Browse by Label: OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)

Artist:	ALIF
Title:	Dakamerap
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 001CD

The trio Alif (Attack Liberate of the Infantry Feministe), who emerged in 1997, were the first all-female rap group in Senegal. The release of Alif's first cassette Viktim caused a big stir in a country where traditional values prevailed. Hip-hop has had its place in the Senegalese music scene for well over 10 years now and it has evolved into its own blend of infectious music. Just like most rappers from Dakar/Senegal, Alif see themselves as the voice of their generation. They are the Dakamerap: the camera that documents everything happening in Dakar 24 hours a day. They rap about overloaded minibusses without functioning breaks, about low servant wages and other forms of oppression. After the 2000 elections, in which president Abdou Diouf was finally voted out of office, hip-hop became even more of tool of influence with Senegalese youth. Musically, Dakamerap goes full circle, reconnecting hip-hop with its roots in Africa. Songs like "Dakamerap," "Taspe," "Joolaa" and "Bataxal" combine traditional sabar-rhythms and the music of the griots with a contemporary blend of African hip-hop.

Artist:	X PLASTAZ
Title:	Maasai Hip Hop
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 002CD

Only a little music has found its way out of East Africa in the past years. Almost unnoticed from the rest of the world a new generation of musicians has created its own style. Their mix of hip hop with local melodies and Swahili lyrics, sometimes called Bongo Flava, has quickly become East Africa's number one selling pop music, rocking the airwaves through newly formed private radio stations in and around Tanzania. X Plastaz and their album Maasai Hip Hop set out to introduce their version of this new Tanzanian sound to the rest of the world. X Plastaz have taken the Bronx-invented hip-hop culture into their homes in Arusha ("A-Town"), a city in northern Tanzania. They have created a unique style that brings together local Maasai a cappella chants with rapping in Swahili and Haya languages. Although the Maasai people have become an internationally known symbol of rural lifestyle, in Tanzania they are often seen as backward and not fitting into modern urban society. X Plastaz proved that Tanzania's cultural heritage can be meaningful beyond the village level.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap From Tanzania
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 003CD

Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap from Tanzania is a 70- minute ride through the streets of Dar es Salaam. It's a look at what youth in present urban East Africa think and dream about. Bongo Flava is the name of a certain type of hip-hop-influenced music which -- unnoticed by the rest of the world -- has become the best selling pop music in East Africa today. It's a music of the post-socialism era channeled by a wave of new private radio stations. The name "bongo flava" comes from the Kiswahili word for brains: ubongo. Bongo is the nickname of Dar es Salaam, and means that you need brains to survive there. Tanzanian youth started rapping in the 1980s fascinated by U.S. hip-hop. They soon developed their own way of doing it and today the music has become a style characterized by the use of local melodies, beats, topics and their own language, Kiswahili. This compilation presents the hits by some of the most important Bongo Flava artists.

Artist:	VA
Title:	African Rebel Music - Roots Reggae & Dancehall
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 004CD

Internationally the African continent has so far only seen the success of two reggae artists: Alpha Blondy and Lucky Dube. A new generation has long followed! African Rebel Music - Roots Reggae & Dancehall gives an insight into this new African reggae and dancehall vibe. Ivory Coast has a strong reggae tradition dating back to the days of Alpha Blondy. The country is represented here by Tiken Jah Fakoly with a track from his new album Coup de Guele. Senegal is more of a hiphop country, only recently has there been a real reggae dancehall movement coming up with people like Baay Sooley (PBS) or Dread Maxim, Senegal's roots reggae artist No 1. Neighbouring Gambia is nicknamed Africa's 2nd Jamaica. Rebellion the Recaller is probably the biggest Reggae artist on the scene now. In Mauritania the country north of Senegal and Gambia a hiphop reggae youth scene has only just emerged recently. The scene is represented here by the 994 Crew a kind of allstar group from Nouakchott. Ethiopia is represented with the song 'Shashamane On My Mind'. A song from roots reggae singer Sydney Salmon who repatriated to Shashamane, an area in the south of Addis Ababa, given to the blacks from the Diaspora by the former Emperor Haile Selassie I. Post-apartheid South Africa has seen the rise of house-based kwaito from the townships of Johannesburg. Recently some reggae dancehall artists like Teba from the townships of Capetown are beginning to get some attention. Leo Muntu is a well known singer from Zambia, doing a mix of hiphop, reggae, r'n'b and the newest trend kwaito, which is now spreading throughout southern Africa. East Africa contributes 5 tracks: Dully Sykes from Tanzania is part of the bongo flava scene most popular at the moment in Tanzania. Uganda is crazy about ragga and dancehall. Just listen to superstar Peter Miles, Bebe Cool(EARBC) and newcomer Small Axe. Kenya is represented here by one of the countries most famous groups: Necessary Noize. Ghana is famous for it's urban music culture hiplife (a mix of highlife and hiphop). Batman is one of the top-selling artists of the country mixing in ragga the newest trend coming from Accra. From Nigeria comes one of Lagos' latest sensations: a duo called the Danfo Drivers with a track praising Sensimilla obviously sung on a reggae beat. So get down, check them out, link up with them, enjoy and get into the vibe.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Lagos Stori Plenti - Urban Sounds From Nigeria
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 005CD

