I’ve been to Istanbul a couple times now. I love it.

I was there a few weeks ago working on the Asian bank at Samanyolu TV, one of the stations in the Gülen media empire. It made for an interesting contrast since I’d spend most of the day at a moderate Islamic television station on the, generally speaking, more conservative Asian shore of Istanbul, then at night I’d return home to the bars, restaurants and nightlife in Beyoğlu, Taksim.

Indeed, the clichés you read about in guidebook intros are spot-on: the city is wedged between Europe and Asia/Middle East, between secularism and Islam, and between older traditions and contemporary Western culture. The politics, geography and even the hip-hop all reflect this.

A lot of Turkish hip-hop musicians are actually based in Germany where the movement got its start. With over two million Turks in Germany, it’s no surprise that the music started there as an outlet for disenfranchised Turkish youth struggling to fit-in to German society.

It’d be hard to be a rapper in Turkey itself. You couldn’t be too fuck-the-man since that might land you in jail for “insulting Turkishness” under the infamous penal code 301, and generally speaking Turkey is quite a polite society with courts that aren’t too tolerant of defamation.

Regardless of its Turko-German roots, Turkish hip-hop at home or abroad remains very Turkish and many rappers are increasingly now based in Turkey. Almost all major Turkish MCs in Germany or Turkey rap in Turkish rather than German or English, and since it’s early days Turkish DJs have mixed traditional Turkish instruments, melodies and rhythms with 808 beats and that American hip-hop sound. You’ll hear some examples of that today: traditional instruments like the bağlama, kemençe and davul are often playing in the background.

We should start our tour with the Germany-based Turkish hip-hop supergroup, Cartel. They are generally credited with starting the Turkish hip-hop movement in the mid-1990s after the release of their self-titled debut on Polygram. Not only did they rap in Turkish and use Turkish melodies in their mixes, but their music was very popular in both Germany and Turkey.

After almost killing each other in a fight in 1996 the members of Cartel went their separate ways and several of them were jailed. This plus some controversial lyrics got their debut album banned in Turkey. It wasn’t re-released until 2004. As a result, hip-hop in Turkey in the late 90s went underground for a while.. but the flame had been lit.

A few years later two rappers, Ceza and Dr. Fuchs, started a rap group called Nefret. The group was immediately popular and Ceza would soon become Turkey’s most famous rapper, and arguably one of its most influential Turkish musicians in any genre.

When Ceza released his album Rapstar in 2004 hip-hop was firmly established on the Turkish musical scene. Even the hugely popular Turkish pop star, Tarkan, suggested that he’d start incorporating some hip-hop into his music. Check-out some of Ceza’s videos on YouTube, including his most popular release to date, Holocaust.

Following Ceza’s success several new rappers came to the forefront, among them Sagopa Kajmer. He’s probably one of the best/most popular Turkish rappers around these days. Listen carefully to the second track by Kajmer that I’ll post today; the references are golden. You can see his videos on YouTube. Check-out how many views he’s getting and it’ll give you an idea of his popularity. (I might even have to add him as a friend on Facebook..)

Next, for those who still might associate Istanbul with veiled women we’ll hear some tracks by two female MCs, Sultana and Kolera. Kolera has worked closely with Sagopa Kajmer over the years. She has plenty of videos on YouTube and a MySpace page if you want to learn more. Sultana has some videos on YouTube, too.

Lastly some music by Fuat Ergin. I include this because he raps in Turkish but was born in Germany and has lived there most of his life… and yet still feels a very strong connection to Turkey. Fuat Ergin and many others like him reflect the strong ties that remain between the Turkish diaspora and Turkey, even a generation after their emigration. Video here.

Cartel - Cartel
Ceza - Araturka Fasli
Ceza - Yerli Plaka
Sagopa Kajmer - Al 1′de Burdan Yak
Sagopa Kajmer - Kirik Cocuk (Mickolodium mix)
Sultana - Com Kaymak
Kolera - Bugun mutlu olmayacak gibiyim
Fuat - Her Ayin Elemani

Benn loxo reader, DR, came through huge with a collection of cassettes that he picked up in Mauritius a few years ago.

The first music we’ll hear from his collection is by another leading Mauritian rap group, MonAster.

Today’s second track, Bikini, is more your standard tropical hiphop outing, while the first, Pour Toi, has them rapping over a sega-esque beat. Nice stuff.

Also, in DR’s own words,

“here’s a slightly surreal YouTube video of them rapping about telecommunications over a ‘zoukous’ soundtrack, with footage of some ladies in very short skirts…”

Amazing. But personally I prefer their Japanese samarai work. Plenty more vidoes over here, too.

