Where In The World Is Hip Hop?

Fred Fades at the Space Needle in Seattle, March 2008.

At the A3C in March, my man DJ Zac Hendrix (DJ for Del the Funky Homosapien) slipped me a 7″ record (we’re both vinyl junkies, ya know). He told me about this Nowegian producer who had been living with him a couple of weeks, recording and pressed up some 7″ singles. His name was Fred Fades. Flash forward six months and I run across Fred on Facebook. He agreed to a little chat about music, hip hop and Norway.

Old School G: What’s good, Fred?

Fred Fades: It’s Sunday. I’m chillin’, listening to some live recordings of Dilated Peoples from http://kamgotbeats.blogspot.com … and I’m super hungry. I just picked up my father at the airport. He’s been travelin’.

OSG: Where do you live? Oslo?

FF: Yes sir, I live in a part of Oslo called, Oppsal. Thats where I grew up. In the same apartment im living in now.

OSG: The 45 was butter. I’m not too up on Norwegian hip hop. I know some of the old Gatas Parlament and Paperboys stuff. What’s good coming out of Norway these days?

FF: Gatas Parlament is a group of three Norwegian rappers: DonMartin, Aslak & Elling. DonMartin was a member in the beginning, but left them pretty early, and started doing solo stuff on his own (which had way better productions than the Gatas P records, in my opinion). He is now back in the group, and they’re pretty popular over here, especially a lot of left field political dudes like ‘em. They release hella records all the time. I actually have a beat on their newest album. DonMartin is also the host on my (our) weekly radio show (www.goodshitradio.com), that is actually live every second time, from a club downtown in Oslo. It’s on Mondays, but it’s still packed each time, ’cause we’re the only people that actually play hip hop in Norway now. The other guys play “Hit rap & RNB”. We have a crowd that’s always there, on time, drinkin’ beer and listening to good music, and the crowd gets bigger and bigger for each time. It rocks. Paperboys sucks. They’re doing Pop/RNB now. Nothing else.

OSG: Ha ha, yeah, I knew the Paperboys were pretty commercial, but I liked their “Barcelona” song from a few years back. From the outside, it’s hard to tell who’s real in a different country’s scene. Who are the realest cats coming out of Norway now?

FF: Hmmmmm.. The realest cats? Thats probably us (me & DeckDaddy), cause we’re making hiphop the traditional way. Just samplers ‘n records - loops, breaks. But there’s some other cats doing it as well.. Check out The Afeeliated, my favorite Norwegian hiphop group. That’s MC Ivy League rappin’ and Bishop doing the beats right there. I also like Final a lot too (Norwegian DMC Champ), but he makes all kinds of music, pop hip hop, techno, whatever. But when he makes real hip hop stuff, it’s fucking great. He is also making his music “the traditional way”. At least his hip hop stuff. Of course theres more dudes too, but these are my favorites.

OSG: How did you get into hip hop?

FF: I got into hip hop through skateboarding, graffiti (started with both of these things when we was around 12/13) and the soundtracks in the skate and graf movies, and the music that got played at the skate and graf gigs. I started DJing a long time ago, when I was 13 or 14 or something. My best friend started making beats when he was 12 or 14. He is one year younger than me. He stopped making beats around 2005, cause he got too heavy into collecting disco and boogie records with no samples on them. Ha ha. That was when I figured out I needed to start. He thought me the basics. I had watched him make beats hundered times. I bought a SP303, looped up stuff for some months, then went to Portland on vacation, and brought a MPC home. Now I produce on the MPC and a SP1200. Now I am seriously into record collecting and beatmaking. I don’t make any money on it, but I’m serious about like that’s the only thing I really wanna do. I make money on other jobs not music related. I only wanna do it as a hobby, ’cause I feel like most of the full time music producers fall off.

OSG: Who are your inspirations as a producer?

FF: My main inspirations would be The Beatminerz, Diamond D, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Jay Dee, Madlib and Kankick. Cause that’s the dudes that made all the stuff thats “classics” for me. Can’t mention all the new producers, ’cause the list would take me forever to make, and I find new super indie underground dudes all the time that make super hot beats. And often they fall off like everyone and then I stop buying their new shit. Ha ha. I also take lot of inspiration from fusion, jazz, funk, soul, rock, library, brazilian, soundtracks and all kinds of music. That’s what I really collect, and at the same time lots of the tracks has a lot of the same things going on, rhythm and pattern wise as the type of hip hop I like to produce. I use to steal drum patterns and percussion techniques and stuff from old records. Just rearrange them with my own drum samples and percussion instruments.

OSG: So, what’s your method/procedure for producing a track?

