Welfare State Of Mind

#KnowledgeIsPower part III

2012-01-15T11:37:00.000+02:00

Akala is back with another online freestyle, although we've barely recovered from the last one. This one is for SBTV's F64 series which he has done already once before, but this time he has a different approach as he does a little bit of storytelling. The basic rule here is that when Akala opens his mouth, we learn. Have a look.

The end of the last and the beginning of this year in links

2012-01-12T12:23:00.000+02:00

It’s a new year again and I am back from the holiday. My holiday was great by the way – thanks for asking – but now I am back starting the new year properly. Before I do that there’s been a lot of linkworthy stuff online while I’ve been away, so let me put it up here.

First off, Mystro’s annual UK Rap Up never disappoints me. In all honesty, in the end of the year besides the one Charlie Brooker does, I only look forward to Mystro’s end of the year review.

If I am being honest I am not too excited about this next video – not a huge fan of guns and such – but I do like the song. A lot. It’s from that Logic and Last Resort album I’ve been going on about recently.

Nice free download by Agent of Change aka DJ Mutiny Get Your Hands off Africa. The song samples some Fela Kuti and features Marcel Cartier, Akala and Nana D on the vocals.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Marcel Cartier ft Akala and Nana D - Get Your Hands Off Africa (prod Agent of Change) by agentofchange

Cape Town’s Driemanskap is gearing up for their next album Hlala Nam and today I read from the Twitter that there will be even one more video before the release of that from the previous one. I am looking forward to all of that, but here’s a free download by the crew member Ma-B.

Make A Move - Ma-B by PioneerUnit

Lastly, if you don’t know The Quaranteam, you better familiarise yourself with this free EP.

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://thequaranteam.bandcamp.com/album/thequaranteamep"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;#TheQuaranteamEP by The Quaranteam&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-31T14:40:00.002+02:00

It's good to have a bit of holiday and be on the road again. I won't write much now, but have a happy new year and in the meantime there are a handful of photos - mainly of Robert Sobukwe museum - available in my Flicr site.

This is what it sounded like

2011-12-22T22:00:00.000+02:00

I like the end of the year lists on blogs. Or rather, I like the end of the year lists on blogs I like. In the end of some of the earlier years I have also made some of them for music and even for films and such, but this year I have decided against it. Alternatively I have prepared a small mix where I have collected some of the sonic highlights of my 2011. It has been a great year for music and I am certain I have forgotten tons of great songs that had their rightful place here, but such is life. One year I might start making notes since the January so I will know exactly what to include, but that year the mix might be several hours long. This one is just over 40 minutes. Have a listen.

Soundtrack for 2o11 by Mikmikko on Mixcloud

1. Intro – Ma-B featuring Redondo from the mixtape Beats & Rhymes (South Africa)
2.    Roma Meticcia – Assalti Frontali from the album Profondo Rosso (Italy)
3.    Ts’epe – Kommanda Obbs from the album Ts’epe (Lesotho)
4.    Straight Outta London – Wiley from the mixtape Creating a Buzz (United Kingdom)
5.    Force et Honneur – Nessbeal from the album Sélection Naturelle (France)
6.    Passop – Manqoba featuring Driemanskap from the EP The Winner (South Africa)
7.    Folkmordsmiljonär – Promoe (Sweden)
8.    Testimony – Logic and Last Resort featuring Shadia Mansour and Elz from the album True Talk (United Kingdom)
9.    Ese Soy Yo – Sociedad FB7 from the album Momentos (Colombia)
10. Reign of Fire – Genesis Elijah from the EP I Ain’t Even Charging Bruv (United Kingdom)
11. Terrorist part II – Lowkey featuring Crazy Haze from the album Soundtrack to the Struggle (United Kingdom)
12. Ingoma – Kanyi from album Intombizifikile (South Africa)
13. Out of HKI (Lotsaless & Nada Blend) - Lunace vs. Gracias (Finland)

Click links for videos and downloads, enjoy the rest of the old year and have a great new one.

