whatchusay.com

By Kwan Booth

Hip Hop Colony, the new film by Director Michael Wanguhu and Russell Kenya, explores the emergence of Kenyan Hip Hop culture and it's struggles to gain legitimacy. The film screened recently at the Oakland International Film Festival and the Post talked to director about his inspiration, Kenya's current music scene, and Hip Hop's ability to break down boundaries.

What spurred you to make this film and what's your relationship to the Hip Hop community?
I've always been intrigued by African Hip hop since my first visit to Kenya in 1999 after about three years away. When I left home/Kenya, there was no such thing as "Kenyan Hip Hop" and in only three or so years away, it was a whole new world out there. I was about to finish film school and that's when it hit me. I wanted to tell our own story, to tell a story that celebrated our own people. However the main inspiration came from watching 8mile. In the film, Eminem plays an aspiring rapper struggling to find the strength and courage to transcend boundaries that define his life. In a way this applied to me and my business partner Russell Kenya. We simply wanted to break in the film and video industry with a captivating story. Another reason was that Africa is one way or another plagued with the impression of wars, jungles and hunger. This bothers me and I felt I had a chance to show Africa in a shinning new light to help the world see us from a different angle.

My visit back home in 1999 brought us to the realization that unlike any other American music such as Rock & Roll, R&B, Big Band, Blues, Jazz, etc, Hip-Hop is the only American musical genre to have a defined worldly culture and have an immense popularity in Africa. Hip Hop and Rap are the preferred music of today's African youth. In fact Hip Hop is doing what the African-American Civil Rights movement failed to do: bring Africans and African Americans together under the same flag.

Kenya's urban cities are just as developed as any western country. Our vision strongly tooled with these truths, we set to do a documentary to invite, entertain and educate the world about a new Africa. While trying to transcend previous notions that have created boundaries, defined and prevented investors from empowering Africa by opening business ventures. Let me give an example of how big Kenyan Hip Hop is. The film Constant Gardener, recently opened at the theater's in the States. The song "Forever" by Necessary Noise (Nazizi & Wyre featured in the film Hip Hop Colony) was featured in the soundtrack. That was a pay off for the efforts our local hip hop stars are doing. Previously when movies were done about Kenya, they'd feature mainly traditional folk songs, not that there's anything wrong with that but now times have changed. Hip Hop is an integral part of the musical canopy as Hollywood and others have also come into the realization.

Kenya gained it's independence from Britain in 1964, and now its being "colonized" by Hip Hop, originally a Black American Art form. How do young people navigate and define themselves as Kenyans in the face of these outside influences?
What makes hip hop very unsuspecting in terms of its influence, is its ability to integrate, it's chameleon-like quality. In Kenya it's camouflaged in Swahili, which gives it instant authenticity and acceptance. MC's rap in both English and Swahili and issues relate to the youth, more especially. So at any one time you'll find youth singing along without question the music's source of origin. Today the artists proudly refer to issues that Kenyan audiences can relate to. It's wonderful when a Kenyan artists can make smart rhymes that articulate and offer possible solutions to their situation as a result mastering the art of rapping, seeing their situation and articulating it with their own voice. Everyday day they strive to localize everything from abroad, because at the end of the day those international stars and celebrity influences couldn't care less about them anyway. 50 cent won't worry about going to Kenya to promote his album, so why should the locals care?

Describe the music scene in Kenya. Are there opportunities for the Hip Hop artists in particular and have they been welcomed into the industry?
I think it's the most vibrant scene in Africa, I mean being in Kenya is just one big party. Kenya is generally a peaceful country and like "Bamboo" says in the film, "It's a cultural melting pot. Cultures from all over come and meet."