FF: I usally start with sampling drums. That’s the funnest thing about making beats. I love making drums, sampling 1-8 different high hats from a drum break, sampling 1-5 snares from the same break, try to make ‘em sound super crisp. Then I search for a good kick, and after that - I usally find a sample and loop it up before I start programming. Sometimes I find the sample before the drums. But it always starts with the drums or the samples. If I’m not making a keyboard beat. Then I start with making the riff. But I dont like keyboard beats that much. I usally do it when i feel super uninspired. Ha ha. I save up the best samples for the moments I feel more inspired. Synths, extra samples/hooks, basslines, percussions etc. come randomly.

OSG: You recently spent some time in the USA. Tell us what you were doing and how hip hop played a part in that.

FF: Yeah, I usally go to US once a year, this year, I’ve been over there two times. First I visited Lee & Zac (two friends from Seattle). We had a super cool week over there, they took me digging all the time, we was eating good food, making beats and shopping records everyday for nine days or something. They’ve thought me a LOT about gear, old samplers, records, etc. I was in New York in July with my girlfriend too. We had a good time over there, and I bought mad records over there too. It was fun to see New York. I always wanted to go there. I was a little disappointed of the graffiti scene, cause I thought it had a higher standard, and I thought it was a LOT more than it actually is there. They had tons of dope eating spots, clubs, clothing stores and record stores everywhere though. I can’t understand all the people whining ’bout “theres no records left in NY”. These must be dudes that only buy stuff they KNOW what is, and actually don’t listen to records before buying them. Or they might just be into 100% straight up funk music and been collecting for too long. I don’t know. I found tons of good stuff over there for cheap. Both in the stores and at the flea markets.

OSG: What’s the hip hop scene like there? Is it pretty small?

FF: It’s very small, the hip hop scene. But the RAP scene is super big. And fully loaded with crap. The thing I love about living in a town where the real part of the culture is so small, is that I get all the good records.

OPSG: Do hip hop groups from other Euro countries ever get play there?

FF: Yes. Especially Swedish groups!

Fred Fades & Blame One 45 single "Track Charmer" b/w "Alive & Well"

FF: The thing with 45s for me is: I would never make a CD only release, as I am a DJ and collecting records is my favourite hobby. AND, you cant imagine how expensive it is to ship stuff from Norway, thats why I made a 45. So people could afford shipping when theyre buying my 45. I will keep making 45s as long as I am selling the records from my own home, as I do now. And you can actually fit a good EP onto a 7″ if you make it a 33rpm record instead of a 45rpm record.

OSG: What project(s) are you working on right now?

FF: We’re (Me & DeckDaddy, the guy that co-produced one of the tracks on my first 45) working with a new four-track 45 with Blame, and we’re going to make a 12″ EP with six tracks or something thats going to be released on a British label, if everything works out well. Which I am pretty sure it does. The plan is to have three rap tracks on it and three instro cuts (bonus instros, not the tracks instros) on it.

OSG: What British label are you working with, or can you tell me?

FF: I can’t tell you. I don’t wanna put pressure on the guy that runs the label. He has so much stuff to do all the time, and he is going to release some other artists (well known artists) before my stuff, so we just keep on making music, and I’ve told him that I am ready to release a EP whenever he is ready, ’cause were sitting on a lot of stuff that we really wanna release.

OSG: Give us your top 10 Norwegian hip hop tracks.

FF: Jester & DonMartin - Bombs In Your Brain
Tommy Tee feat. AG, Large Pro, Mike Zoot og Pete Rock - World Reknown
Tommy Tee feat. Sean Price, Agallah, Starang Wondah, Labba & Big Twan - Above Da Law
Opaque - Finally Here
Kevin & Mae - 1 av 5
TP Allstars - Takin’ Ova
Equicez - Negative Kids
Nutsons - Sleaze Cheesebourg
Uro - Uroelementer
DonMartin - Pissing At The Wind

These are old ones, and the rapping level is really much higher now than back then, but these are the tracks that really hit me when they came out. These tracks are all big influences to me.

By the way, tell people to check out our (me and DonMartin’s) radio show “Goodshit Radio” on www.goodshitradio.com. It’s a live Norwegian Hip Hop Radio Show and club concept. We’re also running a podcast that includes all shows plus bonus stuff. More info on the site!

Check out more at www.myspace.com/fredfades

Global hip hop fans should hope to find themselves in New York City at the end of October. As the CMJ Music Marathon kicks off - said to be New York’s largest music conference - global hip hop will be in full effect and live on stage.

Our friends at Nomadic Wax and The Bloom Effect have teamed up to host the Global Hip Hop Throwdown at DROM, located at 85 Ave A in New York’s East Village on Thursday October 23rd, 2008.

It’s thrilling that events like this are finally taking place in the USA. The throwdown will feature a lineup of Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), Mr. Reo (Haiti), King Reign (Canada), Empire Isis (Canada), Chachi (Cape Verde) and Too Many Fish (France). DJ Boo (Filipino-American) and DJ Soulscape (Korea) will be on the turntables. V.J Kwon (Korea) will set the tone and visuals for the night.

“CMJ is a perfect place for a global hip-hop event like this” said The Bloom Effect CEO, Fiona Bloom. “An event that unites MCs from a variety of backgrounds, countries and nationalities is exactly the kind of event that we want to be promoting at a global music conference like CMJ”.

“The CMJ International Hip-Hop Throw-down has been building up for me since I’ve been very supportive of this genre and have made inroads bringing great talent to the U.S stages and now we bring it one step further to a bigger platform. A tremendous opportunity. To have an artist like Pharoahe host this event is such an honor and is testament to the fact that international hip-hop is becoming more accepted by the mainstream,” said Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson.

I was lucky enough to meet Blitz at this year’s Trinity International Hip Hop Festival. He plays with a 10 piece band (horn section and all) that’s a wicked show stopper. He has taken up residence in Brooklyn and is making moves in America with his thought provoking lyrics providing a rough social commentary. He frequently performs with global and U.S. artists.

“It’s incredible to see such diversity in an event like this” said Blitz. “To have artists from all over the world performing on the same stage together shows how global and powerful hip-hop culture has become”.

Blitz the Ambassador - Black Market

Friday, October 24th, at the HIRO ballroom will be a French Hip Hop showcase featuring La Caution, Mangu and Wax Tailor. This show is also part of “I Kiffe NY“, a celebration of French culture for about two weeks throught the city.

La Caution - Thé à la menthe

Finally, my man Dumi Right told me that Zimbabwe Legit will be performing on Saturday, October 25th, at the Knitting Factory. Their bill is something of a throwback show featuring Stetsasonic, Jungle Brothers, YZ, People Under the Stairs, Cadence and hosted by Just-Ice and DJ Babu. For Stet, this will be the “return of the original hip hop band”. For Zimbabwe Legit, it’s part of their Great Mindz tour (with JBz, YZ and Cadence).

Zimbabwe Legit - Doin’ Damage in My Native Language

Portugal is set to host it’s first major international hip hop festival on Sunday, October 5, 2008, at Pavilhao Lombos (Carcavelos).

The 1st Reebok HipHop Kiingz Festival will feature many of the top hip hop acts in Portugal along side many top American underground artists.

Bringing together the diverse sources of hip hop is the objective of the festival, providing unique moments in hip hop for the exploding music scene in Portugal.

The full line up:

Afu-Ra (USA)
Masta Killa (from the Wu-Tang Clan)
DJ P.F. Cuttin (from Blahzay Blahzay)
J-Ro (from Tha Alkaholiks)
Black Company (Portugal)
Dealema (Portugal)
NBC & OS Funks (Portugal)
Nerve (Portugal)
Bob Da Rage Sense (Portugal)
Mundo Complexo (Portugal)
Nigga Poison (Portugal)
Royalistick (Portugal)
Duplo Consciencia (Portugal)

The event will be hosted by Sir Scratch and backed by DJ X-Acto with a special performance by b-boy crew Formula Armada.

Tickets are available online at www.sohiphop.com.pt. For more information chekc out www.reebokhiphopkingz.com

by Benjamin Moshatama (Teh Times, South Africa)

Benjamin Moshatama speaks to Zuluboy, the edgy hip-hop comrade from KZN

You have been involved in socio-political events like the United Nations Global Hip-Hop Summit in Canada and the virus-free campaign in Holland.

It is an honour to be able to represent the local youth and to put our music on an international platform. It was great to be part of the hip-hop summit as we were working with the UN, coming up with solutions to tackle poverty and war in Africa. The virus-free campaign allowed us to petition in the streets of Holland for the European Parliament to provide HIV/Aids drugs for the price of bread.

These initiatives are important because…

I consider myself a hip-hop soldier struggling for the forthcoming generation. We have to do something as there are a lot of people from the hood who still face poverty and war.

What do you think about rapping in one’s native tongue?

It’s great that people are now doing hip-hop in our own languages, but we shouldn’t take advantage of the fact that we are now reaching more people in our communities. We have to communicate the right things to the masses.

You have called your hip-hop “ skandi-hop”.

It’s all about crossing over to maskandi with the music. Anyone can do skandi-hop if you are rapping in your native tongue. It can be done in any language.

In Masihambisane you highlight poverty, crime and unemployment. Is the focus the same in your latest album, Inqolobane?

Yes. Before the recent xenophobia violence, I wrote a song about black-on-black hate. I was surprised to see that the song became kind of prophetic.

You incorporate Zulu tradition on stage.

I always wear umbhlaselo (colourful Zulu pants) and traditional headgear when I perform. I used to lightlight impepho (African incense), but people complained.

Your obsession is…

Finding new things to do. I have started acting in Soul City and I would like to write or produce a movie.

How did you get into acting?

After one of my shows, I received a call from a lady at a production company. I went for an audition and was called back. It has been a learning experience.