The end of the year mix is on its way

2011-12-22T11:34:00.000+02:00

I am pretty sure that no one is as excited about this as I am, but tomorrow I will upload my end of the year mix where I have collected some of my favourite tunes from the last twelve months and mixed them together with my very rusty DJing skills. But it’s all good; I think it makes great listening nonetheless. Then again, I would think that wouldn’t I.

While you are impatiently waiting for this masterpiece – as I am sure you are – have a look at yet another brand new music video from that Logic and Last Resort album True Talk. This is the title track and one of the songs I mentioned for you to be on a lookout for in my previous blog post.

#TrueTalk

2011-12-19T11:43:00.000+02:00

A few weeks ago I featured a song from the now brand new Logic and Last Resort album True Talk in our Planet Earth Planet Rap radio segment. It was for that reason that I received a press copy of this album and I have been listening to it for some time now and I can tell you that it is a one great album. True Talk has got several repeat-one-worthy tracks and practically no skip-worthy ones. There’s a new video for the song Essence and it’s a nice one – an ode to UK Hip-Hop – but really the ones you need to check from this album are the ones that feature Shadia Mansour, Lowkey and Klashnekoff (two of the latter make a cameo appearance on this new video). I admit, I was very surprised but in the last weeks of 2011 a new contester for the album of the year arrived. How great is that.

Soundtrack and visuals to the Struggle

2011-12-14T14:14:00.000+02:00

Here’s a brand new video for Lowkey’s Soundtrack to the Struggle, which is the title track from his recent album. All independent, Lowkey has taken an interesting direction in promotion; in collaboration with Global Faction he’s made music videos for most of the songs from his album, and these videos have been leading his campaign with millions of views and with his message I more than welcome that. Here’s the full track list of the album with links for the already existing videos (some are still on their way).

1. Soundtrack To The Struggle

2. Too Much ft Shadia Mansour

3. Voices Of The Voiceless ft Immortal Technique

4. Hand On Your Gun

5. Skit 1

6. Terrorist?

7. Something Wonderful

8. Dreamers ft Mai Khalil

9. Skit 2

10. Obama Nation

11. Skit 3

12. Cradle Of Civilisation ft Mai Khalil

13. Skit 4

14. Blood, Sweat and Tears ft Klashnekoff

15. Everything I Am

16. Skit 5

17. Long Live Palestine

18. We Will Rise ft Sanasino

19. My Soul

20. Skit 6

21. The Butterfly Effect

22. Obama Nation Part 2 ft M1 (DEAD PREZ), Black The Ripper

23. Dear England ft Mai Khalil

24. Haunted ft Mai Khalil

25. Terrorist? Part 2 ft Crazy Haze & Mai Khalil

26. Million Man March ft Mai Khalil

Prophets of Rage

2011-12-10T23:30:00.000+02:00

Public Enemy - Prophets of Rage - BBC Special -... by dreadinny

I highly recommend this Public Enemy documentary The Prophets of Rage. This programme was originally aired yesterday (Friday 9.12.2011) on BBC 4 so it’s fresh, and it has good insight and interesting interviews even for someone like me who as a big fan has read and watched whatever is available of them.

The link for this documentary is pretty buggy though. At least for me the video kept on ending at random places as if that was the end of the film, but I just refreshed the page and found where it was left and it worked okay in the end.

Enjoy.

#KnowledgeIsPower part 2 (at least)

2011-12-09T15:12:00.001+02:00

Some time ago UK lyricist and all-around intellectual Akala did a freestyle on BBC’s Radio 1Xtra and as I linked it here on this Welfare State of Mind blog, I made a mention in Twitter that it was like a lecture. This time I am linking an actual lecture (or 20 minute TEDx presentation at least) by him and I really recommend you to check it out. This is no ordinary rapper and when he says #KnowledgeIsPower he means it. Here Akala talks about not just his work with Hip-Hop Shakespeare company, but the philosophy behind it. Quite refreshing altogether.

The Girl has Come

2011-12-07T09:23:00.001+02:00

Here’s a brand new music video by Cape Town’s Kanyi. I have heard her being referred to as the first lady of Spaza Hip-Hop, which probably isn’t even arguable after she delivered one of the highlight verses of Driemanskap’s township anthem S’phum’eGugs. Her album Intombizifikile (which in English means the girls have come) should be out at some point and this is the first video and song from it. The track is called Ingoma and you can download the MP3 from her ReverbNation profile.

