Lake of Stars
June 23, 2010 By 1 Comment
Nneka & Nas Present: Heartbeat
June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
If you’re a regular reader, then you know we love Nigerian-German songstress Nneka. Her new album, Concrete Jungle, has been out for a few months and she’s now on tour with Nas and Damian Marley, aka Distant Relatives. A product of that collaboration is a remix of Nneka’s “Heartbeat” featuring Nas. I like. A lot.
Download it here.
h/t @olaTUNJI
Postcard from Jo’burg
June 22, 2010 By 2 Comments
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Like many others, US photographer Krisanne Johnson headed to South Africa earlier this month but, as The New Yorker points out, she didn’t go there for the football. Johnson has been to South Africa several times over the years to document youth culture in Johannesburg, including the culture surrounding Kwaito and, most recently, the fashion movement known as the Smarteez (which Sean recently wrote about here).
Vamos Bafana!
June 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Mexico and Uruguay might just play for a draw and France may want to retain some pride. If just for the pride.
With apologies to Nike.
– Sean Jacobs
African Child
June 21, 2010 By 2 Comments
I haven’t seen Get Him to the Greek, the new film starring P. Diddy, Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, but thanks to the twitterverse, I ran across this video of the opening sequence of the film. The clip details the rise and fall of Brand’s character, rock star Aldous Snow, after he releases “an album and an accompanying single about problems in Africa called African Child.”
Take a look. [Sean: The clip works now.]
h/t Texas in Africa
The Ugly American
June 19, 2010 By 38 Comments
That’s Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King on Malian referee Koman Coulibaly—perhaps now the most hated man in America—who called yesterday’s already infamous match between USA and Slovenia (which ended in a 2–2 draw for those who don’t know). King’s also got a column to go with this tweet.
I have no words. But thankfully, others do.
Comme Si Je N’Existais Pas
June 18, 2010 By 1 Comment
It’s Algeria’s turn. They’re about to face off against England shortly, so today’s (second) 2010 World Cup music moment comes courtesy of Khaled‘s “Aicha,” hands down one of my favorite songs of all time and one of the biggest hits to ever come out of the continent. I know some might prefer “Didi,” which Khaled performed at the 2010 World Cup Opening Ceremony, but this song has been a constant in my Walkman/Discman/iPod since its release in the late 90s.
Here’s hoping Algeria stay in it so I can also throw in some Rai ‘n’ B over the next month.
“This is That Tribal Rap”
June 18, 2010 By 1 Comment
We’re new to Chicago-based, Nigerian-American artist The GTW, whose brand-new mixtape, “Don’t Smoke the Cigarette,” was just featured in URB Magazine. Of interest is his song, “Pata Pata,” which samples Miriam Makeba’s iconic song.
First impressions?
Africa on Film: Coming to America
June 18, 2010 By 3 Comments
My apologies for skipping last week (I’m sure you all noticed), it seemed that a review of Casablanca (1942) would have been completely irrelevant when stacked against the excitement of World Cup opening day. And unfortunately, over the last week Casablanca lost relevancy for me altogether (wanted to move along with more contemporary insights).
That said, this week I want to start a discussion of Eddie Murphy’s opus, Coming to America (1988). I’m interested in this film because it seems to sit at a crossroads of comic genius (not my words) and ideological disaster. It’s on the top ten favorite movie list of many people I know and I want to understand how we reconcile the things we laugh at with the things that make us cringe. Check out the trailer below:
