo

jacked from The Guardian

Up in Flames

Been meaning to post my fav'rit choon of the minute, Up in Flames by Labrinth feat. Tinchy Stryder and Devlin. Please subscribe to Labrinth's YouChoob channel for a free download, but UK massive please be sure to buy the single when it comes out on the 24th of October, along with Devlin's Runaway (17 Oct) and Kano's Upside - artists don't make sick music for free all the time.

In DOPE Music We Trust!

Impande Core

fisttap Mahala.co.za

Impande Core are a five-piece unsigned band from Vosloorus, South Africa that's been around for a couple of years on the underground scene, blending neo-soul, mbaqanga, hip hop and funk. I've only just heard of them even though the video's almost a year old and there's very little of their stuff out there on the net, but now that I've added them as friends on Facebook (add: Namanje), I hope to hear more from them.

Impande Core

pic shamelessly jacked from the band's Facebook Album

Stop Badmouthing Your Country to Foreigners:

When is the last time you heard a Brit say: "You know, England is headed nowhere. What a shit country this is, if I had the money I would move to Uzbekistan coz this country is going down the toilet"?

Are you tired of Americans abroad saying:
" I'll never go back to the States, dude, hell naw. I mean, what for, there's a recession, executives are stealing money, fuck that, I'm gon' stay right here in Abuja."

Please, stop being an ass about your country.Yes, we have problems, but if all the brains that could help solve our problems stay away until "things get better", how will they ever get better?

Let's bitch to each other, but not to outsiders. And let's bitch with a view to improving things. Coz no matter how much your punk-ass settles in wherever you are or how realistic your accent sounds, you will always  be just that. A punk-ass foreigner, yeah?

Words by Zakeo Zakeos of The Silent Musings of A Mad Zim Executive

Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down

An English Defence League member is KO'd by a Muslim brotha during an anti-Islam protest in Bradford this past weekend. Niceness!!!

                                                                                                          fisttap sonsofmalcom

L-Boogie in Rwanda

About a month ago, the uber fab, super stylish Lauryn Hill performed in Kigali, Rwanda at Fespad 2010 (a week after the faux Presidential election) and by the looks of things she tore up the place! Get 'em Lauryn, now hurry up and release an album!