Now You Know is a song, sung in Swahili (spiced with lots of Sheng and some English), with searing autobiographical overtones released in May this year by a (now) leading Kenyan rapper called Nyashinski. It is sung monologue. It is sung poetry. It is solo rap, on a grand scale -- the longest local do I've ever heard. It is sung in a rugged, expansive landscape, under blue-sky. His voice dominates the background music, but lets enough through to spike the intriguing lore. Densely packed lyrics with a rebellious streak offer snippets of Nyashinski's life-course and weltanschauung, in this epic song. Of his quite departure to unknown foreign lands, seen by some as a capitulation to life's usual ups and downs. Of friends who cynically wrote him off when he was away and seemed down and perhaps out, and of the back-stabbing which went with all that. Of the vile rumors that followed him wherever he went, and often found him. Of his defiant, even heroic return -- no matter that he just might be his sole and self-appointed hero-worshiper, and spin doctor. Of his sarcastic expose of the foibles of his so self-adulating compatriots. Ultimately, he has achieved what seems quite improbable: he has turned a chunk of personal beef into a wholesome and very fine art.
Through much of the song, the singing self/hero in stylized safari boots and outdoorsy threads, a la Abercrombie and Kent, struts the barren terrain like a holidaying sovereign in the teeming Mara. Where he's been, though, remains a mystery still to unravel -- without his help. With or without. Where he's going next, with all that's in his invisible carpetbag, no one knows, and not he either -- and not even Time can tell right now. But you feel for him, feel the sincerity, and the purity of the determination, and think that everything's gonna be alright with this guy somehow, in the end. And with the rest of us. Click to watch the Now You Know video READ: Nyashinski The Comeback King
In a number of respects, 2016 will be remembered as the year of the crowd-dance. There was even a dance fever of sorts among African artistes and their fandoms, each crowd seemingly bent on outdoing the others and wowing the rest of the world. Not a bad thing either. Fuse ODG has deliberately chosen for his song, published in late October 2016, a title with two fertile and tantalizing connotations, as one can see at the beginning of the video. First, certainly for his team and for East Africans in general, Jinja readily brings to mind a town by that name in Uganda. It is located at that 'magical' point where the great River Nile pours out of Lake Victoria, headed north through the two Sudans, and then all of Egypt, and into the Mediterranean. This river's epic and never-finished journey is part of Fuse ODG's roots. It is at the core of his conception of T.I.N.A. (This Is New Africa) -- which is also the title of his album -- regardless of where ever he may physically be at any moment. Secondly, the word is used in the video itself to mean: (a) "to give excessive energy to a person or situation, especially through dance", or (b) to "make someone or something more lively." The song, as you will see, clearly lives up to this promise; and, I think, only this. But this use of 'jinja' is not as idiosyncratic as it might seem. It is indeed a pun on a fairly common 'slang'. To "ginger up", Merriam-Webster tells us, means exactly what it's said to mean in (b) above; that is, "to make (someone or something) more exciting or lively" -- or, indeed, excited. A perfect concept for a crowd-dance. It turns out that Fuse ODG's Jinja, which is produced by KillBeatz and runs for 3:51 minutes, is one of the most outstanding dance-oriented songs to dominate the African music space this year. It goes without saying, of course, that song and dance are twins, more (much more) often than not -- certainly in Africa. But some songs, like this one, are more dance-denominated than usual. Still, one must see and hear the singer(s) for the dancing to be well-anchored. That's a crucial distinguishing criterion -- certainly for me. Here's the thing: we shouldn't include in our ratings of music videos any production in which the lead singer(s) remain(s) unseen throughout the song and dance, or in which the dance scenes are shot years after the song which inspires them is done. Dancing to music so 'canned' is not, shouldn't be, anyone's idea of pop music video -- no matter how good the dancing turns out to be. Art is not well-served by fracturing time -- that is, distanciating song and dance -- in that way. So Jinja is a great piece of visually-populated music. We see and hear the singer. And the singer is there with the dancers, and the dancers with him. It's all intended to get millennials, and p'raps boomers still young at heart, up and dancing in no time. It is overflowing with the energy and creative body-and-soul moves, plus one or two nextgen dabs, of a self-assured cast. The irrepressible ODG's rapid-fire rap has catchy phrases and a relentless wordplay. "Jinja, maninja, majinja" -- is a refrain we keep hearing, as the Afrobeat goes on and on. And so it goes. Even the girls' 'cat'-walking becomes dance -- and inseparable from the groovy beat. So does a sweet half-baked dab by a little girl under, it seems, seven still to finish, uh, coordination. Everything, well- choreographed, moves as one; and it gets hotter and hotter on that charmed rooftop with all that constant and even acrobatic motion, but ends too soon. "Someone call police O!" Get that ODG!
