Nov 4/04
Rap ci sama gox bi
Apparently a bunch of people from Quannum will be hitting this site rather soon. I figured I’d post some more Wolof hip-hop to greet them.
A quick guide to understanding 90% of rap lyrics in Wolof:
xalis – cash money (the x is pronounced like a growling h)
soxna si – a lady
xale yi – the ladies (literally means “the children”)
Bamba – Cheikh Amadou Bamba, 19th century spiritual leader of Mouride Islam
There, I think that’s all we need.
The great thing about Senegal and Senegalese youth is that they’d usually rather listen to local hip-hop than the latest American rap or RnB. Not only can they better understand the Wolof lyrics, but they also appreciate the message more. You hear very little about vice, guns and blood and more about peace in the south or how to marry those hard-to-get Senegalese ladies.
On the main coastal road leading out of downtown there’s a big graffiti piece on the beat-up wall of a mosque complex. It features three Senegalese gangster rap types guys sitting around a fire drinking a mint tea called attaya. This pretty much sums up the scene, in a good way…
The first track was a big hit this year. You’d hear it all the time while riding in Dakar’s famously decorated taxis. It again features Youssou N’Dour’s step-sister Viviane on backup vocals. The second track gives an idea of the kind of hip-hop coming out of Dakar’s poor and bustling downtown district called the Medina. Lastly, since you guys all seemed to enjoy the Senegalese-style PIMP a few posts ago the third track is another faux-cover fresh from the depths of Sandaga market in Dakar.
ps- the title of this post means “rap from my country” in Wolof. And for those of you who don’t know already, benn loxo du taccu means “one hand can’t clap.” It’s a Wolof proverb used to express how you can’t do anything without community.
Viviane & Fou Malade – Taximan
Big D – La Leon
Gokh Bi System – Suma Djigune
[...] scene, as you may have heard on his great track Taxi Man with Vivianne N’Dour that I featured here a while back (temporarily back online, btw). Anyway. I’ve s [...]
yo – peace from http://www.solesides.com – good site you have here. I’ll be checking this stuff more often. Need some time to listen to the music! I’ll add this site to the links page of solesides.com and I’ll mention about it in the news asap.
cheers
Joost
Holla from Pape.
Glad to hear the Gokh bi System track in your site especially while they representing Africa right now in the US, first african hip hop group to play in Hollywood Los Angeles october 21, 2004.
I like the website and i’m ready for anything that can push the Senegalese hip hop to move forward
Thanks and praises
Terrific weblog!!! Taximan rules!
i liked vivi & malale tall
Hi,
This is the best site I’ve come across in weeks and month, and God knows I’m googling for mbalax, salsa mbalax and other african things most of the time.. I got sooo excited when starting downloading and just as disappointed when I couldnt succeed.. Half of the tracks just get the adress to their side downloaded. Gosh, I’m really poor at english, especially at this late hour. Could one write in french, or even wolof instead?
Could you tell me how to NOT download a HTML-document instead of music? I’d greatly appreciate it and since I already told people about the site I guess we could donate some just to get things right. Records are not that easy to find here in Stockholm, especially really old or really new records. Ndeysaan.
Thanks again!!! I cant say thank you enough, words cannot express how happy I was when finding your site!!
hi rap marocain and american for ever
rap for ever