KRS-One Signed to Duck Down Records

Indie stalwart Duck Down Records has announced the signings of hip-hop legend KRS-One (founder of Temple of Hip Hop) and turntable wizard DJ Revolution of The Wake Up Show.

Hip-hop with harps

On the fifth track on rapper Didier Awadi’s album Sunugaal, a gunshot rings out and the scene is set for a banging beat. What comes next, though, isn’t what you’d expect to hear on a hip-hop CD. The thin, pinched high notes of a kora (a 21-string harp) ripple into a soothing, melodic riff and Awadi starts to rap in French. Congas rumble, the voice attacks emphatically, the harp’s strings flow majestically. Then comes a chorus in Wolof, Senegal’s national language. This is hip-hop à la Dakar.

"The kora is one of the foundations of my music," says Awadi from his home in Senegal’s capital. "I have to represent my cultural identity as honestly as I can and the kora is a key part of that."

J’accuse, the track in question, borrows its title from Emile Zola’s famous denunciation of the French government in 1898 over the infamous Dreyfus affair and places Awadi as an uncompromisingly political animal, castigating France, America, Belgium and Africa for their role in colonial and post-colonial misdeeds.

But not every track on Sunugaal targets morally bankrupt governments. On Djow Sa Gaal, Awadi indicts himself and his generation, many of whom have fled Africa for Europe, while Rosa pays tribute to the Lions, the Senegalese national football team.

Although he raps mostly in French, Awadi seamlessly drops into Wolof and repeatedly uses the term "Boul Falé". "That basically means ‘do things for yourself, be yourself,’" the 38-year-old explains. "It’s about taking matters into your own hands."

It was also a catchphrase that came to define Positive Black Soul, the hip-hop group that Awadi started with Amadou "Doug E Tee" Barry in the late 1980s. Inspired by America’s hard-boiled exponents of agit-prop hip-hop, Public Enemy and KRS-One, Positive Black Soul made rabble-rousing tracks such as Def Lo Xam (Do What You Have To). They were also dynamic live performers. A former breakdancer, Awadi would cover every inch of the stage, working up enough sweat to drench his trademark red, gold and green (the colours of the Senegalese flag) tracksuit. "Well, dance is massively important," Awadi observes. "The little routines PBS did were about a good vibe, that’s how we are in Dakar. Just because your lyrics are intelligent that doesn’t mean you can’t dance, too."

Activism underpinned the PBS approach. They encouraged young Senegalese to take a greater interest in politics and, above all, vote in general elections. Even their acronym was political: PBS constituted a pun on PDS, as in Parti Démocratique Sénégalais, the Senegalese Democratic Party that was in power between 1960, the year the country gained independence from France, and 2000. Although PBS split in the 90s, that consciousness-raising thread continues to run through Awadi’s solo work.

On Sunugaal, several tracks feature samples of speeches by iconic African political leaders, including Senegal’s Léopold Sédar Senghor and Ivory Coast’s Félix Houphouet-Boigny. These form a kind of prelude to his forthcoming project, Présidents D’Afrique. The album, due for completion later this year, celebrates the work of legendary anti-colonial leaders who fought for the right of African states to self-government between the 1950s and 80s. Archive audio recordings of such figures as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba are sampled by Awadi, who responds to their ideas with his own lyrics in French and Wolof.

"What I’m trying to do is use hip-hop as an entertaining way to get Africans to reappropriate their history," he explains. "Which is why I take a speech by Kwame Nkrumah and mix it over a beat where I’m rapping, so it becomes a kind of inter-generational dialogue.

"Basically, I felt that we didn’t know enough about our own history, our leaders, precisely at this time when there aren’t enough real leaders. The last great African leader is really Nelson Mandela – apart from him there isn’t really anybody else.

"So we have to bring back the whole idea of real leadership, which is about being willing to die for the continent and daring to make the future what you want it to be. A new kind of African leader is needed. But we can only really get there by studying the work of all the people who did die for the continent."

