Some piquant thoughts from two of hip hop’s sharper minds from their trip to South Africa and performances at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae have aged so damn well, live performances appeared to be on point as ever, check that reaction at the end from the crowd when Pharoahe drops “Simon Says”.
J.U.i.C.E. is proud to announce that we are partnering with Amagezi Germanyi Youth Association (AGYA) on an international hip-hop artist exchange program that will bring Los Angeles-based MC and Hellfyre Club recording artist, Open Mike Eagle, and Los Angeles-based beatmaker and Brainfeeder recording artist, Ras G, to work with Ugandan rapper Mon MC, youth artists, and other local musicians in Uganda for three weeks in May of 2012.
Can’t think of someone I’d rather endorse on a mission to the great continent. Stop paying Invisible Children for a month and help OME get to Africa here.
International media production company Nomadic Wax (African Underground/Democracy in Dakar) has teamed up with Genoa, Italy’s DJ Nio, Brooklyn’s Funk Nouveau, Blackler Mastering and producer Eliot Leigh to create a one-of-a-kind World Cup-inspired transnational hip-hop collaboration available for free download beginning June 8th 2010. The 12 minute multi-national musical melange features rappers hailing from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States, and Europe.
Nomadic Wax is a self-described Free Trade Record Label. I have no idea what the free trade part entails, but I do know they’ve got their heads in African soil, rich in hip hop and social significance. That’s what I call exclusive hip hop coverage.
Download the global project for free @ http://nomadicwax.bandcamp.com/
As of last night U.S. restrictions on visits by foreigners with HIV are to be lifted. Yeah, I’d say now is just as good a time as any to talk about AIDS. Oh, it’s also World AIDS Day today, happy AIDS Day? The problem is I don’t really feel like talking about this subject, AIDS is so overbearing and disconnected from my daily reality. I mean, there are so many tributaries off the AIDS delta that it can seem like a lost cause to combat the deadly disease. Specious to even talk about it really. I do know it was Easy-E’s death that introduced me to the concept of HIV and AIDS, followed shortly with the Magic Johnson revelation. What up with Magic anyways, last I heard he didn’t have a trace of HIV in his blood, does that mean he’s cured? Medical students, help me out on that one.
Sometimes when you stand on the ignorant side of the tracks, it’s best to spare the world your unnecessary thoughts on a matter, rather it’s best to wait until something blatant and external justifies your propensity to pass comment with judgement. On the topic of HIV and AIDS, I shamefully have stood in the back of the club, doing my 2 step, waiting for the disease to die off, literally. My blatant sign to critique came with the announcement of new legislation being passed by the Ugandan government. A dangerous combination of American evangelism and African ignorance has resulted in Uganda’s “Homosexuality Bill 2009.”
The new law would sentence anyone to death who had gay sex with a partner who had a disability, or while they were HIV positive, or if their partner was under the age of 18.
Undoubtedly, the section of the bill that has drawn the most heat is a provision that members of the public are required to report any homosexual activity they witness to police within 24 hours or face the a prison sentence of up tp three years. Snitch or/and Die! Pretty absurd ladies and gentlemen. For decades the African continent has been plagued by a lack of valid information regarding diseases, and have had lies propagated in their stead. One such lie that certainly inspires bills such as this Ugandan one, is the notion that AIDS is a punishment from God for homosexual practices. Fucked up isn’t it?
I wish this was all so simple, as if all it took to educate was revealing to hip hop fans in Africa that Eazy-E of the infamous N.W.A was consumed by AIDS, and he was no homo. Just remember, when you feel like you haven’t spoken on a topic out of ignorance, pat yourself on the back, but the minute you come across a piece of information that acts like a S.W.A.T team flash bang grenade, you speak up. Speak loud, damn you.