DR warned me that some of the tracks are a little heavy on tape hiss since they were dubbed without “Dolby”. Man, if there’s one reason to keep collecting African music it’s gotta be that I get to keep using terms like Dolby A, B and C. Ah, the mixtape memories…

MonAster - Pour Toi
MonAster - Bikini

You see that picture to the left? All Mauritian. Aside from the dozen albums I’ve received digitally, those are the tapes and CDs that people have lent me or that I’ve picked-up over the last couple weeks. Obviously I can’t afford to buy 30 albums for every X country week, so these kinds of contributions are invaluable for Benn loxo. Thank you!

On that note we’ll start Benn loxo’s second Mauritius Week with an album I got in a little Amazon envelope yesterday: Otentikk Street Brothers‘ 2007 release, Revey Twa.

OSB Crew, as they’re known, are easily the most popular group amongst Mauritius’ younger generation. Their reggae-hiphop-ragga-sega fusion is wildly popular on the island.

Unfortunately I missed their live show in Paris a few months ago but I’ll try to catch them next time they’re in town. Were any of you at that show?

You can grab the album at emusic or over at Amazon.

The title of the first track, Ki Si Sa Sa, reminds me of a bit of African popular music history: did you know that the name of the dance, “kwassa kwassa”, came from the French, “c’est quoi ça ?” In English that means “what’s that?”, as in, “what are you doing with your feet?” So obvious, but I wonder if Vampire Weekend, who are directing tons of traffic to this site lately, knew that..

Otentikk Street Brothers - Ki Si Sa Sa
Otentikk Street Brothers - Kreolite (Dub version)

BBC Sound System are a Senegalese hiphop group based in Paris, France. Their 2003 release, Na Banko, resurfaced in my collection lately thanks to a random shuffle.

Once again I’m reminded how Wolof is a great rapping language.. so angular, filled with rhyming sounds.

Unfortunately it’s not much more than a collection of sounds to my ears; with every passing day my Wolof disappears, word by word. I can still make a Senegalese person laugh when I hear the accent in Paris and respond with a Wolof joke, but that’s about it these days.

Anyway, just a quick post this morning.

BBC Sound System - Kalama

Every few months I like to dig around the Google Analytics statistics for this site and see who visits and from where.

Apparently I have no friends in Chad.

Not surprisingly, the US, France, Germany and England dominate the charts. I have friends in Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt so those countries have decent stats. South Americans apparently love African music so they’ve always had a presence. East Asia is weak, Central Asia almost non-existent.. but once and I while I get that lone visitor from Kyrgyzstan. That hit from Bishkek was much appreciated.

People (or, more likely, spam bots) from 187 countries have visited Benn loxo over the 365 days. But unless the following countries don’t have an ISP, as far as I can tell I’ve never had any visitors from Papua New Guinea, Suriname, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, North Korea, Laos (not a fan, Julie?) and Chad.

So what’s up, Chad? Even one or two people from Equatorial Guinea and the CAR have dropped by. Niger is a hotspot compared to you guys. (Ok, two visits over the past year, but who’s counting.)

Not enough Chadian musicians, maybe? Ok, fair enough, even though Les Jaloux Saboteurs counts for at least ten amazing songs. Can anyone suggest other good music by Chadians?

Well, MC Solaar is sort of Chadian, right? Better yet, I found this great music video by Chadian family group, H’Sao, now based in Montreal.

Most other stuff I found was either too poppy or religious for my taste, so I’m all ears for suggestions.

In the meantime, a little classic French-Senegalese-Chadian hiphop.

MC Solaar - Nouveau Western

Been busy with the French elections and enjoying the out of control amazing French weather of late. I’m back, though, with about 600 new tracks to dig through, select and post for the Benn loxo crowd.

In 2003, Ben Herson and Daniel Cantor of Nomadic Wax headed to Dakar with a mobile studio. They spread the word that anyone who wanted to lay down a rap track could come record with them.

Three years of post-production later we finally have the second African Underground release from Nomadic Wax, Depths of Dakar.

You might have heard the first African Underground volume on Benn loxo back in May, 2005. This first release was the product of Ben’s 2000 thesis on the influence of hiphop on Senegalese culture. Until recently, it was the easily one the best produced compilations of Senegalese hiphop available.

