Jabulani!

 

If you grew up in Southern Africa in the late 80s you prolly know the original of this song. Who in the countries of this region grew up without PJ Powers, Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, huh? I used to love this song and praises to youchoob for bringing back so many childhood memories!
This is the remix with HHP and I'm feelin' it too.

Jabulani is a boy's name (the unisex is Jabulile) in Zulu, Ndebele and Xhosa from the word jabula meaning happy and Jabulani means happiness, so you see where FIFA was going with the ball name...ubuntu, joy and all dat. More to the point, this was the first song I thought of after watching Ghana beat USA - yet again. I was jabula-ring as we say in Ndenglish (Ndebele + English) and so were the millions of others cheering for the BlackStars, yes Africans, 'We Are All Ghanaians now'. I betchu Sally Mugabe's name will be mentioned in the Zim papers this week trying to resurrect some special Ghanaian connection, trust!

Anyway, them GH boys showed discipline and skill on the pitch and they're always so happy to play. (Watch and learn Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire, watch and learn!) Even in the Australia match that they drew, they were smiling at the end, the Germany match - although they lost, Jonathan Mensah, ran a lap of honour with the GH flag because the Black Stars had qualified for the final 16 and now they have made it to the last 8. I say maaad props, Jabulani bantwa beAfrica, rejoice children of Africa whereas my overnite soccer pundit, Shakira-infected friends in South Africa say, 'this time for Africa, waka waka!' (sigh). If Ghana make it to the final 4, I will be jabula-ring even more, others waka waka-ring (sigh), but we all know they face a very tough opponent.

KANYE MOMENT: And can I just say to all the dismissive comments and scoffs of English superiority by commentators & fans at the possibility of England playing Ghana had GH won against Germany, The Three Lions could have been mauled by the Black Stars.

'We could defeat you, make no mistake about that', said in that famous threatening voice of Barack Obama. 

OFFSIDE: Who else thinks the Portugal v Brazil match on Friday, was fixed? 0 - 0 c'mon, we know y'all threw that match coz we know you can do beta than kick a ball around for +90 mins goalless. I'm still rooting for Brazil to win the Cup and in the event that they make history for the 6th time, 'We Shall All Become Brazilians'. I mean there's Afro in Brazilian, they played against Zim & Tanzania  in WC friendlies (for a hefty fee) and history allows African-me to r-e-a-c-h-h-h and make this diasporic claim. Don't let me down Samba Kings, otherwise I shall grieve for days or I shall suddenly be possessed by some Orisha spirit of the diaspora which lays claim to all things African, so I shall be found reluctantly, yet shamelessly squatting at the Altar of Messi singing, Jabulani...Well, till I come back to my senses and realise the invisible status, I could share with a diminished African population in Argentina, by fickly declaring 'We Are All Argentinians Now', but that is an issue for another blogpost.

For now I'm talking soccer/football/futbol/bhora and in all fickleness and sincerity, 'We Are All Ghanaians Now' soooo for Friday's match to be victorious, let the prayers, ancestral invocations and finger crossing begin in earnest.

            

 pics jacked from The Guardian


YesWeGyan!!!

'They call me Jay Electronica...%@#$ that call me Jay Elec-Hanukkah, Jay Elec-Yamaka, Jay-Elec-Tramadan, Muhammad Asa-lamaka, Rasula-lasupanuwata Allah through ya monitor!'

FYI

while you was blowin X amount of dollars on a bracelet
the sovereign nation of france was openin they files on the UFO phenomenon i-e spaceships

its just the facts jack may as well face it

every rhyme i write the seal get cracked in the chapter of revalations

a atom get cracked in the blackness of meditation

mysterious s**t

call me Jay Dogon im on some serious/sirius s**t

scholars wonder why do he bust

Allah blessed me with a midasy touch

everything i lay the hands turn to ethopian gold shiny and buffed

i got a firm understandin on the minus and plus

so i aint got time to argue with a rapper bout how he aint got rhymes

that's f**kin with mines

i'm trying to kill lucifer, so if i have to brake

cuz a rapper in my face

tellin me that he the great

you can bet a shiny nickle ill blast his motherf**kin ass way past jupiter

you couldnt be stupider

f**kin with the nuc-l-ear

mayan

aztec lion

asiatic black man from zion

quetzalcotl supreme

lettin off steam

dimethyltriptamine make a man dream

but yall would much rather hear me rappin bout trash

the size of erykahs ass blunts and cash

we need savin
minds are consumed with swine we need bathin.

