Children of VLA

The Megaphone State is a Finnish Hip-Hop duo where Ekow (remember him from that Gracias song) raps and Simonsound produces. They have thus far released one album  Home of the Knockout Artist which I have enjoyed a lot and then there was a song called Lights and now this – Children of VLA.

The lyrics are available in Soundcloud and I must admit that I can relate to them although I personally would never make the mistake of trying to fraternise on my old corners. That’s lived life and in the past, but nonetheless the song sounds good to me. Have a listen and if you’re one of the Finnish speaking readers (hei vaan) have a look at this video where Ekow explains who he is and where he is from. I believe that the video provides an answer to the question of what on earth is VLA. I assume it is Viljakkala which is a small place where Ekow relocated to from his original home country Liberia after also having spent some time in Ghana in his early childhood. It must have been tad shocking culturally speaking, but life isn’t always straight forward. That much, I believe, we can safely state. This is music to explain some of it. 

Linkage

Today I wanted to post a few download links that I can recommend. The spring is in the air and I feel like sharing is caring, so let’s have it.

Genesis Elijah has been busy uploading all sorts of quality material online in the past and now there’s a new free EP (where he raps on the Alchemist beats) called An Emcees Worst Enemy. Download it here and have a look at the mini video for Chemistry Wars that accompany it.

From Cape Town, South Africa we have a new song by Ma-B from Driemanskap. I am impatiently waiting for the new album, Hlala Nam, by the crew, but here’s something to tide us over: Don’t Doubt Me.

Lastly, and this is also from the southern region of the African continent (SA and Lesotho), free download of the song Lifelines by KONFAB Ft. aNon and Matlhodi Matsei. You can also get the whole KONFAB album The Lost Tapes where this track is from. It’s pretty great.

La Bala

By now you should know that Ana Tijoux is cool. Ana became known as a member of the seminal Chilean Hip-Hop crew Makiza and her first solo album 1977 was great. Then there was also the Elefant Mixtape which was one of the most played on my headphones in 2011 and now, La Bala. Check out the powerful video above and check out the album (the title track is my favourite) and be sure to support quality music. 

Art arrives

 

Recently I had bought a bit of art, which is not something I do terribly often. It’s not so much that I wouldn’t like to, it’s just that there are other places where the funds go as a part of average month’s survival. But this is nice – I’m very proud. The video tells the story and images say the rest. 

Shoko! Hip-Hop Festival in Zimbabwe

Not a brand new video, but an interesting short documentary from Shoko! Hip-Hop Festival from Harare. Artists featured were Akala and Tumi amongst many other. Many many others. More videos with full speeches, lectures and performances from here.

New Music | Genesis Elijah

One of my favourite releases last year was I Ain’t Even Charging, Bruv by UK emcee Genesis Elijah. He’s got a new one out now and it’s called Painkillers and Pilkington. Yes, Pilkington as in Karl Pilkington who isn’t featured in any way although his friend Ricky Gervais is. He’s sampled in the mix, but according to Genesis Elijah he is the only rapper Ricky Gervais follows in Twitter. Who knows, I take his word for it. Have a look at the video and do download this because a few rappers show as much passion as this one.

#KnowledgeIsPower part III

Akala is back with another online freestyle, although we've barely recovered from the last one. This one is for SBTV's F64 series which he has done already once before, but this time he has a different approach as he does a little bit of storytelling. The basic rule here is that when Akala opens his mouth, we learn. Have a look.