Since then the production quality of West African hiphop has stepped-up a notch, particularly in places like Senegal and Nigeria. That said, Depths of Dakar continues Nomadic Wax’s tradition of showing us how amazing West African hiphop can sound with the right attention. Many of the rappers featuring on both volumes are previously unknown, young talents on the Dakar scene who shine when mixed with Ben and Daniel’s beats and productions.

Check-out africanunderground.com for more information.

Sen Kumpa - Niawal

Ben Herson, aka Benny Beats, founder of Nomadic Wax, took his mobile studio down to Dakar a few years ago in search of unknown Senegalese MCs.

His African Underground and Mapito recordings are fantastic collections of Senegalese and Tanzanian hiphop. I’ve already featured some on Benn loxo, and I’m sure many of you had a listen. Nomadic Wax’s Democracy in Dakar project about hiphop’s role in the Senegalese elections was also really well put together.

Turns out Ben is a friend of a friend. Hopefully we’ll be linking up this week as he’s coming through Paris to explore the immigration issues surrounding next week’s French elections.. particularly amongst the Senegalese community here.

You can find today’s track, Ben’s mix of a previously unknown Senegalese rapper, Pato, on WorldMusic.NationalGeographic.com’s release, GeoRemixed: Big Beats for a Small Planet.

Pato - Keep It Real (Benny Beats remix)

Benn loxo listener Chief Boima comes through with a great Afro-Portuguese hiphop guest post today:

“I don’t know why but I too have become infatuated with Afro-Portuguese music. Maybe it’s because I’m Sierra Leonean and the Portuguese were the first to colonize before the British, and some Portuguese words survived in Krio like “sabi.” Or, maybe it’s because I speak Spanish not French and the it is much easier for me to get the general meaning behind the Portuguese lyrics than songs in other languages. Or, maybe because when I first heard Kuduro it blew my mind, and as a dj I became obsessed with the music that moves your booty like the Chicago House I used hear to at our middle school dances, but has roots in music like the dance tunes I knew from the African parties of my parents’ generation. But, here I am today collecting anything I can get my hand on from Bahia to Lisbon to Luanda and beyond.

Here are two hip hop tracks that also blew my mind when I first heard them. They are from two hip hop artists from Angola.

The first is Das Primeiro whom I heard the first time on some hip hop compilations when I took a trip to Portugal, he also has a track on the Rough Guide to African Rap. I think that he lives in Europe somewhere now, (Amsterdam?) but he reps Angola, and has a monster flow, with the confidence and delivery that could stand up to any of the greats in any language. I like his use of samples and really seems to be aware of his cultural roots while maintaining a strong hip hop identity. I chose the song Mana Maria because it has a real nice guitar sample that reminds of some of the Kizomba tunes or the other guitar based tunes that I’ve heard from Angola.

The second is Sonho Africano from Hemoglobina two Angolan MC’s, who live in South Africa now. (?) I heard them first on DJ Edu’s show on BBC 1xtra. This song is my favorite African hip hop song, because it reps a bunch of different nations, as well as the dope lyric content about what a gwan in Africa. It also has a beautiful guitar sample, and the beat drops heavy! I haven’t tracked down their album yet, but writing this has reminded/inspired me to do so. If any one knows where I can get it, hit me up: boima [at] ironmilitis.com. There are ton of great rappers in Portuguese out there, not just from Angola and who all use cultural influences to make their own brand of hip hop, like Sir Scratch, Rappin’ Hood and Marcelo D2. Check em’ if you get the chance.”

Thanks, Boima.

Das Primeiro - Mana Maria
Hemoglobina - Sonho Africano

Don’t get me wrong - I love Christmas, especially the bit where I get to blast Domenic The Italian Christmas Donkey in my car with the windows down.

But I need a break after the overdrive of carols… so I was digging through my collection this afternoon and decided to put together a little gift: my favourite African hiphop tunes, at least for this warm Christmas Eve afternoon.

It’s a good opportunity for new Benn loxo listeners to do some catch-up and hear tracks that were posted before they found this site. For the rest of us it’s a little collection of beats I hope you all enjoy.. plus a Madvillain bonus track that’s too good to leave off. Merry Christmas.

