FOKN Wit Ewe

Anyone who’s read this blog more than once knows how much Humanitarian Notes loves Wanlov & M3nsa – both separately and together as FOKN Bois. This is just a few blog posts away from just being a fan-site, and I’m not completely against that, but I’ll resist for now. Reason for this post? Important news on the FOKN Bois front. Go to foknbois.bandcamp.com to get not only the previously posted-about “Coz Ov Moni” soundtrack, but also their new (hilariously offensive) album “FOKN Wit Ewe”…

Well? Do it. I’ve got nothing else to say.

Wear Love!

If I were in Toronto on March 16th, I would definitely have plans to go to Dare To Wear Love. March 16th is actually my father’s birthday and I will be nowhere near Toronto. I will be in New England going to a Pink Floyd tribute show of some sort with the birthday man. That is exactly how one should spend a father’s birthday. But enough about that (which you’re all undoubtedly jealous of)…

If you want to make me jealous in return, you will be in Toronto and go to Dare To Wear Love. It’s an African/Canadian fashion show AND a fundraiser for grassroots HIV/AIDS projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. There’s so much about it that I like/love! I also enjoy/overuse slashes.

“They created the event by asking 24 of Canada’s top fashion designers to create an outfit using 6 yards of African cloth” = Awesome.

For a chance to look at Africa fashion through a very different filter, swing down to Baltimore and check out the  Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity exhibit. I saw it in Brooklyn last year and it has a global scope and has a good overview of how fashion has been impacted by the diaspora.

So there you have it. As much as I love Brooklyn, I suddenly wish I were in Torontimore (or Baltonto?)… maybe a visit?

Coz Ov Moni!

My favorite Ghanaian duo, FOKN Bois, released “Coz Ov Moni” back in 2010. I was lucky enough to be in Ghana and I got to check it out on the big screen and purchase a copy. Bits and pieces have appeared  on youtube and such, but there really has been no way for most people to enjoy.

Good news! A (big) step in the right direction… you can now purchase the soundtrack on Amazon!

The movie is wonderful, but much to their credit, the music works wonderfully alone too. Get it now… I can’t sing high enough praises…

Happy Friday!

New video/song from close friends of Humanitarian Notes, Osekre & the Lucky Bastards. I want to stroll by them next time I’m in a park.

Ielewe Mitaa

A new video from Fid Q. I need to learn more about Tanzanian hip hop. Immediately.

Free (Kwaito?!) Mixtape

There’s been a resurgence of interest in kwaito lately. I don’t know that it’s a world-wide thing, but I have definitely been having a resurgence of interest in kwaito, so that’s something, right?

Thankfully, along with my interest level going up, there seems to be an increasing amount of kwaito coming across my purview. And it’s the good stuff. Best thing yet? Tumi & Zubz released a kwaito mixtape under the name T-Z Deluxe. It is wonderful! Try it out. It’s a love letter to kwaito, but is clearly a modern creation. You can download it here.

I originally discovered Tumi through the song/video for Asinamali, which might be my favorite three minutes of music from 2011. I can listen to it on loop apparently forever:

Namibian rapper?

My time in Namibia was filled with kwaito. Filled might be an understatement. It was less a soundtrack and more an atmosphere. It was wonderful at times, but a little exhausting. That’s why I’m so stoked that my friend Jeremy tipped me to Cashley… a Namibian who is doing some straight up hip-hop. And it’s really good!

Check it:

With subtitles, the revolution continues…

I’ve been having a chat over email with a friend who is in Egypt. I’m very curious about how music is used there, and throughout North Africa, to go along with the Arab Spring. It’s obviously a part of the revolution, but North Africa seems particularly foreign to me, due in no small part to the language difference.

The big point artists are making (like in the video above): while we may not be thinking about the “revolution” any more now that it’s dropped off the news cycle (we need to focus on the ridiculousness of Gingrich and the wealth of Romney!), things are still changing, developing and there are still lots of struggles. The song above is particularly worth watching according to my friend, “if only to get an idea of the political situation here in Egypt (it’s all subtitled in english AND has important images of events SINCE the revolution last year)”

Thank god for subtitles. I hope to discover more of this revolutionary music as time goes on…

Other people write pretty well…

My friend Evan, who I met when I was looking for a new roommate, wrote up a nice little profile of Humanitarian Notes. He’s a fine writer. See for yourself:

http://righteouspictures.com/humanitarian-hip-hop/

Additionally, if you didn’t make it to our even back in December and wanted to find out what you missed, you can’t do much better than checking out this blog post:

http://whatgrew.blogspot.com/2011/12/humanitarian-notes.html

And if you didn’t catch it the first time I mentioned it, friends at OkayAfrica.com gave us a little bit of press too!

http://www.okayafrica.com/2011/12/14/audio-wanlov-the-kubulor-king-ayisobas-humanitarian-notes/

Enjoy!

Oliver Twist

I’m late to this, but I like the song. And I like the dance. And I like that if you go on youtube, you’ll see so many other people who also like the dance. It’s fun!

D’Banj is playing a show in New York in February. Also, he’s on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. music label. I’d give you more information, but SOPA and blackouts and laziness are preventing it. But the music is good!