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