If you want to suggest any of your African hiphop favourites that didn’t make this quick mix leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Bole 2 Harlem - Hoya Hoye
Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim - Elengwen
Gokh-Bi System - Xaesal
X-Plastaz - Msimu kwa msimu
Mode9 - Track 1
Daara J - Boomerang
Positive Black Soul - Boul Ma Mine
Outshine - Caution
Batman Samini - Lambori
Positive Black Soul - Redemption
Awadi - Le cri ou peuple
Xuman et Bugz Bunny - Sassouné
Abass - Abass
Viviane & Fou Malade - Taximan
Omzo - Missalu Aduna
Slam Revolution Feat BMG 44
Posse & Doudou - Africa Lakalé
Boul N’Baï - SIDA
Slam Revolution - Wax Degg
Mode9 - Track 4
Madvillain - Figaro (101 Remix)

Hey Jozef, thanks for your comment on the last post. You woke me up. It’s been a while since I last wrote - sorry, people. I’ve been busy sorting out a move, working, traveling and fighting back the cold, Parisian rain. If any of you live up around Canal Saint Martin I’m your new neighbour. And hey, if you live in Amsterdam keep an eye out for me this weekend.

I was at a Sarah Harmer and Kelly Joe Phelps show last night. After the show we bumped into Ms. Harmer at the back of the club so I introduced myself and told her the story about how I spent many hours in a car with my Kenyan friend, Aki, listening to her album, I’m A Mountain, on repeat. It was the only disc we had with us at the start of the trip aside from a Kenyan hiphop mix featuring the Xplastaz. I’ll forever associate the tunes on that album with Aki rapping in Swahili, the German autobahn and large crowds of red-faced English and Dutch football fans.

Anyway, all the acoustic guitar put me in the mood for some solid strumming so I dug up a great disc of Malian kora and flamenco, Songhai Vol. 2. The album features the new flamenco stars, Ketama, and Toumani Diabaté. The fusion of guitar, Gypsy-Spanish singing, kora and other Malian elements works wonderfully. I prefer this second volume to the first since I find the recordings much richer.

The disc’s title, Songhai, refers to the Songhai empire. It was one of Africa’s largest and most powerful empires that, at its height in the 16th century, spanned from modern-day Senegal all the way to central Nigeria.

For today’s post I picked my favourite two tracks plus a third, De Jerez à Mali, since it brings back great memories of sipping sherry on a hot day in Jerez this summer with blue and Annie.

…plus a couple bonuses to add some context.

Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - De la Noche a la Manana
Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - Sute Monebo
Ketama, Toumani Diabaté & José Soto - De Jerez à Mali
X-Plastaz - Msimu kwa msimu
Sarah Harmer - I Am Aglow

I thought after all the buzz around the Awadi post I’d post some more current Senegalese hip-hop today.

The other half of Positive Black Soul, Duggy Tee (formerly Doug-E Tee - gotta love that name change), also has his own solo thing going on. Personally I think that Awadi has more talent, but Duggy Tee is really popular with the rap kids in Dakar. He must be rapping something cool in Wolof slang that I can’t understand.

Wagëblë is making a go for it. They won the 2005 Senegal Hip-Hop awards and have some good publicity buzz. Check-out their well-designed web site, MySpace page. There’s also a YouTube video of today’s track. The shots of Dakar, Gorée and Thiaroye are great.

The last group I don’t know anything about except that they remind me a bit of The Gambia’s Dancehall Masters. It’s always nice hearing the kora incorporated in to the local rnb and hiphop sound. I can imagine a heavily made-up Viviane doing vocals for these guys.

ps- any of you have a 2-3 pièces apartment for me to rent in Paris? It’s worth asking.. especially in a city where you have to visit 30 places before finding something decent. Send me an e-mail if you have a lead and I’ll bless you with African music for life.

Duggy Tee - Beugueuloul
Wagëblë - Senegal
Mama Balla - Beautiful

Positive Black Soul was one of the first Dakar hip-hop groups to break onto the international scene. They’re universally respected by hip-hop kids in Senegal, and helped inspire a whole generation of new rap groups. Thanks to PBS and those early years of Dakar hip-hop’s rise there was suddenly underground rap fans in places like NYC and Paris whocould rhyme-off a half-dozen Senegalese rap groups, from Pee Froiss to Pacotille to BMG44.

Since PBS’ heyday Daara J has emerged as the new popular Senegalese rap group. However, PBS’ members are still recording and releasing successful albums.

One of the PBS stars, Awadi, recently came out with a new album, Sunugaal, that was all the buzz in Dakar while I was there. After giving it a few listens I was a bit let down. His first record was pretty solid, and while it didn’t quite have the freshness of PBS’ earlier stuff, it was still well worth a listen. The new one is too.. I don’t know.. unoriginal?

I look to East Africa now for new rap releases. In my opinion the Dakar hip-hop scene is trying way to hard to sound like 50 Cent instead of focusing on their biggest musical advantage: a rich local musical heritage that they could draw-on to create their own brand of creative, Senegalese hip-hop.