As a side note; I am also happy to see Anele Matoti doing a small acting role in this video. He’s an old school friend of my wife – part of that Eastern Cape massive – and he’s been featured in several South African TV productions as well.

A bit of music | Klashenkoff is back

2011-12-06T10:01:00.001+02:00

I have a bit of a soft spot for Klashnekoff. Many times he comes with big lyrics that are deep and meaningful and other times it's not so serieus. The new album/mixtape FTLT (F*** The Long Talk) is on its way and here's a taster from it. The video is just for a freestyle called Clear My Throat and it seems that he's back with full energy. I have no idea where and why there the video was filmed, but I am glad to be taken back to summer especially since his last video that came out early autumn was a winter one. FTLT will be out early next year.

African Hip-Hop Radio

2011-12-03T14:52:00.001+02:00

African Hip-Hop radio is back and now also very conveniently the episodes are on Soundcloud to be streamed or downloaded. Have a listen to this first new episode. It is playing as I type this and I am enjoying it tremendously. I am also very pleased to see Gracias from Helsinki (born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) in the mix. The video for his featured song can be viewed here.

More African Hip-Hop from www.africanhiphop.com

African Hip Hop 02 @ Red Light Radio 11-30-2011 by Red Light Radio

#PEPR | Planet Earth Planet Rap

2011-12-03T11:29:00.001+02:00

This week on Planet Earth Planet Rap I was still doing a solo show due to some special arrangements, but next week it’ll be all three of us at it again. Here’s the playlist and the videos for the songs featured this week. Let me warn you about that Logic album – it’s really great and Nessbeal’s Sélection Naturelle is definitely worth your while as well.

1. Nessbeal - Force et Honneur from album Sélection Naturelle (SME France 2011)
2. Logic and Last Resort featuring Big Frizzle, Maverick Sabre and Akala - We'll Never Know from the forthcoming album True Talk (Overstand Music 2011)

Listen to the Planet earth Planet Rap episode from Rapstation.com

Few links for me online elsewhere

2011-11-30T19:14:00.001+02:00

Recently I haven't been posting as much as I wish I had.That's such a boring phrase to use in a blog, but I wanted to post now a few links since I have been active elsewhere online.

This week I guest-blogged for Africa is a Country. I wrote about my experiences with contemporary art. Read it here:

Africa and contemporary art

For last week, and also by the way this, I am flying solo as far as Planet Earth Planet Rap goes. Catch the last week's show from here.

PEPR 25.11.2011

Here’s the playlist
1. Lowkey – Hand On Your Gun from the album Soundtrack to the Struggle (Mesopotamia Music 2011)
2. Rattex – Ewe Nje from the Streets, Raps & Us EP (Pioneer Unit 2010)

Lesotho Stand Up... again.

2011-11-29T10:05:00.001+02:00

In this blog I have written about and linked to quite a bit of Hip-Hop from Lesotho. A lot, at least considering that the country is small, but what can I do, when I have enjoyed the music of Konfab, Isosceles and of course also Core Wreckah, who pretty much has been the original supplier of these links anyway.

Some time ago I posted a video for song called Ts'epe by Kommanda Obbs. That song had a fresh sound to it and video was interesting and Now Kommanda Obbs has a new video for song Hona Joale. Have a listen and enjoy the beautifully shot video.

The End of Poverty?

2011-11-21T14:45:00.001+02:00

The End of Poverty? is very powerful documentary film investigating the global economics and colonialism that continues. I am not going to explain the matter any further here, I really recommend you watch it above.

Congolese Hip-Hop (DRC) | #PEPR

2011-11-20T22:43:00.001+02:00

This week on Planet Earth Planet Rap we were paying respect to, talking about and playing Congolese Hip-Hop. The show is available on Rapstation, so have a listen and here’s also the videos for the songs played.

