Africa Raps Compiliation CD Review

Posted by Chris Bennett on 09.12.2002

If you only buy one African hip hop compilation this year…

First things first, I should point out that I didn’t
really know what I was getting into by reviewing a
compilation of songs by artists that none of 411’s
readership is likely to be familiar with. I wanted to
go into detail about each artist, but, since I’m sure
you don’t want to read a 20 page review, I tried to
stick to reviewing the CD as a whole. Of course, if
you have any questions, feel free to email me. That
said, here we go.

Rap music is, at its heart, poetry. It can be
beautiful and bludgeoning, raw or refined, delicate
or deadly. It’s versatility is a result of one of the
most attractive things about both the musical form and
culture it represents: This is young music, still
growing and developing. Rap, and hip hop culture in
general, is a scene in which anything is still
possible, one that hasn’t been tied down to convention
and trapped behind a uniform… At least not entirely.

It’s probably safe to say that, at least in the US,
mainstream rap has entered its Hair Metal phase. The
charts are dominated by fluffy, image-oriented
“artists” (Ja Rule, Nelly). The scene hasn’t lost
it’s relevance, as evidenced by the success of artists
like Mos Def and Common, but it’s become clear that
credibility and socially conscious lyricism are less
attractive to the masses than catchy, throw-away songs
about chicks and cars. That’s why an OUTSTANDING
compilation like Trikont’s Africa Raps is so
enthralling. Absent is the bling-bling shallowness,
and the pseudo-gangsta bullshit. In their place is
real music.

Africa Raps is a collection of songs from Senegal,
Mali and the Gambia, put together by German journalist
Jay Rutledge. It’s unlikely that American listeners
have been exposed to any of these artists, in large
part because most of the tracks are in French or
various native regional tongues, like Malinka or
Wolof. While this might turn off some, the unfamiliar
rhythm of each language is part of the personality of
each track. You probably won’t understand a word
that’s said, although the excellent booklet, with full
descriptions of each track and profiles of the artists
in English and German, can explain the lyrics in
detail. Really, though, you don’t need to follow
what’s being said in each song in order to appreciate
it, and especially the spirit behind it. This music
wasn’t made by artists with their eyes on fame and
fortune. To the people represented in these 16
tracks, hip hop isn’t a business. It’s a voice.

The most satisfying thing about this compilation is
that it’s not about a bunch of foreign rappers trying
to fit into the American hip hop mold… These songs,
and these artists are distinctly African, from the
languages, to the singing, to the instrumentation.
This is a celebration of the worldwide cultural
phenomenon that hip hop has become, and a
demonstration of the genre’s versatility and
adaptability. From the first track, Abass Abass’s
Africa Child, a call for unity among Africans, to the
last, a cover of Orchestra Baobab’s Boul Ma Mine, by
Positive Black Soul (apparently the founding fathers
of Senegalese rap), this compilation is arresting,
beautiful, and, at times, downright inspiring. This
is music made by people who love it, and the result is
one of the finest hip hop albums of the year.