This intriguing video, One Source, was published on October 5th, 2016. It runs for roughly 3:47 minutes, and starts with fire burning itself, and with the proclamation that "Africa is on fire". That's the first of two main themes that course through this inspired piece of music. The second is that "This is a revolution". But it's not clear what kind of revolution it is, or for whom the revolution is all about. A revolutionary motif, yes, but the video's images suggest that, if anything, this less political than cultural. The latter is the more self-evident in the video's motions and colors. As it starts, we see a heroic figure rising from under the sea, unaided, each hand carrying an Olympics-inspired (?) burning flame, which is miraculously impervious to the extinguishing power of sea-water -- any water. A simple beat picks up, and a refrain joins in -- something like, "Di di di di di di koko" -- carried by none other than Victoria Kimani's voice, tailor-made for the role. The refrain threads through the whole video. And it is, indeed, practically the whole song that One Source is. Victoria Kimani is unmistakably the seductive siren calling. But there is a manufactured one as well, which is really a warning of something just as manufactured but with a potentially deathly effect. A Molotov cocktail that's thrown by a visible but anonymous 'combatant' target's a windshield that's already cracked, but still "intact". It survives the throw, too. Two other artistes of continental and even global repute feature in this production as well: South Africa's Khuli Chana and Ghana's Sarkodie. The Ghanaian flag is there for all to take note, but is that Sarkodie asking if we know what time it is? And is that Khuli Chana cleverly touting a product we'll talk about in a moment, amid all that revolutionizing? I have not come across Kay Gizm till here, can't tell who it is in the video (the one struggling to walk on water, perhaps?) and have little with which to rate him. On the face of it all, the music we hear is an excuse for all the imagery that fills the 3:47-minute-size space (or real-estate); but the reality of the matter is the other way round: it is the imagery, reinforced with certain phrases, that gives the cover essential to executing the real purpose of the entire musical production. And it, the visual dimension, is truly powerful, in just the way the montage of motion and shapes itself dances in our line of sight and dominates our gaze with non-stop surprises and theatricality. So how shall we rate this entire thing? As an artistic creation, it is clearly not in the class of King Kong Remix, which for me the best pop video out of Africa in 2015. But it's worth listening to, and, even more productively, watching -- as the visual memes than keep coming at you. You be the judge. Ultimately, however, One Source cannot escape the charge that it is essentially advertising for Absolut Vodka -- advertising sugar-coated with 'first-draft' ideas of revolutionary fervor, and perhaps angst; as well as a raft of charming images we can all relate to apolitically. Hope the artistes got a good deal for it from the vodka makers, but I find it hard to consider it for Africa's best pop videos of 2016. Much luv to the artistes, regardless.
Young though she still is, Lola Rae has already packed some serious time and talent into her musical journey. And the effort's already bearing ample fruit. HERE: Something about Lola Rae Lola's enchanting music video, One Time, produced by Twenty20 Media in 2016, is a feast of song and hi-spirited dance. She, the leading and only voice, is both single-minded and self-assured. Her Afro-Reggae offering is a fusion of colors -- all shades of color -- dancing light, and fluid bodies, all moving in a combo of sound and unspoken, gesticulated text. Her song speaks to the proverbial rude boy and rude girl, and her egging, in that irresistible tone of hers, is more intoxicating than any root-beer (ha! ha!) can be to a man-child, or his naughty sister. All the stuff that's here is lovely, and here's all tinsely, but for the absence of tinsel itself -- in this cool set that's beyond make-believe. The beat, it keeps coming at ya! It's persistent. It's hi-spirited. It's consistent. And yet as soft, as flowing, as silk. All-consumed with the tempo of the moment, the girls who have joined Lola in this feast, this feat, of camaraderie and feeling simply won't let up. Color and shapely forms. A bewitching cadence of (e)motion and sound. A suppleness of presence. A sense of earnest, burning desire. All these fill the air, and charm the view. Naughty visual phrases pack the secret girls' room, too, where much of the action takes place -- to the chagrin of all them guys who cannot quite be in there, sorry. c!
In Akara Oyibo, Niniola achieves a vocal playfulness of the highest order, so effortlessly fusing tuneful lyrics with a finely sculpted, smooth-as-silk vocal range. It's mellow. It's warm and fluffy and full of cheer. And, how daring! What an interlude this is!
Spectacular's the word for C4 Pedro's (a.k.a. King cKwa) Spetxa One. It's a song of seduction -- it'll make the rooster turn pale with envy. It's a song for his -- this Angolan's, Everyman's -- Special One; a super-animated ballad, for sure. And it's spectacular in every dimensional space: The high-energy dance scenes, choreographed to the highest level of refinement -- as the ever-present camera eye, shadowing each unmissable move, nudges us in every instant to see -- the lyrics, C4 Pedro's dominant voice, the sunniest of atmospheres, the beat, the finely controlled tempo of sound and motion, the everything! It's a wonderful blend, shall we say in the end, of passion and nimble muscularity.
[Extract from Yambo Selection 2015] King Kong is Africa's best pop video of 2015. This is probably no surprise to connoisseurs of African pop music, as there have been certain indications of it over the last five months or so. Lots of credit go to the five high-profile Nigerian artistes and their enigmatic Director, Matt Max. Shot in Lagos, the video is a brave and adventurous proposition, with a profuse montage of high-voltage images and memes. It's avant-garde in a wonderfully creative, world-beating way. The fusion of audio and visual dimensions of this song takes it beyond compartmentalization into any simplistically defined genre, rap, hip hop or otherwise. READ HERE: My more detailed appreciation of King Kong READ: Nairaland Forum: Opinion ~ King Kong Remix is the Best Nigerian Rap Song READ: Naija.com "The 'King Kong' Remix is Sublime" ALSO READ: Adesola Ade-Unuigbe "5 Rappers, 1 Remix..." NOTE: King Kong was published on July 10, 2015. It had 255,920 YouTube views at 3:45 p.m. on December 26, 2015.