After Tumi and the Volume disbanded you are probably the only MC who travels with his band. Why is that important to you?

You are not limited when it comes to performance. Every time you do a song you can give it a different groove, and you can even extend a track to 30 minutes, depending on the energy you get from the crowd.

If you were to put together a hip-hop gig, who would you invite?

I would want either Kenzhero or BlaQt to deejay, then I would also invite Joburg-based graffiti artist Osmic; B-boy Siyabonga; and Bongo Riot from Gang of Instrumentals.

What do you think of the status of SA hip-hop?

We are losing the plot. Maybe I sound like a Mugabe chilling in Thabo Mbeki’s home, but I don’t get what the hype is all about. You hear some MCs doing the same stuff that people from the States are coming up with.

Zuluboy performs every Thursday at his Zuluboy’s Amazing Thursdays gig at Cappello in Newtown, Joburg.

Zuluboy’s Favourite Tracks Of All Time

- Heartbreaker by will.i.am
- Wathula Nje by Black Coffee featuring Victor Ntoni
- It’s your birthday by The Roots
- Cosi Cosi by Camagwini

by “Old School G” Greg Schick (worldhiphopmarket.com)

For the third year running, the BET Hip Hop Awards - once again held in Atlanta on October 18th - features a category that few Americans understand. While Lil Wayne captures headlines with 12 nominations and dukes it out with Kanye West for MVP, neither of the heavyweights is nominated in the specialty category “Best U.K. Hip-Hop Act”.

This year’s nominations include Chipmunk, Dizzee Rascal, Ghetto, Giggs, Skepta and Wiley. The 2007 winner was Kano and the 2006 winner was Sway.

Strangely enough, on both sides of the Atlantic, hip hop fans are scratching their heads. In America, the response to this list will likely elicit a “who?” At best, they may recognize Dizzee Rascal.

In Britain, they wonder how this diverse group of artists gets labeled “hip hop”.

UK hip hop is oft misunderstood, even by people within the United Kingdom, who argue over what it is. It seems hip hop and rapping have influenced myriad musical styles - from Drum-n-Bass to Garage to Grime. Many of these artists are very successful (Dizzee, Wiley, The Streets). Meanwhile, the emcees, deejays and producers who stay faithful to the classic hip hop style typically receive little notoriety.

The most recent issue of Hip Hop Connection - UK’s 20-years and running equivilant of The Source - celebrates the heavyweights of UK hip hop. One might expect to see Chipmunk, Ghetto and Skeptah right there on the cover. Instead, UK hip hop is represented by Jehst, Skinnyman, Sway, Roots Manuva, Million Dan and Mr. Bang On. Blak Twang gets four pages. Giggs gets a half page inside, a newly famous chap from Peckham (look that up). (By the way, you can pick up Hip Hop Connection at Barnes & Noble newstands nationwide.)

BET International general manager Michael Armstrong says, “We are delighted to host the best UK act category in its third year as part of the annual BET Hip Hop Awards.

“As a result of our continued support we believe British hip hop has made tangible progress, not only by raising its profile in the largest urban music market but also affording previous winners access to 89 million television households in North America and the Caribbean”.

BET will continue its media partnership, now in its third year, with BBC digital stations 1Xtra, who will broadcast coverage of the awards.

I’m sure I am too cynical about this. Its great that Americans (and Caribbean citizens) are exposed to new names in UK hip hop - or grime or garage or whatever. But if you see the show and Chipmunk’s name is announced, will that make you interested enough to go out and find out about this guy on the Internet (since no one at your local record store - I mean Best Buy - knows him)? Did you find him on MySpace? Ohh, ohh, where can I buy his album? Not at Suspect Packages, the original one stop for UK hip hop. Oh wait, he doesn’t even have an album out. “I Am Chipmunk” drops in early 2009. (There’s that cynicism again.)

Okay, here’s the rub. Please do listen to UK hip hop and seek out the names I mentioned above plus Kashmere, Klashnekoff, Verb T, Stig of the Dump, Dr. Syntax, Chester P, Braintax, Rodney P, Micall Parkinsun, Foreign Beggars, Ty, Task Force…and email me is you need more great UK hip hop music.

By Dennis D. Muhumuza (Sunday Monitor [Uganda])

In a world many call crazy, youth culture has found its match in Renee ‘da preacher’ emcee of the Levite Clan, formerly Badda emcee of the Almighty TEAM, both hip hop crews that he has represented. The former is his current band and the latter is his old school band before his epiphany.

As a teenager, Renee yearned to live the American dream; drive fast cars, kick it with beautiful girls, grace the front pages, and pursue happiness with all his soul. But the tables turned round and next was his metamorphosis from a rollercoaster life to “holycoaster”, the latter coined by him to mean his journey with God.