First song was by Lexxus Legal featuring LeslyMan and Pitcho – Fauchés

Other song of the week was collaborative track by Salaam Kivu All Stars. The song is called Saisir l'avenir (Seize the future) and you can read a bit more about it from the Africanhiphop.com.

As a bonus here is a wonderful short video giving some context to the music of Lexxus Legal.

Last additional link; here is a great bank of knowledge on DRC - Friends of Congo.

This week special thanks to Tom from Africa is a Country blog who was helping with the music selection.

In hindsight

2011-11-17T17:23:00.001+02:00

Image: photographs from the studio sessions for Streets, Raps & Us EP. Note that in the top left corner are the original handwritten lyrics of Ewe Nje.

I remember this time very well. Perhaps to a large extent because I focused on it differently; I was writing about it, and also, of course, due to the fact that I have recently read what I wrote about it. Rattex was recording his then still unnamed – as far as I knew anyway – EP that later on became known as the Streets, Raps & Us and I had the opportunity to observe the process. I found it all very fascinating.

Clearly some time has already passed. I am reading now how I went on and on about how poorly this kind of music is treated by the mainstream media and it feels like an exaggeration. It feels like that now, because Rattex has been played at least on Yfm in Johannesburg and his label mates Driemanskap have been played probably everywhere in South Africa, but all that was a bit like the fall of Soviet Union; you couldn’t have guessed it a lot before it actually happened. It's still not great - the playing field is far from leveled, but at the time almost any chance for major airplay was still very distant. That is what the song Ewe Nje is about. At least partly.

It has to be added here, in all fairness, that there's been quite a bit happening in my private life since these events, so I feel like all of this is a long time ago, but it isn't really. Especially in terms of music business it's been a short time and the song sounds incredibly fresh which is what counts and now there is also a video for it. It takes me back in time, but also, to me, it redefines the song. It gives it a new feel. I always liked this song and I still do – a lot is an understatement – but the visuals have added a new dimension to it. The video is stylish black and white one and it’s made by Pioneer Unit’s creative director spo0ky.

Have a look at the video, read my article Rattex: labour of love & hard entertainment and buy the EP from the label’s online store. It’s a bargain full of bangers, but since its on Bandcamp, you can listen to it first to make up your own mind.

RATTEX: Labour of love & hard entertainment

A few songs

2011-11-10T12:12:00.001+02:00

Change (Remix) Ft. Alborosie, Mic Righteous, Busy Signal and Akala by NattyMusic

While many exciting albums, mixtapes and videos seem to be on their way, as if out of nowhere yesterday the song above - Natty's Change remix featuring Akala, Mic Righteous and Alborosie who has collaborated before at least with Blak Twang - came into my life via Twitter. I was unable to turn it off, so even though it's been featured in many blogs already, I put it once more here just so you don't miss it.

The video below has also been featured in many blogs; it seems that a few weeks old video is already a bit of old news, but regardless of that, the song is cool so have a listen and check out the wonderful video from a place warmer than Helsinki this morning when I had to get my winter jacket out. It's legendary African Hip-Hop crew X Plastaz from Tanzania repping the Maasai and beyond. The song called Africa features Fid Q & Bamba Nazar.

#PEPR | New episode - Dutch Hip-Hop

2011-11-08T18:15:00.000+02:00

After a few weeks of reruns for various reasons last week we returned with a brand new episode of Planet Earth Planet Rap. This time Dutch Hip-Hop. Listen to the audio and have a look at a few related music videos by some of the top emcees of the Netherlands.

#PEPR - Planet Earth Planet Rap: Hip-Hop Holland

A bit of music | Sousou & Maher Cissoko: Jangfata featuring Timbuktu

2011-10-26T22:23:00.000+03:00

No need to elaborate much; it's just a feel good song. A lovely collaboration between Senegal and Sweden by artists Sousou and Maher Cissoko, and always brilliant Timbuktu is also featured in the mix. The video makes me miss both summer and Stockholm.

