Orishas, like the Nomadic Massive, is a truly international group—not just “international” to us nationals here in the States. Composed of four musicians from Havana, Orishas was born in Paris and the group now lives in Spain (alongside a large portion of their fans). With an album secured tightly under each of their respective belts [...]

“The US and Cuba: geographically close, politically distant, but musically connected.” Hip-hop is now an established part of Cuban culture. With highly outspoken, political lyrics, Cuban hip-hop artists are pushing the envelope in a socialist society. While making strides in the battle against censorship, they are still facing crushing limitations – including the lack of [...]

Our next featured femme de France is not exactly unknown. Diam’s, or Diamant, is more than just a popular French rapper – she was France’s best selling artist, period, in 2006. This makes for a bizarrely diverse fanbase; at her concerts you can find preteen pop fans mouthing her political lyrics, regular hip-hop heads nodding [...]

One of the largest hip-hop scenes outside of the U.S., France has been doing it’s damn thang since the early 80’s when the New York City Rap Tour brought Afrika Bambatta, Grandmaster DST, and Fab 5 Freddy across the Atlantic for some break beats and freedom fries. Now, in 2007, names like MC Solaar can [...]