I managed to forget that it was one of my best friends’ 25th birthday on Monday. To make it up to her here’s a post that I’m sure she’ll love. Meg, sama xarit, je te dédie ce poste dans l’espoir que tu le liras…

I was driving home yesterday and saw a guy pushing a wheelbarrow filled with coconuts wearing a 50-cent t-shirt. Something was different. 50-cent was there looking at me all faux-ghetto but underneath his picture it said “50 CFA” – CFA is the local currency in Senegal and 50 CFA is worth about 8-cents US. I laughed so hard I almost fell off my scooter.

In honour of this wonderful t-shirt (and Meg) I thought I’d post one of the many cheesy Wolof covers of 50-cent’s repertoire. Here’s mbalax and Senegalese RnB star Viviane (the arguably sexy sister of Youssou N’Dour, no less) with PBS Radikal on a track called “Yaay Baign”, which doesn’t mean P.I.M.P. in Wolof.

We’ve also had requests for Daara J. Since I’m posting Senegalese rap anyway I’ll tack on my favourite track by this talented Dakar hiphop group off their 2003 album, Boomerang.

ps- that picture isn’t of the 50 CFA guy. I took it about 2 years ago when I first got to Dakar.

Viviane & PBS Radikal – Yaay Baign
Daara J – Boomerang