A few Fela Kuti links

2011-10-21T11:34:00.000+03:00

Fela Anikulapo Kuti seems to be a topical artist these days. Of course he's always had his following, but the Broadway musical about him has made a fair few new people aware of his art and his politics. I recently read Carlos Moore's Fela: This Bitch of a Life book so I have thought about him a lot, but I have been a fan of him for years. Not since the childhood or anything like that, but for well over a decade, and not that I need any evidence, but I actually have some, since in 2004 my comment on him was published as a part of the New African magazine's 100 Greatest Africans poll. It wasn't a great insight - I admit - but perhaps being from Finland was exotic enough to be published.

Here's a short video clip I enjoyed a lot and below it, an Afropop Worldwide radio programme which focuses mainly on the Broadway musical on Fela, but actually covers a bit more than that. I thought it was really nice listen so press play or download it why don't you.

FELA LIVES! Elder's Corner Tribute from SIJI on Vimeo.

Fela! on Broadway by Afropop Worldwide

John Pilger's 'Apartheid Did Not Die' (1998)

2011-10-20T19:01:00.000+03:00

One of my favourite journalists and a very special human being John Pilger has made most of his life work as far as documentary films and special reports go freely available*. It's all on his own website and to study all of that will take a good long time, but today I watched this report from South Africa called Apartheid Did Not Die (1998), and while a lot has changed, a lot has remained the same. I found it to be very interesting as much of the journalism from the time in South Africa was focusing on nation building and telling the story of the struggle and internationally I guess everyone wanted to jump on the feel good boat, but Pilger doesn't roll like that. He asks good questions and highlight issues that are still relevant and still not dealt with. I'd say struggle continues, but in the words of Fela Kuti, I don't want the struggle to continue - the struggle must end successfully. It all got me a bit melancholic to be honest with you. Especially since I have been reading Frantz Fanon recently and my mind wonders whether his uncompromising approach to decolonising would have been needed in South Africa. Or is that still on its way. The only thing that is for sure is that I am not even in a position to speculate on that, but I wish - for whatever it is worth and as naïve as it sounds - that some solution is found before the people will not wait any longer.

*freely available with a good internet connection.

Apartheid Did Not Die from John Pilger on Vimeo.

New Lowkey album is out.

2011-10-16T03:07:00.001+03:00

Lowkey has just released his new album Soundtrack to the Struggle. It’s been coming for a while and many of the albums 26 tracks (20 songs six skits) have been heard and seen as videos already – even here on this blog – but finally now, we have the real thing; the full album.

I can’t say anything in detail about it yet because I don’t have it. I pre-ordered it, but the download hasn’t yet come through, so let me just recollect how I first came across of Lowkey and his art.

There used to be a really cool music magazine in UK called Undercover and besides great written content the complementary promotional was most often pretty amazing. I found a lot of great music from there and Lowkey was one of those artists besides at least Sway. His song Let Me Live was on one of the Undercover mix CDs (although the music wasn’t particularly mixed). After that I went and bought myself two of his three mixtapes Key To The Game vol. 2 and vol. 3 and I might also remind here that Key To The Game vol. 3 was selected as the album of the year 2006 on this blog. Dear Listener which was the album before the new one was also pretty big and a crucial part of our family’s Cape Town soundtrack – it was the one album that all three of us absolutely loved.

But have a look at the brand new video above; it’s for the song Hand On Your Gun and remember that Lowkey exists outside of all major labels. He has done it all by himself, with his people and his fans so even purely for that achievement he deserves your support. Or at least mine. He definitely gets my support.

#PEPR | Hip-Hop in New Zeland

2011-10-10T12:47:00.000+03:00

Our latest Planet Earth Planet Rap installment looks into the Hip-Hop scene in New Zealand.

#PEPR - Planet Earth Planet Rap | Hip-Hop in New Zealand by PlanetEarthPlanetRap

Here is the playlist:

1. Scribe – Dreaming from the album The Crusader (Dirty Records, 2004)

2. Deceptikonz – Evolution from the album Evolution (Dawn Raid Music Ltd, 2010)

3. King Kapisi – Soundsystem from the album 2nd Round Testament (Festival Records Mushroom Records, 2003)

4. Dam Native – Only You from the album Aotearoa... Nobody does it better (Heart Music NZ, 2010)

Here’s a few additional videos for some of the featured songs.