I spent a week in Senegal in April for the first time since October, 2006.

The city has changed a lot superficially: many highways and flyovers have been built, posh Iranian-made taxis fill the streets, and glittering new nightclubs with a 15 Euro entry and leather shoe requirement have sprung-up all over the Almadies neighbourhood. Many of my old haunts have closed and new ones have taken their place.

But I stress that things have only changed superficially. The overall feel of Dakar is unchanged. Despite all the admittedly great new roads – we were half-joking that Dakar’s infrastructure now easily tops western Ireland’s – car rapides still sputter for space with faded-glory Dakar Dem Dikk Tata buses and the occasional horse-drawn cart; my favourite places are mostly still open, serving dibi and zouk late into the night; Tidjian and Amadou still sit smiling by the door of my old building beside the CCF and greet me like I had just been out of town for a few days; I recognize the faces of many of the car wash kids from my neighbourhood, now grown up, looking bored, rags in hand; and Sandaga remains largely the same with its touts near the music stands pretending to recognize me…and maybe they do.

I paid a visit to probably my favourite bar in Dakar, Chez Diamy in Point E, and it was still packed with a sweaty mass of Ivoirians half-listening and half-dancing to coupé-décalé and zoblazo. No evening would be complete there without a drunken incident involving a stolen wallet and, sure enough, that hadn’t changed either. (It wasn’t mine.) I think they might have even played Miss Lolo at one stage. (Remember, Ed?)

So what does Dakar sound like these days? It’s hard to get a feel in just a few days but I grabbed a dozen or so albums and compilations anyway and paid attention to the playlists in taxis and bars whenever I could.

Without a doubt the biggest thing going in Dakar these days is Titi. Ask any mbalax fan in Dakar between the age of 16-30 and you’ll usually get a “Titi, j’aime titi,” which admittedly makes me laugh every time for every immature reason.

Titi is a hot little mbalax number – a classically tall, thin and beautiful Dakaroise woman – who gets about as much radio play these days as Youssou’s latest Live at Bercy. I think her voice sounds a lot like Michael Jackson in his child-star, Jackson 5 days. Check her out here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4yfyc_titi_music. The video for the song I’ll post is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_tFYKZx5TA. Great dancing.

It was also good to hear that some of the old stand-bys are still getting lots of play; Abdou Guitte Seck and Omar Pene were all over the radio.

There were many, many mbalax acts that I didn’t recognize. We’ll hear from Abdou Rass and Ngone Ndiaye today – two great tracks, and to fully understand the spirit (and dancing) of the music you should definitely check-out the videos at the great new-ish Senegalese video site, SenClip: http://www.senclip.net/video/Ngone-Ndiaye-leumbeul and http://www.senclip.net/video/ABDOU-RASS-KOLEURE.

We’ll also hear a good mbalax track by Sidy Samb. You can see his video at yet another Senegalese clip site, Seneweb Videos: http://videos.seneweb.com/viewVideo.php?title=Sidy_Samb_women&video_id=219

Ok, enough mbalax. Hip-hop is still alive and well in Dakar.. but is it just me or has the golden age of Dakar hip-hop finished for now? The hip-hop I’m hearing still sounds like the stuff that hit the airwaves 10-12 years ago. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I poured over quite a few compilations and found only a few solid tracks. But hey, I don’t live there any more. If you’re reading this and disagree please correct me.

It’s good to hear that Daara J minus DJ Makhtar is still producing good music… at least some of them. Daara J Family is the latest iteration, and Tomorrow is a genuinely good tune in the spirit of the original group, which in turn is in the spirit of Positive Black Soul. Check-out their MySpace page. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb_XWknv2ak

For something new-ish in the Dakar hip-hop scene we’ll hear from Res KP, a young Dakar rapper with a good sound. In much of his other music he, like many of his hiphop-galsène pals, tends to get a little too hardcore for my tastes. Positive Black Soul and their descendants were so wonderfully… native tongue. That gradual switch to a gangster sound is inevitable, I guess, and unfortunate. Res KP’s track, Calcul Mental, is good anyway. He has a MySpace page, too, and videos all over the web if you’re curious.

It’s impossible to talk about current Dakar music without playing some of that RnB cum reggae sound. Slower-jams are still infinitely popular in Senegal, but not all of it is crazy cheesy. (Notice we’ll skip the zouk.) See what you think of these two tracks by Carlo D and Maklan J.

Big love to Alex & Marianne, Pape, the Pitmans and the rest of you in Dakar who helped me remember what a great place it is.

Titi – Music
Abdou Guitte Seck – Domou Ndar
Omar Pene – Moom Tamit
Abdou Rass – Koleuré
Ngone Ndiaye – Leumbeul Lene
Sidy Samb – Women
Daara J Family – Tomorrow
Res KP – Calcul Mental
Makkan J – Reupeuteul
Carlo D – Yaye Fall

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)