That said, I’ve never posted Awadi on this site from either his new or old album so we’ll hear some today. Both tracks are off his first album since in general I think it’s a better release. The first track reminds me a lot of Reflection Eternal so I’ll also post their track, African Dream.

Awadi - Le cri ou peuple
Awadi - Neye Leer
Reflection Eternal - Africa Dream

Many of you probably have Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim’s album Ceasefire already but I haven’t yet posted it on Benn loxo.

Nominated for the 2006 BBC World Music Awards, Emmanuel Jal has risen from obscurity to become one of Africa’s most well-known rappers.

He’s a good musician in his own right, but Jal’s life story makes journalists drool. He was a child-soldier in Sudan from a young age until was smuggled into Kenya by a British aid worker. In Nairobi, Jal flourished as a musician despite the aid worker dying in a car crash. He eventually started giving concerts for homeless kids as well as participating in the local hiphop scene as an MC.

For 2005’s Ceasefire Jal collaborated with Sudanese oud-playing legend, Abdel Gadir Salim. Jal raps and sings in English, Arabic, Swahili and Dinka while Salim strums it out, occasionally busting in with his own vocals. The combination of old-shcool and new-school East African sounds works really well. It’s no surprise that this album has become a success, with or without the “media-friendly-so-now” Jal bio.

You can pick up Ceasefire over at the World Music Network or at any good record shop. You might have heard Jal on the latest War Child/Help compilation, too.

ps- there won’t be any new posts until the beginning of October. Time for some time in the sun, you know.

Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim - Elengwen

Once and a while on Benn loxo I like to remind listeners that African music isn’t all about koras and djembes. There are lots of sounds coming out of the continent these days and not all of them are strictly related to “traditional” music, nor do they all sound like they should filed under “World” at your local Virgin megastore.

I’ve featured quite a bit of hip-hop from Senegal, South African and Nigeria over the past couple years. It’s been a while, so why not listen to some more. Today we’ll hear some contemporary hip-hop and drum’n'bass sounds from Tanzania.

I know that many of you already know the Xplastaz track, but I’ve never featured it on my site and it’s one of my favourite hip-hop tracks to come out of the continent. This song has particular resonance for me. When I first arrived in Paris a little over a year ago I went to this house party near Opera Garnier. A Benn loxo listener, Olivier, had invited me. I walked into what I thought would be a small gathering to find a multi-room dance party in a partially constructed building filled with a few hundred people all busting up the dancefloor to… Tanzanian hiphop? What a great way to start off a city.

The other two tracks are off Mapito, the Tanzanian Mix Tape Remix Project. This compilation really reflects for me how far East African hip-hop has come over the past few years. Both production and musical quality has really, really improved since the scene started opening up during the late 90s and early 2ks.

Both Xplastaz and Mapito are on the excellent African hip-hop label, Nomadic Wax. You’ve heard stuff here already off their release, African Underground Vol. 1: Hip-Hop Senegal. Much more info on African urban sounds at Africanhiphop.com.

X Plastaz - Msimu kwa msimu
Owen Saunders & Mike Freear feat LC, Bennamo, Yega & Mr. Soo - Self Destruct
Mr. Soap - Niwachache Tu (Timebomb Remix)

A Benn loxo listener, Joe, wrote me an e-mail today from Sri Lanka including a request for some more Nigerian hiphop.

I grabbed a few tracks by Mode 9 off africanhiphop.com the other day. A couple of them are pretty good, including the one I’ll post today.

Mode 9 was an Abuja-area rapper on Payback Tyme records who’s apparently moved to Lagos now. Who knows if he’s still producing any music, but anyone who can pull off a lyric like “slaughtering fools, like a bunch of crazy Toaregs,” gets my respect. Listen to the end to see if you can understand any of the brokan, Nigeria’s unofficial language.

The second track I’m posting is actually a video by Terry Tha Rapman - sorry about the Windows Media format. Mode 9 and Terry The Rapman were both part of the Abuja rap crew, SWATROOT.

This thing is seriously funny. My favourite line has to be, “who needs Calvin Klein when you got Coco Klein?” as he’s sifting through a classic West African street market.

ps- has anyone else been to Abuja? I find it pretty funny that a city so stale (à la Brasilia) could produce a rap scene.

Mode 9
Terry Tha Rapman - I am a Nigerian

If you haven’t already, be sure to check-out africanhiphop.com and senerap.com.