In the 70's Nairobi, Kenya, became a popular crossroads for African musicians, who either made Kenya their home or a frequent stopover concert venue. Their influence on Kenyan music was considerable, and much of popular Kenyan music derives its central rhythms and guitar lines from Congolese pop. Even today Lingala and Congolese music is extremely popular throughout Kenya. We also have some influence from the coast using Swahili and Arabic styles, resulting in a unique Kenyan pop music, spearheaded by Them Mushrooms (featured in Hip Hop Colony). The 90's have seen a great deal more of Western influence, and the adoption of reggae, rap, rhythm and blues and swing into Kenyan music. Kenyan Rap has become increasingly popular among the youth, and there are several Kenya-based rap acts, most of them featured in Hip Hop Colony.

While the sounds of groups like Kalamashaka or Necessary Noize are virtually indistinguishable from US-based rappers, the lyrics are most definitely Kenyan and say a lot about life in modern Kenya.
Ragga/Reggae/dancehall has also become popular, with blends of Afro-reggae and rap. One of the better known Kenyan Ragga artist is Redsan, a male vocalist very popular in East Africa. As the current trend for fusion of world and western styles grows, many Kenyan artists are exploring this new realm of musical possibility.

What is Genge? How did it evolve and how does it differ from American Hip Hop and traditional Benga Music?
Genge music means music for the people. Genge in Swahili mean a large crowd of people. The music has a large following in Kenya so they call it Genge music. The artists combine Benga music (which is the original Kenyan sound from the 60's with influence from African Jazz with guitar work and a rumba rhythm of the Congolese pop which is every popular among the older folks) and mixes it with the hip hop beat and a lot of other local languages (Sheng, English, Kiswahili & dialects). So you find that as the industry grows more and more artists get involved, it's now beginning to shape up into something distinctive. Now in East Africa you can tell the difference between a Tanzanian rap artist from a Kenyan rap artist.

In Kenya, Hip Hop seems to have been embraced by the political community. How did this evolve and is it helping to legitimize the culture?
Kenya 's current President Mwai Kibaki, rode in part on a Hip Hop ticket. It's a unique marriage. Hip Hop helps the President win the elections by reaching out to the fans, the same hip hop turns around to rebuke the president and his government when they don't live up to their billing. What happened was the NARC (National Rainbow Coalition) officials approached Gidi Gidi Maji Maji and their producer, hit-maker Tedd Josiah, and paid them to use the song "UNBWOGABLE" (which means Unshakeable, Unbeatable, Unstoppable. They used it in their campaigns to help get their message out. The notion of "unbeatable " invincibility caught hold of the Kenyan general public and helped wipe out the previous corrupted regime.

One of the themes in the movie is the way that, similar to the US, Hip Hop is starting to provide jobs and ways for youth, many of them with college degrees but no job prospects, to make a living. Hip Hop is creating massive demands for graphic designers with every CD, every event there are attractive banners to be made. The artists have genuine fans who want to dress like them, hence opportunities are created for designers to dress the artists and their fans who admire them. Due to the popularity of the artists there's more demand for them and this in part also helps create opportunities for mobile DJ's to play live at these events.

Do youth in Kenya feel a connection to Black Americans?
Yes they do, more especially because of the color of their skin. Most of them wish for the same opportunities to make something significant out of their lives. The likes of Jay-z, Diddy, 50 Cent, Will Smith serve as inspiration due to their significant accomplishments.

Has there been any discussion over the Katrina Disaster?
Actually a lot of folks we've talked to out there say they don't understand Katrina and it's effects as a hurricane however the media has really focused on the black people that have been sidelined by it. All in all, everyone wishes the city and the affected areas a quick recovery.

What's next for the film?
To get the film out to every household in the States, Europe and the World at large. Hip Hop is a global culture; hence we intend to get it distributed globally.

What's next for Michael Wanguhu and Emerge Media Films?
There are a series of projects in the Pipeline stemming from Hip hop colony. We are developing a short film, finishing on our second narrative screenplay and in development on another documentary feature.

Kwan Booth is a contibutor to WhatChuSay.com and is an editor at the Oakland Post, Oakland's oldest African American newspaper.

