Africa Is a Country

Not what the mainstream image is

Not what the mainstream image is

By
Tom Devriendt

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:

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.