Rough Guide to African Rap
For many Americans, The Last Poets constituted their first exposure to topical poetry recited against an urban soundscape. But in Africa, there are many spoken traditions and these are being reinvented via vamps lifted from local styles and/or augmented by imported grooves. The verbal content depends on the social realities confronting the artists. Manu Dibango's version is redolent of Parisian artifice, but Nigeria's Unsung Heroes and Ty, with a more hardcore social situation and the outspoken example of Fela Kuti ever before them, are more confrontational. Reggie Rockstone from Ghana takes this influence a step further by using one of Fela's actual sax riffs. Another interesting variable is how language rhythms mutate the weighty, emphatic staccato typical of American hip-hop. X Plastaz from Tanzania work in polyrhythms that could give a more by-the-book practitioner an aneurysm, while Mabulu of Mozambique's conscious rant, set against flowing Marrabenta guitars, sounds downright sweet.--Christina Roden