Africa Is a Country

When you’re from Africa. Like Africa Africa.

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

When you’re from Africa. Like Africa Africa.

By
Sonja Sugira

When the dance pop of London-based The Very Best, with one African member (the other two are French and Swedish) is described as very African.

The cover art for The Very Best's "The Warm Heart of Africa."

A bit late on this but Pitchfork.tv recently unveiled their latest series, Selector, in which they offer a rapper two different beats, one of which the rapper picks as a backing track for a freestyle. In the premiere episode (taped at the studio where Eddie Murphy’s 80s classic, “Coming to America,” was made), Virginia rap darlings, Clipse, are offered beats from The Very Best and Doom. While there are several comments of note, the most memorable comes when Eavvon (yes, that’s how his name is spelled), the Pitchfork host—without any hint of irony I might add—introduces The Very Best: “They’re actually from Africa. Like Africa Africa.” Just in case there was any confusion.

Of course, it doesn’t matter that the only member of the band that is actually from Africa—like Africa, Africa—is singer Esau Mwamwaya from Malawi. In any case, like Sean, I’m a huge fan of this group. Their 2009 debut, Warm Heart of Africa, is perhaps my favorite release of the past year.

Further Reading

After Paul Biya

Cameroon’s president has ruled for over four decades by silence and survival. Now, with dynastic succession looming and no clear exit strategy, the country teeters between inertia and implosion.

Leapfrogging literacy?

In outsourcing the act of writing to machines trained on Western language and thought, we risk reinforcing the very hierarchies that decolonization sought to undo.

Repoliticizing a generation

Thirty-eight years after Thomas Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.