By Ipeleng Kgositsile

Venue: The Leftist Lounge

This is why I love Oakland. Last Friday, went to pick up my girlfriend after work at one of our local watering holes, The Radio Bar, on the corner of 13th Street and Broadway. On our way out, found out from someone about a roving party called The Leftist Lounge (www.leftistlounge.com/westcoast/home.htm) at the Oakland Noodle Factory (http://oaklandnoodlefactory.org/) in West Oakland.

For those that don't know, The Oakland Noodle Factory is a warehouse space on the corner of 26th and Union in West Oakland. Last Friday, it was home to The Leftist Lounge---a party started two years ago in Boston---that was benefiting three grassroots political organizations in The Bay Area. The beneficiaries? The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (www.mxgm.org), Just Cause (www.just causeoakland.org), and Left Turn (www.leftturn.org).

The party was hot. It was like a house party in someone's basement during high school. Not enough circulating air. Sweat for days. I looked like Whitney Houston in what's the name of that video where she's wearing all white and sitting in a pool of her own sweat by the end of the song? It's from the early-to-mid-nineties. Annoying. Can't remember the name of the song. Anyways, I danced my ass off. So did the hundreds of people who were there shaking their groove things. They sweated. I sweated. The walls were sweating. They were decorated with posters of revolutionaries such as Angela and Che and Steve Biko. Alongside them, quotes from people like Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker and Harriet Tubman. At the end of the party, two teachers I know were taking some of the posters to decorate their classrooms in Oakland. Another friend also participated in some of the thievery. Just two days ago I found a poster of Edward Said (don't know who he is) rolled up in a circle underneath my couch on my living room floor.

During the party, I finally put a face to one of my next-door neighbors. He's one of those white boys who smokes hella pot and listens to hella Black Uhuru on Volume 11 at two and three in the morning. Adore him. He's in the biz. As in the restaurant biz, a cook. Mom's a baker at one of my favorite bakeries in the area. Arizmende Bakery. So glad that he didn't fit the stereotype that I had in mind---he's not a white boy with dreadlocks.

We met the white boy downstairs in a room dedicated to smoking. Cigarettes. It was adjacent to the bar, looked like it was once someone's laundry room. Maybe you had to be there. In spite of its grossness and insane wafts of smoke the room was cute.

Even cuter---when we entered the party the doorman (not quite twenty-five) asks to see my ID. Love when that happens. Really, I love when the jaw drops after seeing my DOB. When they ask how, I tell them grape juice, vodka and cigarettes.

They say that that's what's up is happening in such cities as New York and Los Angeles and Chicago. Don't know that that's true. When I woke up on Saturday one of my first phone calls was to one of my friends who is part of MXG. I wanted to know if he knew about The Leftist Lounge, if the kids are doing such parties in New York. They're not.

Thank you Oakland. The Leftist Lounge is one of those things that makes you say, Don't believe the hype! Oakland is what's up. You know what else is what's up? Quiet as it's kept, there are young people in this country who are on the frontlines when it comes to fighting for economic and social justice in Ms. America. Even quieter than it's kept a lot of those young people are black and brown. It felt so good to be in a room filled with black and brown people, my people, dancing their booties off to Dawn Penn, Rob Base, Show Biz and AG in the name of raising some money for MXG, Just Cause, and Left Turn.

Different beat, same song. Check out this month's Essence (www.essence.com), the one with Beyonce Knowles on the cover. There's a hot little spread on sisters doing activism in this country. God Bless all of them, all of those who are committed to the fight for freedom and equality in this country. One of the women featured is Monifa Akinwole-Bandele. She's a founding member of MXG. As it happens, her hubby is my friend who I spoke with on Saturday morning.

Long live MAB and LAB and Dawn Penn. Long live the fight. This one, of course, goes without saying---long live The Leftist Lounge. Check out their events at www.leftistlounge.com/westcoast/home.htm.

Ipeleng Kgositsile is living the good life in The Bay Area. You can check out her weekly musings on Tobacco Free Kisses (www.tobaccofreekisses.blogspot.com).