It seems hip-hop stars are recognizing the Black Star Shine of Ghana & broadening their perspectve in audience, how to make money in a struggling music industry & how to stay relevant in a hip-hop world that has gone global & is not turning back. Both Talib Kweli & Roc Nation’s own Memphis Bleek will touch down on the hot burning sun of Accra city to celebrate the 54th year of Independence with a nation of Black Stars Rising. Africa is open for Business & slowly but surely Black America, African nationals living abroad & the hip-hop nation are recognizing the relevance & money earning & making power of Africa.

“Talib Kweli  in the Asabaako Music Festival, 3-day party on the spectacular Busua Beach in the Western region. The New York rapper will join Wanlov the Kubolor, Yaa Pono and many more Ghanaian artists for festival, sponsored by Vodafone.“ READ MORE

“Rapper Memphis Bleek of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation will be in Ghana tomorrow to participate in Ghana’s Ghana at 54 Independence Weekend Bash. Bleek will perform this Saturday on March 5th, 2011 at Ghana’s Citizen Kofi. Anticipated hit songs he will perform include: Is that Your chick ft. Jay Z and Missy Elliot, Round Here ft. T.I and Like that ft. Swizz Beatz.” READ MORE

From films to music, African-Americans are returning to their African roots for new opportunities & collaborations. Ghanaian filmmakers & music producers like Sam Kessie & Eric “Coptic” Matlock are holding up the Black Star flag heavy in America & taking African-Americans back to their roots with their upcoming projects & collaborations. The entire world is taking heed to the fact that the UN has declared 2011:International Year for  Descendants of Africans by investing in Africa on many levels. African-Americans seem to be slower on the push to cover & invest in Africa, but it is only a matter of education which our media outlets need to do a much better job in facilitating. After nearly two years of trying to convince The Source Magazine to do a story about the rise of hip-hop in Ghana known as Hip-Life , they finally did a brief piece on their website  last week. You can’t claim to be the bible of Hip-Hop music, culture & politics when your view is limited to America & a few other international places every now & then, when the true movement of hip-hop has been global for close to a decade now.

I will never forget how a major international network like CNN did a tremendous amount of play by play coverage showcasing the people, the nation, the cuisine, the history & foundation of Ghana when the first Black president of the United States chose as his first diplomatic mission in Africa as President, to visit Ghana, the historically credited first African nation south of the Sahara to gain Independence & the greatest hub of  the slave trade & African-American roots history; while BET barely gave much coverage. We must emancipate ourselves from the fear & mental slavery that keeps African-Americans away from Africa because non but ourselves can free our minds.

If you step on the streets of Accra you will see murals of Biggie, 2pac, Jay Z etc., but ask any African-American hip-hop lover if they know about Reggie Rockstone, who is affectionately known as the granpapa -founder of Ghana’s modern day hip-hop movement known as hip-life; yet he has made songs with artists like Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean, Beenie Man & many more that are known worldwide. Many more have never heard of Geydu Blay Ambolley ,who popularized hip-hop style of music in Ghana in the 70’s before it was recognized & named hip-hop in America. He is currently challenging the Guinness book of world records to recognize his contribution to hip-hop & to get the facts right accordingly. This is the year of African descendants & we must collectively work together from Africa to the Diaspora to show our global greatness & forward movement by utilizing the wind of change in Africa that brought about the Pan-African blueprint set by great leaders like W.E.B Dubois, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Patrice Lumumba, Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, Macolm X & so many other historical greats.

“Africa’s future is up to Africans,” U.S. President Barack Obama said when he addressed Ghana’s parliament in July 2009. “The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. And in my country, African Americans — including so many recent immigrants — have thrived in every sector of society. We’ve done so despite a difficult past, and we’ve drawn strength from our African heritage.” As Obama spoke, I couldn’t help thinking how fitting it was for the first black president of America to have chosen Ghana as the destination of his first official visit to Africa. It was a wonderful tribute to a long-standing and important relationship that has defined our mutual destinies…” READ MORE

BREAKING NEWS: THIS JUST IN:
“The Asabaako Music Festival will go on as initially planned without an appearance by US hiphop star, Talib Kweli following difficulties in bringing the rapper to Ghana, as recently advertised. For many fans of the rapper, they first heard the sad news when Talib Kweli tweeted that he was disappointed to announce that he wouldn’t be able to perform in Ghana...” READ MORE

As the holidays come around, many of us can only reminisce of home while many others get the blessing of going home. As they say “home is where the heart is”, but for many home is also where the hurt is because where the heart resides there’s often hurt as well as joy.  The power of home is felt in all of us because home is a word that evokes so much emotion in each & every one of us be it good or bad. There are so many songs about home & what that word means to each one of us individually & collectively. I am happy & blessed to call many places home, but I also know that many have no place to call home. As we have global debates on immigration, wars, politics & all that divides us as people, family & nations, let us all think of the soldiers who didn’t make it home, the immigrants who gave up everything for an opportunity for a better life elsewhere in sacrifice of home & family, and all the multidimensional human beings with multidimensional stories who are away from the comfort of home for whatever reasons, as we head home to wherever that maybe to indulge in the season’s greetings.

