I once made the statement that Nomadic Massive was single-act embodiment of international hip-hop, but Maga Bo just might make me eat my words. A DJ / Producer based in Rio de Janeiro, Maga Bo has recorded in Morocco, South Africa, India, and Senegal. In World Up’s Mixtape, Maga Bo blends traditional and contemporary sounds from around the globe, providing a diverse soundscape for hip-hop giants Saul Williams, Gift of Gab, and K’Naan, to name a few of the English speakers that I could detect. The mix, almost 62 minutes long, can be heard in its entirety on the player below:
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In other news, Flight 808 is growing every day! Whoddathunk it? That said, we’re looking to add a few more writers before we get into all sorts of trouble this summer. Really, all sorts; it’s going to be an exciting time. If you’re interested, there are opportunities to do interviews, short pieces, long pieces, whatever. It’d probably be more professional to figure out if my @ flight808 email addy is working, but I’m just going to leave my personal email address up here for a few days so people can get at me: tommyabu @ gmail . com
Think it over yo! More goodies coming up in a few days. Peace.
“Supposedly what I’m supposed to be and what was meant for me
Was told, through the odyssey of my ancestry
But now I choose to separate destiny and heredity and
Bomb everybody’s perception of our identity” — Karmacy, “Outcasted”
While researching Karmacy, I stumbled upon an issue I was completely unaware of – Indians involved in hip-hop and the notion of “rotten coconuts”. There is a surging population of first-generation Indian Americans whose parents emigrated from India.More and more, the well educated, predominately middle class Indian youth are embracing hip-hop – a black cultural movement – to express themselves and connect with other races.
So where does “rotten coconuts” come in to play? I found a very interesting yet informative blog posting discussing the fruit metaphors used to describe people who are trying to be white – such as “banana” or “coconut”. “Rotten coconuts” is a nickname KB of Karmacy was given during his time as a student at UC Berkeley. It essentially means brown on the outside, black on the inside – an Indian American who lives and breathes the black culture of hip-hop.
Hip-hop groups such as Karmacy are trying to break preconceptions that Indians have to be “Indian” by bringing a new, unique perspective to hip-hop (see above lyrics). And they do. Karmacy’s approach is nothing but innovative. Their Indian heritage is the dominating influence, lending sounds from Bhangra and Hindi Pop. They combine traditional hip-hop beats with South Asian instruments and sounds, and use session musicians instead of samples. But the intermixing of different languages is by far the most exciting aspect of Karmacy’s sound.
Karmacy is a breakthrough fusion hip-hop group comprised of KB, Nimo, Sway and Sammy Chand. They all began as individual artists in the independent hip-hop scene and came together to form Rukus Avenue– an independent record label that gives South Asians a place to showcase their talent. All four members are incredibly talented, well educated and entrepreneurs. Sammy Chand is a respected producer and composer who has written scores for many popular Indian American movies. Nimo writes comics for the popular website Badmash.tv. Karmacy’s music has been featured on many film soundtracks and its video for “Blood Brothers” was the first video to be aired during the launch of MTV Desi. Now lets get to the music…
“Blood Brothers” tells the story of two brothers – one who can’t wait to leave India for the US and one who stays in India to care for their parents. The verses are conversational, switching seamlessly between English and Gujarathi. The song speaks of the struggles, opportunities and consequences immigrants face in coming to America. And it has subtitles.
Next up is “Horizons”, a song that flawlessly blends FIVE languages – English, Spanish, Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi. I’ll let Nimo explain the song in his own words:
And now, “Horizons”:
I’m going to finish this up with the title track (free mp3!) from Rukus Avenue’s first release – Passage To India – the album that got it all started.
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ANOTHER BONUS: For all you animal lovers, Karmacy partnered with PETA to create an animated music video – promoting the ethical treatment of animals. Check it out here.
To round out this week’s focus on Dr. Osumare’s book, we’ve got our first ever interview featuring none other than the good Doctor. If you are truly interested in the global aspect of hip-hop, pick up her book. It’s a great read and one of the only texts out there that covers the global spread of hip-hop from an academic perspective. Enjoy!
Our friendly hip-hoppers to the North! Perhaps it’s a bit soon to feature North American artists– shoot, we haven’t left the Americas at all yet. However, there are two acts in particular that I want to draw your attention to this week before we really get MAD FOREIGN up in this place. Enjoy some English emceeing while you can.
First up is Nomadic Massive. This is as international as international hip-hop gets. The group, though Montreal based, consists of members with Chilean, French, Haitian, Chinese, Iraqi, and Argentine backgrounds– so yep, the rhymes are multilingual. I’ve even heard of Nomadic Massive referred to as “The International Wu-Tang,” though for now I’m sticking to my stance that the Wu-Tang Clan is still the international Wu-Tang. Also, Nomadic Massive curses a lot less.
Nomadic Massive is among the positive consequences of globalization. While hip-hop culture has always been centered around representing one’s physical hood, the collective has chosen a more ethereal origin. In the Nomadic Massive, visions of universal understanding through hip-hop music make up the common ground on which its members stand (…and perform).
But enough praise for the mission. The music by itself is definitely worth checking out. The following two videos are from the track “Nofy’s Peace” and the Montreal Jazz Festival, respectively. Both give a pretty good introductory feel for the vibrations Nomadic Massive is trying to create.