As important as long hours in the studio working on Présidents D’Afrique are, Awadi feels that the stage is where he really comes alive. British audiences will have the opportunity to see him in action alongside two heavyweights of African music, Mali’s Salif Keita and Nigeria’s Tony Allen, as part of the African Soul Rebels tour, an annual UK showcase of the continent’s myriad sounds, be they traditional or modern, world music or hip-hop.

"The title alone makes me feel at home," says Awadi. "If it was the African Love tour, I wouldn’t be totally cool with it. But African Soul Rebels captures the spirit of my work. Obviously it’s an honour to be on the same bill as Salif and Tony so I’m really gonna have to be on top of my game."

Awadi is the son of teachers, and grew up in Dakar’s middle class district of Sicap-Amitié. As a teenager, he was inspired to breakdance by the film Beat Street before starting to rap – to a sceptical reaction – with Positive Black Soul.

"People thought we were crazy, trying to be little Americans," he chuckles. "They used to say ‘What’s this weird music where you just talk fast and wave your arms around?’ Eventually they clicked that we were dealing with life as we saw it in Dakar." What helped win the locals over was PBS’s Dioko, the first ever hip-hop track in Wolof, a fascinating gumbo of ancient Arabic and European languages with a charm not unlike Caribbean creole. For example, if Awadi hears the greeting "Nanga def?", meaning "How are you?", he might reply "Cool, nice, copain," meaning "Just fine, mate."

Dakar itself is marked by huge contrasts. On the one hand its downmarket areas, like Gueule Tapée, which translates as "smashed face", may reinforce western perceptions of Africa as a desolate place. However, districts such as Plateau, with its finely appointed avenues and squares, present an entirely different, handsome aspect of the city. "Sure, but most westerners don’t see that," Awadi asserts. "Right now everybody’s judging the whole African continent on Kenya. Well, we didn’t judge Europe on what happened in Serbia and Kosovo.

"When there’s a problem in one African country, people quickly forget that there are 50 other states on the continent. What’s happening in Darfur is a world away from my daily life in Dakar. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else."