The Games Are Coming!

Ben Sharpa: One The Most Forward Thinking MCs in Mzansi

Tracks That I'm Feelin': Cape Town STAND UP!

I go waaaay back with some of the members of 5th Floor when it was an 11-strong group split between CapeTown and Jo'burg; it's nice to see them finally getting into the spotlight. These guys were b.e.a.s.t.s on the underground hiphop circuit in the Cape - they were the conscious voice to groups like Cashless Society & Groundworks (R.I.P King Pinn & Nikei)) who were equally baaad on the mic. The KonWomen (TKFM) witnessed many a battle between them and we rolled with 5th Floor - fun times with the family. I really hope this is the start of the good life for them and one day soon, it'll be the start for me too and I'll be back in Cape Town, my 2nd home.



This is Dreimanskap repping for the Cape Flats township of Gugulethu (NY1 baaaaby); - I love this track for the fusion of hiphop with traditional sounds and because they rap in Xhosa. The song is about  remembering your roots, culture and respecting your parents. It also talks abut circumcision which is the rite of passage to manhod in Xhosa culture - I don't believe in traditional circumcision (the Nazarite Vow & some disturbing stories of what happened to some of my peoples, some of whom are part of the o.g. 5th Floor so it's a ratha odd I'm posting this track together with the 5th and brings into kwestin why I even like dis track - because the track is not the act, nor is it it's mouthpiece, but truth be told, I'm still a li'l uncomfortable with it and debated about posting it) The guy with the bongo locks on the guitar is just the coolest! According to their record label, Pioneer Unit they've opened up for Dead Prez, Wordsworth (USA), Jonzi D (UK) and Ben Sharpa (SA) (anutha lyrical beast from waaay back).

From www.pioneerunit.com/dreimanskap: "Driemanskap form the vanguard of the new generation of proudly South African Hip Hop artists who understand that Hip Hop, more than any other musical art form, is about addressing important issues and representing where you're from. They are one of the pioneers of the Spaza movement, representing Cape Town with a rhyme style that combines their mother tongue, isiXhosa, with English and Cape Flats slang."

 fisttap to mahala.co.za for hipping me to this spaza hiphop.

Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)

Jay Z:

Good Morning, this ain't Vietnam still

People lose hands, legs, arms for real

Little was known of Sierra Leone

And how it connect to the diamonds we own

When I speak of diamonds in this song

I ain't talkin bout the ones that be glown

I'm talkin bout Rocafella, my home, my chain

These ain't conflict diamonds, is they Jacob? Don't lie to me mayne

See, a part of me sayin' keep shinin',

How? When I know of the blood diamonds

Though it's thousands of miles away

Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today

Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs

Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs

The diamonds, the chains, the bracelets, the charmses

I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless

'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless

And here's the conflict

It's in a black person's soul to rock that gold

Spend ya whole life tryna get that ice

On a polo rugby it look so nice

How could somethin' so wrong make me feel so right, right?

'fore I beat myself up like Ike

You could still throw ya Rocafella diamond tonight, 'cause

Diamonds Are Forever.

Coming Soon To A Store Near You...

Just a few mins ago I was checking out something online & found

www.yearoftheblacksmythe.com/forum  and this is the truth

Talib had to say....

How can you be an atheist if you don't know everything? What do you call the unknown? I call it God. Can you deny that all living things maintain necessary relationships? Trees take in CO2 and expel O2, we take in O2 and expel CO2, science tells us that. But what created these relationships? According to science, music is not necessary, but can you imagine a world without music? I can't. This is what I call God. I have seen the birth of my son. Science cannot explain the joy I felt in that moment. My life is proof of God's existence. (yea tell 'em Talib!)

Most atheists confuse religion with God (yep!). I do not believe in or subscribe to religion. The holy books are filled with allegories and stories meant to show us values, but many religious people take that stuff literally. But there is something that connects all of us spiritually. I think if you open yourself to the God power inside yourself you will love it. God is not some supreme being sitting in the clouds judging us. God is that inner beauty that makes us strive for knowledge and love. (lookup the Mapping God Genome study, it's very interesting) You dont even have to call it God to acknowledge it. But I think it's a mistake to say it doesnt exist, by whatever name you call it. One love!

I hope my atheist friends got that msg loud and clear ; )