Before that, Tupac Shakur, his idol, had inspired him to start writing his own rhymes and spitting them at school concerts. Soon, his walk morphed into the ubiquitous gangster swagger and buggy clothes became his fad, with chains around his neck and bandanas and baseball caps looking back on his head. He couldn’t afford the tattoo but he drew one that read THUG LIFE on his abdomen using a marker anyway.

Like all “Gs’ in da hood”, he became rebellious and often fought with school authorities and at one time with the police. Clever in class and dramatic on stage, Renee became popular among students and soon all the girls in the neighbourhood wanted to date this “young Mbarara nigger” (No offence intended).

But like the Damascus experience in the Bible, Renee got saved in 2000 and realised that: “Life is about more than beautiful girls and riding in a Benz; we all can’t achieve the American dream, but we can all achieve the supreme dream” – which he defines as being faithful to what God has called him to do.

What he does however has not gone well with some people because it doesn’t really put bread on the table like being a medical practitioner. As an urban missionary and hip hop minister, Renee has to wait on God to send him ravens with meat and bread like his Biblical hero the Prophet Elijah. But the ravens always come as God is faithful. Last year, for example, Renee spent three months in the UK and his ministering led many young people to the Lord.

“God used me mightily,” he says. “I prophesied over pastors and challenged their lukewarm culture of drinking wine; I was like, God wasn’t stupid when He juxtaposed the Holy Spirit with wine (Ephesians 5:18).You are either drunk with the wine of the world like those without Jesus, or you are drunk with heavenly wine (the Holy Spirit) and shaking the nations for Jesus, but you can’t have both.”

When Renee, whose real name is Richard Tumukunde, returned from Canterbury, he testified about his experience during Gospel Night at TLC and provoked young people to seek God. That’s how he got to be invited as guest preacher to a youth meeting at Jesus Alive Centre along Nkrumah Road. He is today the prayer leader of these weekly meetings called Change on Thursdays.

“We’ve been challenging the youth to embrace prayer and it is working. God is raising a generation of prayer warriors that will bring down the strongholds over our nation and the nations,” he says. “I’ve seen children weeping before God and some have spoken in tongues at the meetings.”

Though naturally talented as a speaker and rapper, it’s the spiritual element that makes listening to Renee’s sermons and music an uplifitng experience. In church when he leads worship or prayer, many get stirred to seek with depth for God.

“Some come to tell me about their little failings and I try not to make them feel condemned; I share about my own struggles and then we pray together,” he says. “Once you are struggling, do not allow the devil to put you in a corner alone where he’ll knock you out. You just need to stay in fellowship and seek God’s grace to continue standing.”

Renee’s leadership of urban youth began in 2003 in his first year at Makerere University, where he initiated the mass communication fellowship that helped transform many lives.

To hear this young minister confess that he’s a born-again Christian, with cornrows, clad in baggy jeans and a coat, an ear pin on his left ear, may get the book-cover judge posing questions; but Renee believes his style appeals to the youth – his target audience.

“I’m more burdened towards those who would rather not look God’s way and I’m talking about young children who don’t want to come to church, whose role models are 50 Cent and other Hollywood icons,” he says. “The ‘streets’ are my vineyard and ‘streets’ represent a platform beyond the four church walls, explaining my unorthodox way of discipleship – using holy hip hop to win some for Jesus.”

After the success of his band’s first album in 2007, Renee has embarked on a solo album, which he says was inspired by men like Leonard Ravenhill, A.W. Tozer, and the revivalists of old in Christendom who have mentored him in his spiritual journey.

He recently released his first music video off the album titled Glory 2 You Jesus which talks of growing up as a young thug doing hard liquor and living on drugs, and how HIV/Aids killed many of his peers. He thanks God for transforming him from “a thug to T.H.U.G. (Totally Humble Unto God).”

It’s Renee’s grace and consuming zeal for the Lord that has stirred up many to turn to God.

Assult On Knowledge seeks to free Lebanese hip hop trhough Canada

BEIRUT: Are you tired of hip-hop stars bling blingin’ about their cars and commodities, grabbing their crotch as they rap about the ‘hood and referring to women in a less than chivalrous manner? Then the sound of A.O.K., Assault of Knowledge, may well come as a breath of fresh Bel Air.

A.O.K., otherwise known as Omar Mouallem, looks and sounds more “boy next door” than “big bad rapper.” His songs are often thought-provoking and perceptive, with a sweeter, more digestible disposition than many other of his gun brandishing, gangsta-wannabe contemporaries.

What more could be expected, really, from someone who financed his recently released debut album - the ironically titled “If you don’t buy this CD the terrorists win” - by writing a book? About cats, as it were. He has also written an article about mut’ah (temporary marriages), which earned him a gong at the New York Sex-Positive Journalism Awards. How many other rappers can you think of that double as award-winning journalists? At only 22 years old, A.O.K. is indeed a man of many talents, influences and interests, and they often shine through in his music.