Rappers & Hip Hop Songs Targeting Presidential Elections

With Obamania sweeping the country, people are buzzing about “Yes We Can,” the song and video by Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am.  It cleverly pieces together excerpts from Barack Obama’s speeches, with artists and celebrities such as John Legend, Common, Kate Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger, Herbie Hancock, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Scarlett Johansson repeating the senator’s words and phrases. The main hook is the Obama catch phrase “Yes We Can.”  Will.i.am said he was inspired to do the project by the speech Obama made just after losing the New Hampshire primary. I was present for that incredible oration, which made the crowd feel as if he actually had won. The will.i.am song is now displayed on the Obama campaign Web site.  “Yes We Can” has prompted a lot of comments about a rapper finally making a song for a presidential candidate. But while “Yes We Can” is nice, it was by no means the first.  During the current contest, Common, among others, has expressed his support for Obama in song lyrics, most notably in his hit song ‘The People’.  In the Bay Area, D’Labrie, of the national grass-roots Hip Hop Congress, and Kev Choice, the Oakland-based keyboard phenom and rapper, have recorded political songs. D’Labrie’s is a remake of Mims’ smash hit, “This Is Why I’m Hot,” from last summer. D’Labrie replaced the title phrase with “Vote for Barack.” On Super Tuesday, CNN played it in the background while going over the voting stats.  Kev Choice reworked the Sam Cooke classic “A Change Is Gonna Come,” skillfully weaving in excerpts from Obama speeches with his own raps and a sampled chorus.  In earlier campaigns, numerous rappers got involved. In 2004, for example, Rappin’ 4Tay teamed with Ohio candidate Dennis Kucinich, using excerpts from a Kucinich speech to record “Weapons of Mass Distraction.”  In that same year, San Jose artist Ak-9ine released a popular song called ‘Let My Nine Ring’ which was an audio letter to the President warning about explosive conditions on the streets for young Black males. The song starts off with a catchy refrain that went ‘Bush Gotta Go, Bush Gotta Go’.  Ak-9ine’s popular song hit the number one spot on Public Enemy front man Chuck D’s syndicated Worldwide Hip Hop countdown show. Speaking of which Chuck’s legendary group Public Enemy released a rock inspired song called ‘Son of a Bush’ which they performed outside of the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston.  Ak-9ine’ song was also prominently featured on the Slam Bush CD which was a compilation album that featured over 25 songs dedicated to getting Bush out of office. That particular CD was the result of a nationwide rap contest and tour where artists stepped up and offered choice lyrics bashing our commander and chief.  In addition to Ak-9ine, Slam Bush featured artists like Verbal Tech ‘Dear Mr President’, Wyclef Jean ‘If I Were President’, Azeem ‘George Bush is a Gangsta’, J Boogie, Zion I & Deuce Eclipse ‘You’re a Murdera’, Jadakiss w/ 2Pac ‘Why’ rmx, The Perceptionists ‘Memorial Day’, Vanessa German ‘Thank You’ Saigon ‘Shok TV’, Channel Live ‘Dear Mr President’ Immortal Technique ‘Cause of Death’ and Wordsworth ‘Slam Bush’ which also had an accompanying video, just to name a few.  In the summer of 1992, Paris unveiled his infamous “Bush Killa,” premiering the song before an audience of 22,000 at the KMEL Summer Jam. The Bay Area artist had hoped to put out a recorded version in time to influence that year’s election and derail George H.W. Bush. But because of pressure exerted on his record label, the disc wasn’t released until after the November election. Paris later received a visit from the Secret Service who had some questions about the content of the song. Paris went on record to note that ‘Bush Killer’ which opens up depicting him assassinating Bush was only a ‘revenge fantasy’.  Paris‘ attempt to aggressively use his fan base to influence an election was on many levels in the same vein as a campaign his then label mates and fellow Bay Area rappers Digital Underground had been involved in two years prior.  After two people got stabbed at an under staffed KRS-One concert, the Berkeley City council put a moratorium on rap shows which was soon followed up by the city of Oakland. DU members along with other local rap artists came out to a contentious city council meeting. Group members promised that if the moratorium was not lifted that they would go back and record song advocating for fans to vote people out of office.  “We have over a million people doing the Humpty Dance, don’t make us come out and record a song and get a million people to vote you out of office”, were the parting words announced by group member and road manager Sleuth Pro toward the end of that contentious city council meeting. The rap ban was lifted with city council members stating that they would’ve done so without the political threat put forth by the group. At a February 1995 press conference in Southern California with Snoop Dogg, MC Hammer and others, Tupac Shakur (2Pac) promised to unite fellow artists and their fans and create a voting bloc that would upset every national election until politicians became more accountable to the community. Sadly, he was killed a few months later.  Way back in 1984, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson became the second African-American to make a serious bid for the presidency, (Shirley Chisolm was the first) he bolstered his credentials by privately visiting Syria to help secure the release of a hostage, Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman. Against all odds, Jackson succeeded, and even President Reagan was forced to acknowledge his achievement. Mele Mel, lead rapper of Grandmaster Flash, immortalized what Jackson had done in the song “Jesse.”  It wasn’t until much later, however, during an interview with Jackson, that I learned the former candidate didn’t even hear Mele Mel’s song until years after it was recorded, so it never played an official role in his campaign. Today, it seems hard to believe that the man at the pinnacle of the civil rights movement didn’t cross paths with the band at the top of the hip-hop world.  As was mentioned earlier, over the years there have been a number of Hip Hop artists who have done songs aimed at the president during election time. In 04 we saw artists like Eminem (‘Mosh’) , Channel Live (‘Mr President’), and famed San Jose producer Fredwreck who gathered together top recording artists like; Mobb Deep, KRS-One, Cypress Hill, tha Dogg Pound and Westside Connection among others to do a sstinging song called ‘Dear Mr President’. The jury is still out as to what sort of impact these songs have had or can have.  Interestingly, Obama has not only embraced some of the songs written about him but has reached out to certain groups, notably the Roots. Questlove will soon do fund-raising events for Obama.  

By contrast, the hip-hop supporters of Hillary Clinton, who include Timbaland, 50 Cent and Lupe Fiasco, have yet to create songs for her campaign.

