Alt-Soul singer Bez is notorious for a charismatic stage presence. Catch him in NYC this Thursday May 17 at 7pm @ The Apple Store in Soho. For more info go here. Peep his latest album Super Sunhere (don’t expect to leave the store without copping that shit on Itunes). Above, watch Bez’s “That Stupid Song,” which premiered on 106 & Park earlier this year.
Yoh! All of our favorite things combined to make this new video for “Till We Ghosts,” the first single off Petite Noir‘s upcoming EP. Petite Noir‘s Yannick Ilunga reps The Very Best on a T-shirt designed by Gold Coast Trading Co.(check out their Palm Wine design in the OKA store here) in the video directed by the Exorsistahs‘ Kyla Phil(peep their ghoulish”You Lie You Die”video here) – all good things in OKA’s world. Listen to more Petite Noir here, follow Yannick here, and show love on Facebook here.
South African genre-defying duo Dirty Paraffin pay homage to the boss of weekdays, Friday, in their new video for “Papap! Papap!.” This bass-heavy electronic tune messes with raps about “misbehavin” and parades all the fresh looks in South Africa (young folks there are on some nother level). Dirty Paraffin are a visual/performance art outfit that hail from Durban, but “crossed paths in eGoli, the capital of Africa” (haha AKA Johanesburg). Catch the video interview they did with The Fader in 2010 here, and visit their dynamic tumblr here.
Camp Mulla is taking the Kenyan hip hop scene by storm. The group was founded by rappers Taio Tripper, Young Kass, Super-Producer K’Cous, and songstress Miss.Karun. The video for their latest track, ”Hold it Down,” was shot in Nairobi’s central business district and is a tribute to the bustling metropolis where they were all born and raised. “I do it for the 254″ SWAG.
“Echoes,” the latest track from the Cape Town pop trio Beatenberg plays like the soundtrack to a teenage soul-searching montage in a classic 90s flick – and we like it a lot. Matthew Field, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter says of Echoes: “The chorus is about wanting immortality, and about writing songs, and about putting one’s self into another person, or imagining doing so.” The sound of waves and birds at the beach were recorded in Plettenberg Bay, a popular holiday spot on the south-eastern coast of South Africa. 90s soundtrack music may be the newest movement out of Cape Town, just listen to Popskarr‘s synth-heavy “Fighter” (another OKA fav). Listen to other Beatenberg tunes and purchase their latest album Farm Photoshere.
After making a successful festival round, Restless City,a gorgeous depiction of West African immigrants living in New York City (trailer below), will finally debut in theaters. Movie-goers in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta can catch the film this Friday April, 27 before it premiers in Chicago, DC, Philly, Detroit, and Seattle on May, 4. Join Okayafrica for this long-awaited premier Friday in New York City at the AMC Empire 42nd Street Theater! buy tickets here.
Be sure to stick around for the dope after party taking place at Bamboo in the East Village. OKA fav Chief Boima, DJ Marco, DJ Sirak, and DJ Xpect‘s new PAN night brings the best “young, fresh, creative sounds coming out of the African diaspora at large.” Friday night is all about supporting the “African in New York” movement!
Illume Creative Studio is at it again. Last time they brought us Shad K, this time they caught up with Nigerian songstress, and OKA fav, Nneka when she came through Kigali, Rwanda in February 2012. Catch part 1 of “Illume Sessions: Nneka (In Her Own Words)” above, and part 2 below. Illume Creative Studio is an Afropolitan collective (self-proclaimed purveyors of awesome) “striving to be the change they want to see in Africa and the world.” We’re not mad at it.
DJ Chief Boima has been called one of the leading lights of the tropical bass movement. We’ve followed his good work for awhile now (everything from his Dutty Artz fam to his “beef” with Diplo) so it was high time we got the scoop on what inspires his selection, how he self-identifies, and how he believes Africans will reshape New York City. OKA TV caught up with Boima at the Spoek MathamboFather Creeper launch party where he rocked the decks for the Afro-futurist crowd. Boima’s African In New York EP is coppable now on Dutty Artz. For those headed to Coachella this weekend, catch Chief Boima spinning for the Okayafrica “Desert Gold” party at The Ace Hotel - full info here.
Video shot and edited by Chinisha Scott, sound by Greg Scott.
We caught Nigerian chanteuse Nneka at Cielo in NYC, where she performed an intimate acoustic set of standouts from Soul Is Heavy — grab the album at Decon. Nneka closed the show with a beautiful rendering of “My Home” (above). This is the last in a four-part Bare Soul series brought to you by Okayafrica and Decon. Below are her alluring versions of “Shining Star,” “Do You Love Me Now?,” and “Camouflage.”
As the disturbing images of a white woman – Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth - cutting into a cake in the shape of a grossly caricatured, African woman sped around the internets yesterday, cries of racism rang out. The National Association of Afro-Swedes, along with activists all over the world, demanded for Adelsohn-Liljeroth’s resignation. Generalized outrage ensued.
Meanwhile the Okayafrica offices were filled with heated conversations about media depictions of race, artistic intentionality, diplomatic responsibility, and Tupac’s hologram. Luckily, Africa Is A Country came through to break it all down for us. And we agree that the piece of performance art (see disturbing video above) could quite possibly be “a brilliant staging of structural racism and post-colonial existence.” (For their full, insightful analysis, check here.)
By this morningAl Jazeera posted extensive interviews with Makode Linde, the artist of the cake. It’s a wonder no one thought to interview him – and contextualize the piece – before the firestorm began. So much for not making assumptions based on appearance.
NYC: Bez Croons Solo In Soho
Alt-Soul singer Bez is notorious for a charismatic stage presence. Catch him in NYC this Thursday May 17 at 7pm @ The Apple Store in Soho. For more info go here. Peep his latest album Super Sun here (don’t expect to leave the store without copping that shit on Itunes). Above, watch Bez’s “That Stupid Song,” which premiered on 106 & Park earlier this year.