Mouallem introduces himself on the first track of the album, “Walk Like a Man,” a fun take on Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air rap. Mouallem, whose parents are from Kub Elias in the Bekaa, tells us he is, “Northern Alberta [Canada]/ born and raised/ on the Prairies/ where I spent most of my days.” While Mouallem is happy to self-identify as primarily Canadian, there are flashes that his Muslim-Lebanese roots have led to some soul-searching.

Growing up in a small, northern Canadian town called High Prairie, Mouallem told The Daily Star he felt a little out of place. “My family was one of two or three Arab families there. Naturally, people didn’t really ‘get me.’ Although I had a lot of friends, I was viewed as the non-pork eating alien from a funny-speaking family,” he said.

“I can’t say my family’s heritage is a big factor in my music,” Mouallem added, though he acknowledged that “it has inevitably shaped my perspective.” Echoing a feeling of cultural ambivalentce expressed by so many second-generation emigrants, Mouallem remarked, “In terms of being an ‘Arab-Canadian,’ I existed somewhere in the hyphen between those words. I think that’s why I latched onto hip-hop. I had to cultivate an identity [for] myself, and so I could nab the elements of speaking, dancing, rapping and dressing … hip-hop, and make it my own.”

Over the years A.O.K. changed his hip-hop alias from “Poppa Smurf” to “Justice?”, presumably as he tried to forge a comfortable identity for himself. Eventually, as Moullem recounts on his Wordpress blog, he “landed on A.O.K. because, like his music, it is a double entendre. His music [is] both light and heavy, satirical and serious, smooth and raw.”

Mouallem’s album is indeed a patchwork of different ideas, influences and styles. “For people who don’t know me,” said Mouallem, “I tell them that I’m more Kanye West than 50 Cent, but I’m more Bob Dylan than Kanye West. I’ve heard people call it folk-hop, and I can see the elements of humor and politics … from folk music in my music.”

Arguably, A.O.K is more similar to white-boy rappers Beastie Boys or Ugly Duckling than Kanye West, and more Ugly Duckling than Beastie Boys, with his socio-political musings recollecting the underground hip hop-duo Dead Prez. Whoever you choose to liken him to, A.O.K transcends the rigid boundaries of musical genres and will likely appeal to more listeners than just hip-hoppers or beat boppers.

As he says in “Hip Hop a la Mode,” the album’s fourth track, “I rap for college kids and bookstore pigeons/ Cook-county bitches who look but don’t listen/ I rap for Jews, Muslims and Christians/ I rap for any ism in the world’s prism/ I rap for politicians and their opposition/ I rap for common-place faces cooking in the kitchen.”

On the tracks “Miss Greenlay” and “Coffee Shop Girl,” Mouallem delivers odes to the art-school, coffee shop women he loves. In both tunes, the samples used are as danceable and funky as you would expect from Kanye West or his cronies, but not as slickly produced and mixed, giving his songs that rough edge one has grown to expect from underground hip-hop.

An anthem in its own right, “Fake I.D.” samples an understated but catchy background beat and takes a jab at gansta-rap “wiggers.” A.O.K.’s wannabe rapper-bashing is a theme that repeats itself in such other songs as “Tales from Planet Grolic” or “Walk Like A Man,” where he says, “You’re a slave to the fakes that they make every day/ Like a factory of phonies/ manufactured homies/assembled in a line/like My Little Ponies.”

Three beats later and Mouallem is criticizing religious institutions, the theory of creationism and Western perceptions of democracy in the songs “You are a God” and “Freedom is a State of Mind.”

“The Cedar Seeds,” by far the most overtly political song on the album, will have special resonance for Lebanese listeners, or anyone with a connection to the country. Penned during the summer 2006 conflict, the tune is primarily an outpouring of Mouallem’s feelings as he watched the war unravel on television.

“Surprisingly the song is a big hit in Canada,” said Mouallem. “At least with my peer group. There’s a lot of angry sentiment among young people in Canada against the Israeli government for that war.”

In the song, the last on the album, Mouallem delivers an emotionally charged, angry monologue against Israel’s belligerence toward Lebanon. He raps, “Oh yes I’m Arabic/ and I try to stay objective/ but when I turn on the news/ my hearing is selective/ the screaming of a mother is detected/ and so I support the people without a question.”

Nonetheless, Mouallem insists the song is not an attack on Jews. “It disturbs me when sometimes people cheer me for ‘getting back at the Jews,’ and I have to explain that this is not about Jewish people,” he said. “This is about Lebanese people and Israeli people … about people who lived, loved, danced and ate, and were virtually the same as you and I. This is not meant to rally anyone’s political, racist or religious views, but try to turn what I saw from my living room into a poem.”