By Davey D

Kirby Lee and the curiously pleasant world of Chinese hip-hop

The rapper Kirby Lee is trying to define his flow, his style, what makes his music stand out from hip-hop’s global shout of ghetto ambition. “Lyrically, we ain’t no gangstas,” he explains. “We don’t talk about violence or guns. We don’t look down on women. We have no drugs in our songs, no political stuff.” Welcome to the curiously pleasant world of Chinese hip-hop. In America, hip-hop began as the voice of disenfranchised urban black youth. In China, the government has to clear all album lyrics, and you get – well, compare What up Gangsta by 50 Cent and Welcome to Beijing by Yin Tsang.

First up, 50 Cent: “They say I walk around like got an S on my chest/Naw, that’s a semi-auto, and a vest on my chest/I try not to say nothing, the DA might want to play in court/But I’ll hunt or duck a nigga down like it’s sport/Front on me, I’ll cut ya, gun-butt ya or bump ya.”

Now Beijing: “In Beijing, walk along Chang’an Avenue/In Beijing, there are many exotic beautiful women/In Beijing, you can burn incense at the Lama Temple/In Beijing, study history at the Forbidden City.” It’s enough to make Snoop Dogg weep. China has accomplished what millions of disapproving parents could not: tamed hip-hop music. Chinese rappers deliver lyrics that glorify national pride, celebrate tourist attractions and preach against the dangers of adolescent impulsiveness. One group is so proud of its songs, it has affixed a sticker to its debut album asking fans to share it with their parents.

Of course, hip-hop is very young in China. Most of today’s crews – Dragon Tongue Squad, Kung Foo, Hi-Bomb and MC Bo Webber, from Yin Tsang – have been in the game for only a couple of years. Before that, hip-hop was proscribed, with most kids struggling to get hold of American albums. “Almost all hip-hop records were banned because of the dirty words and sexual imagery,” says Jian Wei, who runs the break-dance crew Underground Gang of Hip Hop. Now the Chinese hip-hop scene is exploding, with more cross-cultural links than any previous Chinese music. This month, for instance, Dragon Tongue Squad – consisting of Crazy Chef, Kirby Lee and the national freestyle battle champion J-Fever (aka Lil Tiger) – play the UK for the first time.

Yet, almost accidentally, Chinese hip-hop is managing its own sneaky act of rebellion. The first attempt to rap in Mandarin was by the Chinese rock star Cui Jian, on a mid1980s album. His problem, and one that still dogs Chinese MCs, is that the language doesn’t lend itself to the hip-hop flow. Mandarin is built from four vowel tones that have to be pronounced correctly. It’s also hard to break up words into syllables, so the sharp, broken rhyming and rhythmical style of rap is difficult for Mandarin-speakers.

Dragon Tongue Squad, and others, are reaching back to once banned dialects to create sharper, crisper lyrics. “Some Shenzhen people can rattle their tongue at high speed, and we think that could give us the Chinese Busta Rhymes,” says Crazy Chef. “Cantoese, with its nine tones, is a lot easier, and there are regional storytelling styles that include rolling vocals. We’re trying out those languages because we think they would be better for hip-hop.”

“Chinese hip-hop is a prism through which you can see the way the country is changing,” says Robyn Read, producer of Hip Hop China Style, to be broadcast on Radio 4 next month. “Although this is a generation that has little interest in political reforms, they’re breaking down the stiff rules on official language and rediscovering aspects of their own culture that were all but banned. It’s going to be interesting to see if it will bring them up against the Communist party in any way.”

Indeed, Kirby Lee admits that his involvement in hip-hop has led to some distinctly rebellious behaviour. “I got my first hip-hop CD from a French journalist,” he recalls. “It was A Tribe Called Quest. I loved the beat, the rhyme rhythm. So I got some old drum machines and would stay up until four in the morning working on beats.” He pauses. “And maybe take some mushrooms and smoke a bit. So my classmates thought I was a druggie.” He burst out laughing. “I guess I was.” Now that sounds like a rapper talking.

by Stephen Armstrong (The Times, London)