I’ll let the sites speak for themselves, but I got a special kick out of the track “Caution” by Lagos’ Outshine. Available here.

I’ve posted a lot of Senegalese and some Gambian hip-hop on this site, but I haven’t really touched on other countries. There’s been a lot of buzz in the music media lately about Kenyan hip-hop, but I’ve never been to Kenya so I can’t help you there.

Having said this I went to reach for some kwaito/hiphop from South Africa that I picked up in Johannesburg a while back. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find any of the CDs and didn’t seem to rip them either. So give me a while and I’ll find some more..

In the meantime I do have some hilarious Nigerian pop and hip-hop compilations from 2003 and 2004 that I picked up in Lagos and Abuja on my numerous trips there. Unfortunately I have no idea (again) what any of the song names are or who they’re by, but no matter.

The song I’m posting today was really big on Nigerian radio when I was there for the Queen of England’s visit in December, 2003. I do hope that it’s actually Nigerian - for all I know it could be from anywhere, but I’m pretty sure that’s a Yoruba rapping in Brokan.

It’s off a compilation called “Afro Hip Hop Jamz Vol. 1″ that I guarantee you can’t buy anywhere outside of Nigeria. (Sorry)

ps- for those who haven’t seen it, there was a very funny article written about me in Punch (a Nigerian national daily) when I was working in Abuja once. The best part is that they made up my quote!

2-shotz - Carry Am Go

Damn, what the hell happened? I used to have all the time in the world. Now I’m at work and it’s 5:40pm and all I can say is this:

If you couldn’t look to Benn loxo du taccu for your Senegalese hip-hop needs, what then? Here’s some Dakar-area old school hip-hop. Well, old school in Dakar hip hop terms: a couple tracks off Jololi’s year 2000 compilation, Da Hop.

ps- Sorry about the skip or two. Scratched CDs are tough to rip.

Posse & Doudou - Africa Lakalé
Boul N’Baï - SIDA

I’m finally heading back to Dakar today after over six weeks of work and vacation in Canada, the US and France. In honour of this I’m going to answer my most frequent request at Benn loxo: Senegalese rap.

Here’s a relatively recent (mid-2004) release from a group of several Senegalese up and comers (”nouveau talent”) in the Dakar rap scene, Le Collectif. I can’t tell you who they all are, but the second-half of the first rap verse is definitely Fou Malade. He has one of the most distinctive sounds on the scene, as you may have heard on his great track Taxi Man with Vivianne N’Dour that I featured here a while back.

Anyway. I’ve said a lot about Senegalese rap already on this site so I’m going to cut it short today. But enjoy. I like this track, and it’s a great example of well-produced Dakarois-Wolof rap.

ps- if you haven’t already, check out the great Ayub Ogada track over at Akwaaba Sound System.

Le Collectif - SIDA

So I went to see one of the Senegal Hip-Hop Awards shows last night at Dakar’s French Cultural Centre. Some groups were pretty funny (including a MC holding a pink plastic cane and sporting a head lamp - supa ghetto), others interesting (Cameroonian mask wearing RnB dancers), and a couple really good (Daara-J almost always puts on a good show). We were particularly impressed by a young MC from Abidjan/Geneva named Kajeem. I’m hopefully going to get a hold of him today so I can grab one of his mixtapes to post on the site.

Anyway, I promised yesterday that I’d post some more “nouveau talent” from the Dakar hip-hop scene. Today you get Flamm J, a politicized Dakar rap group most famous for their big religious kick and attacks on the “corrupting influence” of mbalax music and dancing on young Senegalese women (see this site’s logo). I like them, however, for their incorporation of local instruments into their beats. You’ll hear some kora on today’s track.

The second song is by Bidew Bou Bess (Wolof for “A new star”). I posted this track not because these guys are wildly popular, but rather because they have a unique sound. They use traditional Senegalese singing styles and instruments in their hip-hop with interesting results. And yes, the chorus is a chant to Allah. And yes, much of Senegalese hip-hop is religious. Local spiritual leaders, marabouts, often align themselves with popular hip-hop groups to get their message across and stay on top of the competitive Senegalese Islam power game.

ps- a friend just pointed me to a Slate article about the history of the word “hip”. The author featured in the article thinks that it’s derived from the Wolof word xeppi (pronounced “heppy”) which roughly means “to open one’s eyes”. Thought this was appropriate given the last couple days of posts…

Flamm J - Wedi Guiss (I won’t believe it ’till I see it)
Bidew Bou Bess - Mbaye