Nevertheless, it is hard to listen to the song’s traditional Middle Eastern beats and clips of wartime news coverage without feeling a fluttering of the heart. Sadly, this standout track ends a little too abruptly, leaving listeners hoping for more. Then again, perhaps such abruptness is fitting for a song about a 34-day war that came and went like a whirlwind, leaving those it touched reeling and startled in the aftermath.

“If you don’t buy this CD the terrorists win” is a strong and encouraging start for someone who only raps “for fun.” One listen will make you wonder what all the fuss over 50 Cent or Eminem is about when A.O.K.’s music has more substance, intelligence and an equal sense of rhythm. This hack would choose his raps about politics and religion and light-hearted love ballads over the chauvinistic consumerism of mainstream hip-hop any day.

For more information on A.O.K., see assaultofknowledge.com

By Arthia Nixon (thebahamsweekly.com)

Nassau, The Bahamas - Despite being postponed by a week due to inclement weather, organizers of the 6th annual Truth Hip Hop Fest say the show will go on bigger, better and more exciting than ever before this Friday, September 12 at the Rainforest Theatre on Cable Beach.

“Due to the hurricanes, most airlines were grounded and as a result several of our performers were unable to fly in,” the organizers said in a press statement. “Although we would have been more than prepared to perform on Friday, we accept the time change and hope that everyone uses it to spread amongst the Bahamian community to come and support.”

Support will be an underlying theme for the weekend as Truth Hip Hop Fest will be used as a vehicle to reach out to those who have been affected by Hurricanes Hanna and Ike.

“Through the news, we’ve seen the damage in wake of hurricanes and we urge everyone to pray for the families of those 300 people who died in Haiti because you never know if one of them is related to someone right here in The Bahamas,” they said. “Our prayers are also with the people in Turks and Caicos and of course those in the southern Bahamas. There were no reports of death but rebuilding 80 per cent of the homes is going to take some time.”

Those coming to the Truth Hip Hop Fest can help rebuild by bringing in items to donate storm refuges.

“We are encouraging parents, teachers, students, youth groups and everyone who comes to the fest to bring canned goods for hurricane victims in Inagua and any other islands affected by the storms,” they said. “We will be donating those to the Bahamas Red Cross Society to distribute them as necessary. Even if you don’t plan to come to the concert, still send or drop off what you can.”

They added, “Some people may wonder why we still choose to have the concert after such circumstances happening around us, but through music, people can find healing, inspiration, the will to overcome, forgiveness and strength to start over.”

The Truth Hip Hop Fest was birthed from the Dunamus Soundz Record Label, a local music company headed by Lavard ‘Manifest’ Parks. The civic-minded company has made generous contributions, especially to local children’s homes by providing concert tickets to residents. Last year, they raised over $2,000 to purchase clothes, food and other necessities for orphans.

The Truth Hip Hop Fest commences this Friday at 7pm at the Rain Forest Theater. An Artist Music Workshop is planned for the following day.

Popular hip-hop artist Flabba was shot at while playing dice.

Popular hip-hop artist Flabba was forced to run for dear life when a youngster he slapped during a game of dice produced a firearm.

The two had quarrelled over how Flabba was winning and how the dice were favouring him.

It happened at Alexandra’s 3rd Avenue on Saturday after Flabba, a member of the award-wining group Skwatta Kamp, joined a gambling group in the township’s busy streets.

An eye witness told Sowetan that Flabba, real name Nkululeko Habedi, was winning and had pocketed at least R1000 profit.

“At first he lost about R800. He went home to get more money.

“This time around the game favoured him and he made good money,” said the source.

A loud murmur swept across the group of gamblers when the rapper, who became known as the group’s roughneck, wanted to take his winnings home.

The muso of S’bhamu Som’doko fame then allegedly slapped one of the boys who tried to stall him.

The aggrieved gambler went home and returned with 38 Special revolver .

People were treated to a free action movie as the 30-year-old rapper scampered between shacks with a gun-brandishing youth firing randomly.

The source added: “Flabba had to run to his house and was rescued by his older brother who emerged with a gun.”

When contacted for comment, Flabba said: “I don’t want to talk about that issue.”

He later changed his tune and denied any knowledge of the incident.

But our source maintains a white VW Golf belonging to Flabba’s younger brother was also hit by a bullet.

by Ian Burrell (The Independant, UK)

One British rap magazine has outlived all the US giants – even ‘The Source’. Ian Burrell asks its editor how ‘Hip-Hop Connection’ has survived 20 years, and what the future holds

It is fair to say that Skinnyman, a figurehead of British hip-hop, is unlikely to ever be mistaken for 50 Cent, the ripped and tattooed New York rap icon. Emaciated he is, as skinny as a doppio espresso, as well as white and born in Leeds – and, on this Monday night in a packed London club, he’s angry as well.

“Peace, unity, love and having fun,” he tersely lectures his young audience on the central tenets of hip-hop culture, drawing on the words of its founding father Afrika Bambaataa. Not graffiti, breakdancing, scratching or even rapping, and certainly not the gun-toting and drug-taking that much of the media now associates with this most controversial of music genres.

