Music Break / DJ Hamma and Jitsvinger

We liked the previous recent work by DJ Hamma and Jitsvinger. No surprise then the result of the two of them collaborating is dope. The track is lifted from the album we blogged about last year, but the video’s new. DJ Hamma says: “We shot it in August 2010. I was initially very disappointed with the shoot and the footage. Too much drama… The footage wasn’t enough, not what I asked for and didn’t follow the initial storyline we had in mind. I wanted to redo the shoot but got caught up in my life and travels as a dj and producer. I just about gave up on it but due to the mounting requests from people for this particular song I decided to have another look at the footage. The idea was to see if I could slap something remotely decent together to become the ‘unofficial’ video representation of this track. “Niks om te se nie” translates as “Nothing to say”. Jitsvinger expresses his views regarding modern day mc’ing. He feels that mainstream hiphop lacks lyrical substance and doesn’t really relate to the mind and thinking of the general listener or followers of hiphop music. In the end it’s all politics. It’s like he sees it as the common fast food franchise… no matter where you buy your meal it will taste the same… Mc’s became these carbon copies of what they see on tv. We believe in ‘doing us’… this song expresses that to the fullest and with no apologies nor shame.”

Further Reading

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A sick health system

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Afrobeats after Fela

Wizkid’s dispute with Seun Kuti and the release of his latest EP with Asake highlight the widening gap between Afrobeats’ commercial triumph and Fela Kuti’s political inheritance

Progress is exhausting

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The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.