I’ve often asked if hip-hop can save Africa, and now we’re getting to see for ourselves. Senegal, one of Africa’s most stable democracies, is currently going through elections and as in the past hip-hop is playing a serious role. It’s interesting being an African living in the States and experiencing both African and African-American cultures simultaneously. My position has given me a unique vantage point to which to compare hip-hop’s beginnings and where it has reached both in the States and on the continent. African hip-hop still maintains the revolutionary nature of hip-hop’s beginnings while American hip-hop has grown into a beast of another nature. As American hip-hop has grown to be accepted in the mainstream it has become a music of materialism and shortsighted goals. The music and culture that brought many black Americans out of struggle and strife is threatening to take them right back to those hard times. Maybe this is a lesson for both African and American rappers. Maybe taking American rappers to see the role hip-hop plays in Africa’s youth’s lives, as VH1 did last Thursday, will allow them to see how powerful hip-hop is/was and get them looking at whether they’re using it to it’s full potential. Ben at Nomadic Wax has been documenting the Senegalese elections from a hip-hop perspective with amazing results. The question is though, how closely will African hip-hop youth follow the path of their American counterparts?
This week in African Style 2/17 – 2/23/07
• “Black Gold”, African coffee documentary, to air on PBS.
• African countries ready themselves for the roll out of One Laptop Per Child initiative.
• Africa tops Mideast as US crude oil source.
• Akon teams up with Verizon for TV campaign.
• PRODUCT RED – In the black?
This week in African Style 1/20 – 1/26/07
• Oprah Winfrey defends her South African school in open letter.
• Dakar Rally takes drivers through Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and ends in Dakar, Senegal.
• Bill Gates and Africa’s green revolution.
• Fashion Television reports fromCape Town Fashion Week Spring 2007
• The World Economic Forum is under way in Davos, Switzerlad and the World Social Forum gets under way in Nairobi Kenya.
• China’s President on tour to teach Africa how to fish.
Illegal Senegalese immigrants model in Spain
In a “show of solidarity toward immigrants” Spanish fashion designer Antonio Miro caused a stir during his Fall/Winter 2007-2008 fashion show in Pasarela, Barcelona yesterday, by allowing eight Senegalese illegal immigrants to model his collection. Mr Miro, who has featured prisoners in past shows, said he wanted to draw attention to the migrants’ plight. The show also featured a battered boat, commonly referred to as a cayucos (crowded open boat), similar to the ones that transport thousands of Africans to the shores of Spain’s Canary Islands each year. At least half of almost 30,000 illegal arrivals in Spain’s Canary Islands, off West Africa, in 2006 were Senegalese. Though Mr. Miro paid some of the immigrants for the work, featuring them has immigrant rights groups divided. Representatives of Senegalese immigrants have called the move frivolous and say the designer is celebrating the dangerous trip the migrants take. Pro-migrant groups though says it’s good that someone other than NGO’s denounce the situation the immigrants are going through when they come by boat to Spain. What do you think?
Akon nominated for 2007 Grammy Award
So word’s in on the 2007 Grammy Awards nominees and my boy Akon is front and center. These are the categories and which he and other African artists have been nominated in. The awards ceremony will be begin at 8pm EST on February 11, 2007 and will be shown live on CBS
* African artists are in red.
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
(For a Rap/Sung collaborative performance by artists who do not normally perform together. Singles or Tracks only.)
• Smack That
<ahref=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon”>Akon Featuring Eminem
[SRC/Universal Records]
• Deja Vu
Beyoncé Featuring Jay-Z
[Sony Urban Music/Columbia]
• Shake That
Eminem Featuring Nate Dogg
Track from: Curtain Call — The Hits
[Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records]
• Unpredictable
Jamie Foxx Featuring Ludacris
Track from: Unpredictable
[J Records]
• My Love
Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I.
Track from: FutureSex/LoveSounds
[Jive Records/Zomba Label Group]
Best Traditional World Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)
• Music Of Central Asia Vol. 2: Invisible Face Of The Beloved: Classical Music Of The Tajiks And Uzbeks
The Academy Of Maqâm
[Smithsonian Folkways Recordings]
• Endless Vision
Hossein Alizadeh & Djivan Gasparyan
[World Village]
• Hambo In The Snow
Andrea Hoag, Loretta Kelley & Charlie Pilzer
[Azalea City Recordings]
• Golden Strings Of The Sarode
Aashish Khan & Zakir Hussain
[Moment Records]
• Blessed
Soweto Gospel Choir
[Shanachie]
Best Contemporary World Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)
• Tiki
Richard Bona
[Decca]
• M'Bemba
Salif Keita
[Decca]
• Wonder Wheel
The Klezmatics
[Jewish Music Group]
• Long Walk To Freedom
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
[Heads Up International]
• Savane
Ali Farka Toure
[World Circuit/Nonesuch]