Technology has created  a direct passage to home for many of us who find ourselves far away from home, but nothing will ever take the place of the human touch of home! Many of us have abandoned home or forgot how to cherish, nurture  & take care of home. Home is that solid foundation that we all need to be complete. As much as I love travel & the modern gypys global fusion lifestyle, there is nothing better than laying roots, heart & head at home! For me Africa & Ghana in particular will always be the direction I head when I look to go homeward bound no matter where I am because home comes with the love, cuisine, language & culture that is carried with us even when we are far away from home. Home is found in every city & every ghetto, every town  & village…Home is found in the beautiful struggle of Talib Kweli’s Ghetto show because …”whatever is in your heart is where you ought to be..” What does HOME mean to you & what is your ultimate song of HOME?

As long as Hi-Tek & Talib Kweli are still making music hip-hop will never be dead. One of the best teams in the game for Real! Hi-Teknology is a slept on album-this track is FIRRRREEE!

“ I came home late, you were not there..I didn’t care, I think we..Both know, it’s overrrr..We need to let it gooo..I can’t believe we at a point where we don’t like each other’s..company when you’re not around the burden’s off my shoulders..We tried, but it won’t get revived..And I’ve got too much life to live, I gave all I can give..Meanwhile… I, wait (I wait) you, wait..Who will be FIRST, to say let – me – go..”

Who says Hip-Hop is dead? Hip-hop is alive  in its truest, purest form telling the real stories, true stories – standing strong as the voice of  a global urban community. The strength of hip-hop is being felt worldwide, from small villages & raucous cities in Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America & yes still stronger than ever in the USA. Whether it’s Blitz the Ambassador channeling the survival strength of his independent Black Star nation homeland thru his New York state of mind by making us feel so alive with words that give us something to believe in or M.I.A silently & unapologetically forcing the world to face its ugly truths thru raw visuals that condemn & show the dangers & destruction of those in power & a world that participates in the targeting & genocide of specific minority groups. Whether it is Tego Calderon & Daddy Yankee single handedly putting the picante back in the rhythmic salsa of the Latino revival in hip-hop, Nneka calling on Africans to wake up as she brings a new Africa to the world, or Nas & Damian Junior Gong Marley returning to Africa thru the Trans-Atlantic passage way of their mutual ancestry to find themselves thru their distant relatives by bringing awareness thru the rhythms & sounds of storytelling past down to them thru their ancestors-HIP-HOP IS GLOBAL & IS ALIVE & WELL. As Blitz says “This is just the calm before the storm”!

Instead of complaining & allowing pay for play  radio, record label executives & modern day minstrels to determine who & what hip-hop is -let’s take back the mic, search & support the type of hip-hop artists & music that you say you miss because they are out there-GLOBALLY taking it to the next level! “Show these corny muthaf*ckers what hip-hop is supposed to sound like” because “ur simple words just don’t move me..Ur minor we major” . Hip-Hop in its best form will always be “Classic..better than I’ve ever been.. TIMELESS so age don’t count in the booth when ur flow stay submerged in the fountain of youth..Don’t be blinded.. I got no jewels on my neck.. why? I don’t need them.. I got ur respect.. this is hip-hop & we’s a  nation.. instead of broadcasting how we smoke them trees on the radio we need to hear more local MC’s.. where u at.. come on where u at.. this is the difference between MC’ing & rap.. (rappers) spit rhymes that are mostly illegal, MC’s spit rhymes to uplift their people..peace love & unity & having fun these are the lyrics of KRS One.. Classic.. I am everywhere u never been & better than I’ve ever been” ! All praises “to the hip the hop.. u don’t stop..Real Hip-HOP“!

Here are just a few global MC’s who give us all SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN!

THE WORLD IS READY !

Hip-hop is not dead-photo credit source

The cultural divide between Africa & her Diasporan counterparts seems to be growing wider in America even with the first Black president of the U.SA. being of direct African parentage. The New York Times recently did an article on Africans in the Bronx who have steadily been on the receiving end of victimization & divisionist stereotypes from their American counterparts. I grew up in the battle between the two communities as a first generation American of Ghanaian parentage, but I didn’t realize that decades since my youth that this divide would be as strong as ever. I have heard Africans say “well Obama is part African that’s why he was able to have the type of drive & achievements to become president whereas someone like Jesse Jackson could not accomplish that because he does not have they same drive, intelligence & work ethic as an African”. I have heard African-Americans say that Africans think they are better than them & many other divisionist & hateful things from both sides instead of us realizing that we are all in this together.

When CNN does the next series of “Black In America” or better yet when BET decides to be truly a hub for the voices of all of its people, they should take a look at this divide & bring it out in the open, so we can move forward knowing that we are one people of African decent, who’s history started at the same side of the Atlantic ocean before we were divided & conquered. We need to be honest in our stereotypes & where they came from & even more honest & genuine about wanting to bridge the gap/ocean that has divided us for centuries. It seems a young man from South Africa brought the dialogue wide open on you tube when he asked should African-Americans call themselves African-Americans? This subject truly hit home for many Africans & African-Americans/Black Americans judging from the countless video responses.

Take a look at the stories below & remember to set your mind free!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/nyregion/20africans.html