There is one especially notable exception to that media rule: an East Anglia-based magazine that has defied publishing economics to become the longest-running hip-hop title on the planet, outlasting even the so-called rap bible, New York’s The Source, which is currently attempting to get back on its feet after going bankrupt in 2006. Hip-Hop Connection, which is 20 years old this month, has a curiously English sound to it, the “connection” part somehow reflecting the distance between the British scene and the culture’s roots in the South Bronx.

But among the British rap aristocracy, who turned out in the magazine’s honour last week at a traditional breakdancing, beatboxing, battle rhyming and booty-shaking session known as The Jump Off, HHC is revered. They were all there. Normski, the television presenter and photographer of the hip-hop old skool, turned out in a black brimmed hat and a suit decorated with safety pins. The pioneering British rapper MC Duke showed his pedigree in a fetching Burberry house check suit and brown bowler. Shortee Blitz, the larger-than-life turntable king, with Maseo from the great New York rap crew De La Soul, stood at his shoulder. All came to pay their dues to a publication compiled in a house in Cambridge.

Earlier, in a quiet Soho bar, before the head-spinning and lyric-spitting had begun, the man behind Hip-Hop Connection, Andy Cowan, 41, explained how he has devoted his career to the project.

Let’s be blunt about this: hip-hop is in a bad place, under fire not just from appalled politicians and moral guardians but from large sections of the music-buying public who find it uninspiring. Cowan can’t disagree. “It’s fair to say that people are bored of the diet they’re being served of middling gangsterism mixed with lots of special guests and R&B artists. It’s got a bit staid.”

Worse, the people that still actually like the music are especially prone to downloading it for free. “Hip-hop kids were always quite savvy, technology adept and ahead of the pack,” says Cowan. “It’s a magpie form of music, and there’s a poetic justice that something that’s based on burglary is being burgled in reverse.”

The upside is that the difficulties of the American rap mainstream have provided a reality check that has allowed the British scene to flourish. “UK hip-hop is, oddly, in the healthiest state it has ever been,” says the HHC editor, explaining that British rappers have given up fantasies of becoming bling-laden global superstars and put their efforts into building their own homegrown sound. He cites cutting-edge labels such as Young ‘n’ Restless and Low Life Records, which represents Skinnyman, as well as the rappers Asaviour, Taskforce and Klashnekoff. “In the last few years we have upped the UK content quite a lot in the magazine, because it’s more reflective of the times,” says Cowan, so softly spoken that he is at times almost inaudible. Though he’d struggle to compete with Skinnyman in a freestyle rap battle, his love for rap music is not in doubt.

Hip-Hop Connection began life as a phone number, a hotline run by Dave Pearce (now a Radio 1 DJ) where rap fans could get information on upcoming events. The magazine it spawned was founded by Chris Hunt, beginning as a one-off publication with female rappers Salt-n-Pepa on the cover. Cowan joined 10 issues in.

The original publishers were Music Maker Publications, based in the unlikely location of Ely. The title was later sold, first to Future in Bath, and then to James Palumbo’s Ministry of Sound organisation, where it was encouraged to follow a more commercial musical tack. Cowan admits feeling discomfort that Mariah Carey once made it on to a cover (with the headline “Mariahhh!”), though a request that Mel B from The Spice Girls might merit the same treatment was deemed as a step too far, and led to Cowan and the team going their own way after buying the magazine back from Ministry.

For much of its history, Hip-Hop Connection has had to compete with both The Source (which sold 1m copies in the US at its height, and around 17,000 in Britain) and XXL, another slick American production. It did so with good journalism, scooping exclusive interviews with rap stars such as Slick Rick and Rakim from under the noses of the American magazines. Cowan says his title is also more critical in how it judges new releases. “The reviews in American magazines are generally quite poor because they’re actually afraid of offending the major record labels.”

Cowan’s task has not been made any easier by hip-hop’s frequent association with inspiring everything that is wrong with urban life. “Hip-hop, Hollywood and video games are always cited as the chief protagonists whenever there’s a moral panic,” he says. “It’s a cheap shot.” The magazine has tried to make a positive contribution, working on advertorials with the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Trident team and offering to collaborate with Scotland Yard on a CD of anti-knife crime tracks.

Despite everything, Hip-Hop Connection has survived to put out its 20th-anniversary issue, and as well as releasing its first-ever compilation album of 20 UK rap anthems, it is about to go on a fresher’s week tour of British universities next month. Skinnyman will be on the bill, teaching students from the class of 2011 about his Council Estate of Mind, as his acclaimed album is called, and demonstrating an originality of which Cowan greatly approves.

“The original message of hip-hop, I think, was to be yourself,” he says. “Anything, if you really feel it, can be hip-hop.”