African Hip Hop, A to Z

Is hip hop African? I interviewed everyone from old-school Bronx rap legend Love Bug Starski to touring West African hip-hop trio Daara J to find answers in today's City Pages feature "Payback Is a Motherland," which also looks at the Minnesota African hip-hop scene (including Baraka, above, and M.anifest and DJ Xpekkt, below). Curious consumers might want to skip straight to Keith Harris's handy CD sidebar "Africa's Ultimate Beats and Breaks" (or listen to mp3s by M.anifest and local Kenyan R&B singer Fadhil, a.k.a. Fadhili, collaborating with Kenyan rap legend Hardstone). More discussion at DUNation.

Then on Monday, July 17, in Minneapolis, Daara J perform for free in Loring Park at 7:00 p.m., with KFAI's Salif Keita (not the singer, as previously posted) DJing before and after the set (more information here and here). My hope is that African rappers will use this event as an open-air networking session, further linking the various communities. (It's followed by a free screening of the movie Sullivan's Travels at dusk.) And speaking of links...

African Hip Hop in Minnesota, A to Z

4 Shades MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/4shadesmusic

African Rhythms on KFAI-FM (90.3/106.7)
http://kfai.org/programs/african.htm

Blade Brown MySpace page
http://myspace.com/bladebrownmusic

Jazio Blaque (a.k.a. Knotty)
http://www.backstagecommerce.com/cgi-bin/artisthome_db.cgi?1240948

Blue Nile Restaurant and Lounge
http://www.bluenilempls.com/

Egypto Knuckles
http://www.myspace.com/EgyptoKnuckles

Eritrian Community Center of Minnesota
http://www.nitesoft.com/eccm/

K-Stringz (circa-2000 Tripod site)
http://k-stringz.tripod.com/

Kilimanjaro Entertainment
http://kilimanjaroentertainment.com/

Knotty (a.k.a. Jazio Blaque) MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/knottymon

M.anifest MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/manifestations

Mezeshae Entertainment
http://www.mezeshaentertainment.com/

Mo-Man: "Mo Money, Mo Problems"
http://citypages.com/databank/25/1210/article11882.asp

The Red Sea
http://www.redseaclub.com/

T&J Entertainment
http://www.tnjentertainment.com/

Umunne Cultural Association of Minnesota
http://umunne.org

Waberi Studio
http://www.asoftnet.com/wb/index.html

Wahomeskenya
http://www.wahomeskenya.com

Xpekkt official site
http://www.tuffstorm.com

African Hip Hop in the World, A to Z

Africa Hi-Fi
http://www.prescriptionworld.org/ahifi.html

Africa Raps CD at Trikont
http://www.trikont.com/catalogue/294_africa_raps/294_africa_raps.html

African hip hop at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_hip_hop

Africanhiphop.com
http://www.africanhiphop.com

Africanhiphop (MySpace)
http://www.myspace.com/africanhiphop

Africanhiphopradio.com
http://africanhiphopradio.com/

Africasgateway.com
http://www.africasgateway.com/

Afrolution
http://www.afrolution.com

Akon
http://www.akononline.com/

Amuse Africa (South Africa)
http://www.amuseafrica.com/

Ancient Meets Urban
http://www.ancientmeetsurban.com/

Awesome Tapes from Africa blog
http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com/

Babkubwa.com
http://www.babkubwa.com/

Benn Loxo du Taccu blog
http://bennloxo.com/

Black Mango Music
http://www.blackmangomusic.com/

Bongo Flava page at Calabash Music
http://bongoflava.calabashmusic.com/

Calabash Music
http://calabashmusic.com/

Jeff Chang on the history of "Che Che Cole"
http://www.cantstopwontstop.com/blog/2004/01/che-che-cole-to-future-just-want-to.html

Johari Cleff Studios in Nairobi
http://www.jcleff.com/jcmusic/

Daara J MySpace page (pictured above)
http://www.myspace.com/daarasenegal

Daara J at Rock Paper Scissors
http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/179.cfm

DJ / rupture MySpace page
http://myspace.com/deejayrupture

Hardstone MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/hardstone

Hip Hop Headrush
http://www.hiphop.co.za/

The Hiplife Complex Blog
http://thehiplifecomplex.blogspot.com/

Hiphopcolony.com
http://www.hiphopcolony.com/

J-deGuvna MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/jdeguvna

Emmanuel Jal MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/emmanueljal

K-Melia
http://www.kmelia.com/

K'Naan official site
http://www.thedustyfoot.com/

K'Naan MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic

Kalamashaka
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/kshaka/kshaka2.html

Matsuli Music blog
http://matsuli.blogspot.com/

MF Doom
http://www.mfdoomsite.com/

Mzibo
http://www.mzibo.net/frame.html

Naiha Jams blog
http://www.naijajams.com/

Nomadic Wax
http://www.nomadicwax.com/

Nomadic Wax MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/nomadicwax

Ntama Journal of African Music and Popular Culture
http://ntama.uni-mainz.de/

Nubian Underground
http://www.nubianunderground.com

Omzo
http://www.omzomusic.com/

Omzo MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/omzo

Prophets of Da City
http://www.rucus.ru.ac.za/~eitan/poc/poc2.html

Shadow Zu MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/shadowzu

The Suburbs Are Killing Us blog
http://www.christopherporter.com/

Senerap.com
http://www.senerap.com

Stern's
http://www.sternsmusic.com/

Union Square Music
http://www.unionsquaremusic.co.uk/

Unitednationsofhiphop.com
http://www.unitednationsofhiphop.com/

Universal Zulu Nation and Afrika Bambaataa
http://www.zulunation.com/

World Music Network
http://www.worldmusic.net

X-Plastaz at Calabash Music (pictured below)
http://xplastaz.calabashmusic.com/

X-Plastaz MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/xplastaz

Yellogate Studios in the Gambia
http://www.yellowgate.gm/

Zhalman
http://www.zhalman.com

Updates:

African hip hop in the park today (cpculture.com 7/17/06)