Not what the mainstream image is
If you can't get Coldplay's stadium rock out of your head, try these 10 (well, eleven) tunes.
Eritrean dancing in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada (Kurt Bauschardt via Flickr CC).
First up, Sean’s five year-old daughter prefers this remix by Dead Prez of “Beautiful Girls” to the original by B.o.B. and Bruno Mars. Some sample lyrics from the remix: This Hollywood world so pretentious / Every other girl got a perm or extensions.
But you dont even really wear lipstick / Still your beauty is a natural mystic / Indigenous strong cheek bones from your lineage / Not what the mainstream image is / Natural hair is your heritage / But to see it without chemicals is rare as the pyramids.”
The French soul singer Ben l’Oncle Soul’s “Petite soeur”:
Tiombe of the East Village “spaced-out RnB acid house revivalist outfit” Cubic Zirconia channels Josephine Baker (You remember the video Kahlil Joseph directed for the “Black & Blue” track Cubic Zirconia did with Spoek Mathambo, right.):
Belgian rapper Akro (of local Mundele fame) recorded this video in Kingston, featuring Jamaican singer Stacious.
Since it is getting cold, it’s worth revisiting the remix of “Your Summer Song” by Exile, featuring one J Mitchell on vocals:
The next clip is not a music video, but one of many trailers for “Hit Me With Music,” a new documentary about dancehall:
More smooth grooves. Oakland’s Raphael Saadiq’s “Movin’ Down the Line”:
Brazilian rapper Parteum takes a trip down memory lane on the streets of São Paulo and São Caetano do Sul:
Finally, number 11, the intensity of the late Cape Town rapper Devious is on full display in this video shot in Amsterdam in 2001 by Thomas Gesthuizen. We thought of Devious last week, when Contro’Versy, another Cape Town rapper, passed:
