Audio: The Very Best ‘Yoshua Alikuti’ (Nadastrom Remix)

May 10, 2012 Leave a comment

Washington DC/LA’s Nadastrom — a joint DJ duo of moombahton architechts Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom — tackle The Very Best‘s new banger “Yoshua Alikuti”. The pair strip the original, placing Esau Mwamwaya‘s untouched vocal stems over an underwater, bass-bubbling beat. Download the remix for free below!

(H/T Fader)

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Video: Petite Noir ‘Till We Ghosts’

May 7, 2012 Leave a comment


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.

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‘African Version of Lil Wayne’s A Milli’

April 30, 2012 1 Comment

WorldStarHipHop, arguably the most visited rap video website in the US, recently featured The Very Best‘s new music video for “Yoshua Alikuti” (above), where it’s gotten over 60k views [edit: now 100k]. WSHH caught Johan and Esau‘s riff on the Weezy staple tune, titling their post “African Version of Lil Wayne’s A Milli!”

What’s of interest here though was the reaction to the music and the Nairobi-shot music video in the comment section. For a (at times) telling insight on the way a young, American mainstream hip-hop fan thinks of Africa read a few uncensored comments from the WSHH readers about the video. Warning explicit language.


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Video: The Very Best ‘Yoshua Alikuti’

April 25, 2012 Leave a comment

The Very Best do a Nairobi rendition of Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” video in the clip for their latest single “Yohua Alukuti”. Esau plays Weezy and Johan a stiff bodyguard as the duo deliver the realest version of a rap posse cut we’ve seen, with appearances by a goat (!), a beat-up station wagon, and Seye in the background. Watch it above, The Very Best’s new MTMTMK LP is due July 17 via Moshi Moshi. Video by Village Beat.

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Audio: DJ Juls’ The Very Best of M.anifest Mixtape

April 19, 2012 1 Comment


DJ Juls — the hands behind Jungle Book Beat Tape, Da Burst of FOKN Bois, and the best “Brkn Lngwjz” remix — delves into the back catalog of Accra’s jewel MC M.anifest for his latest mixtape. Selections include Immigrant Chronicles: Coming To America joints, Juls and M3nsa‘s “Suffer” remixes, and M.anifest’s recent collaboration with Damon Albarn-Tony Allen-Flea conglomerate Rocket Juice & The Moon. Listen and grab The Very Best of M.anifest below!

TRACKLIST
1. M.anifest-More Vim
2. A.R.M- Medicine Man
3. M.anifest-Sankofa
4. M.anifest-How I Used to Be
5. M.anifest-Motherland
6. M.anifest-My Lady Oh
7. M.anifest-Babylon Breakdown
8. M.anifest-Golly Gosh
9. M.anifest-Coming to America
10. M.anifest-Blues
11. M.anifest-She Lives
12. M.anifest, Kwabena Jones and Wanlov-Life Dey Jom
13. M.anifest-Suffer (Original)
14. M.anifest-Suffer (DJ Juls Remix)
15. M.anifest-Suffer (M3nsa Remix)
16. Rocket Juice and the Moon ft M.anifest and M3nsa-Chop Up
17. M.anifest ft Wanlov-Gentleman
18. M.anifest-Sunsum Praye
19. A.R.M.-Slow Your Roll
20. M.anifest-Love Thang

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Audio: The Very Best ‘Warm Heart of Africa (So Shifty Remix)’

March 2, 2012 1 Comment

The Very Best just spent some time in Kenya filming three new music videos for some long-awaited new tunes. Today, they’re giving away Hamburg DJ So Shifty‘s calypso electronic remix of the Vampire Weekend-featuring sunshine jam “Warm Heart of Africa” (which you might’ve heard if you’re a FIFA addict like some of us). Stream the remix below and download it for free over at their Facebook. Also, peep So Shifty’s solid Azonto mix.

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The Very Best Remix Swedish Pop

October 13, 2011 Leave a comment

The Very Best been bee-busy lately. Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit recently spent 5-weeks in Malawi, recording the new LP and playing the Lake of Stars festival. Soon as that was done, they hit us up with a “Super Mom (Remix)” featuring Congolose wordsmith Baloji. And now, a mere couple days later, they come at us with this remix of Swedish pop/electro group Den Svenska Björnstammen, one of their “favorite songs this year.” As most anything the duo touches, it jams. Listen to “Vart Jag Mig I Världen Vänder (The Very Best remix)” below.

Den Svenska Björnstammen – Vart Jag Mig I Världen Vänder (The Very Best remix) by The Very Best

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Audio: The Very Best ft. Baloji ‘Super Mom (Remix)’

October 11, 2011 1 Comment

Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit, aka The Very Best, spent the last five weeks in Malawi where they put the finishing touches on their upcoming full-length and played their only live show of 2011. To keep us tied over ’til the album drop, the boys sent this remix of their Super Mom mixtape title-track. The reworked tune features Kinshasa’s sorcerer of words Baloji, who spits au francais while Radioclit loops the trumpet/synth chorus of the original into a celebratory jolt.

The Very Best – Super Mom feat Baloji by The Very Best

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Video: Mo Laudi’s “The Slaves Meditation” Is Nu World Electro (Free DL)

August 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Mo Laudi is a progressive DJ/MC  hailing from South Africa, residing in the UK, who we first got hipped to through his work with The Very Best. His eclectic and engaging musical style has landed him gigs along side the likes of Roy Ayers, Diplo, Kid Cudi, and Fatboy Slim just to name a few. His new track “The Slaves Meditation” combines a driving bass line of African and Latin rhythms with a chorus influenced by ancient Haitian Voodoo ceremonies. Laudi refers to the track as “Nu World Electro” – appropriate given the mash up of old world X electro future + multiple cultural references.  Just what we love. Check out the video for the single, above, which features concert footage from the Sakifo Festival, set on the beach on a small tropical island in the Indian Ocean (note to self: GO THERE).  The video itself is a throw-back, using a psychedelic hipstamatic grainy-saturated effect that puts us back in the groovy 70′s, where we like to stay. Vid shot and directed by Mo Laudi and Hannah Newbery.  For more great music, check out Mo Laudi on bandcamp.  DOWNLOAD “The Slaves Meditation” too, for free!

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Audio: Johan From The Very Best 14:44 Mix ‘POPULAR BASS: An Ode To South Africa’

August 26, 2011 Leave a comment

One of our favorite new design teams on the scene is Gold Coast Trading helmed by our friend Emeka Alams.  For thier newest collection, part of the 14:44 series (read about the history and significance of 1444 here), Gold Coast presents “The Very Best” (past collections include a collabo with our people over at Dutty Artz for a collection inspired by “Soweto Youth 1976“). Along with the fresh threads, Gold Coast is offering up a fourteen minute and forty-four second long mixtape with each new collection.  The latest installment is a 14:44 mix POPULAR BASS: An Ode To South Africa, provided by Johan Hugo from The Very Best.  Listen and download the mix below, and then head to Gold Coast Trading to view their entire new collection.

Vol.2 | JOHAN HUGO of The Very Best – ‘An Ode To South Africa’ by POPULAR BASS

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