Lagos Stori Plenti is the first internationally-released compilation that presents the new sound from Nigeria. Straight from the largest country in Africa, this release taps into the lyrical and musical expressions of a young generation that grew up on hip-hop, reggae and dancehall in one of the craziest cities in the world. It is about guys like Eedris Abdulkareem from Kano coming to Lagos with nothing in his pocket but a dream to make it as a musician, who would later tour Nigeria with 50 Cent. There is Ruggedman who took hip-hop to a new level by dissing many of the fake American-sounding rap star wannabes. JJC from London experiments with fusing traditional instruments into his productions. Cologne-based Bantu mixes fuji and Afrobeat on his award-winning album Fuji Satisfaction and created a style that blends Lagos sensibilities with the European sound. Afrobeat is heartily represented by Dede Mabiaku, who used to open shows for Fela Kuti and releases his first track internationally here. The most vibrant music comes from Lagos' neglected ghetto, Ajegunle (AJ). "Nigeria's Kingston" as some call it, lives on reggae/dancehall with its own style of pidgin and hilarious dancing. AJ is represented here by Nutty & Wharfy and African China from neighboring Orile whose song "Mr President" is huge in Lagos at the moment. Then there are the guys who rap in English: Modenine with "419 State Of Mind Pt. 2" takes up the topic of 419, the legal term for "advance fee fraud," and Terry Tha Rapman, with his politically-charged spoof on Eminem, on "I Am A Nigerian." There are also songs about love and loss, for example, Six Foot +'s song "Anwuli," with the chorus: "Anwuli, she chop (eat) my money and go." Lagos Stori Plenti represents a fresh mix of hip-hop, reggae, salsa and dancehall that truly represents the sound of youth, as they struggle to preserve their completely unique Nigerian sound while still reflecting their diverse musical influences.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Urban Africa Club
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	OH 006CD

The last ten years have seen a new generation of young stars taking over Africa's music scene. New styles like bongo flava in East Africa, hiplife in Ghana and kwaito in South Africa rule the charts. The stars sell hundreds of CDs, and their music is on heavy rotation in the local radios, bars, clubs and minibusses. Although in high demand locally, the news of this exciting club music from the motherland of black music is only beginning to spread internationally. Urban Africa Club introduces some of Africa's greatest stars and scenes on the continent. West Africa is represented by V.I.P. from Accra, the unchallenged superstars of Ghana's hiplife scene. From Gabon, a distinctive melodic type of hip-hop is represented by Lord Ekomy Ndong with his track, "Exile." Senegal's hip-hop scene probably has the most in common with hip-hop throughout the rest of the world, and this compilation features a new track by one of the pioneers of hip-hop in Africa, Awadi, the founder of Senegalese supergroup Positive Black Soul, who released the first international African hip-hop album ever. The African diaspora with its often very conscious lyrics is represented here by K'naan, a hip-hop artist born in Mogadishu (Somalia) and now based in Canada. East Africa offers up the dancehall of Kampala (Uganda), and one of the stars is Peter Miles. Neighboring Dar es Salaam has developed its own hip-hop blend called bongo flava, featured here with a track by Professor Jay that dominated the airwaves in East Africa in 2005, and Mangwea with another all-time bongo flava hit. The two supergroups of Kenya are Necessary Noize, a duo made up of Wyre and East Africa's Nazizi and Gidigidi Majimaji, featured here with a kwaito-flavored club track. Finally, one of the most influential regions and styles in Africa at the moment, South Africa and kwaito, is represented by Zola and his rough lyrics from the townships of Jo'burg. His TV show Zola 7 is watched by 5 million people each week, and has since spread kwaito fever far into Southern and East Africa. Listen up and get into the vibe Africa is ready to represent.

Artist:	KOUYATE & NGONI BA, BASSEKOU
Title:	Segu Blue
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	OH 007CD

Segu Blue introduces the first solo album from Malinese ngoni player, Bassekou Kouyate. Ngoni is the Bambara name for an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa that is plucked with the thumb, much like a 5-stringed banjo. Bassekou was born in a village called Garana about 60 kilometers from Segu, in the remote countryside on the banks of the Niger River. He was raised in a traditional musical environment, his mother a praise singer and his father and brothers exceptional ngoni players. He moved to Bamako when he was 19 years old where he met the young Toumani Diabate. By the late 1980s, Bassekou was part of Toumani's trio and they recorded their first albums together, Songhai and Djelika. Bassekou has collaborated with many musicians in and outside of Mali. He played in the Symmetric trio with Toumani Diabate on kora and Keletigui Diabate on balafon. He was part of the Kulanjan project recorded with Taj Mahal. He is one of the key musicians on Ali Farka Toure's posthumous album Savane which was released July 2006. Now he has put together his own band: Ngoni Ba; the big ngoni: Mali's first ngoni quartet. The ngoni is one of Africa's still-undiscovered secrets: it is the key instrument for Griot culture. Unlike the kora, whose history goes back only a few hundred years, the ngoni has been the main instrument in Griot storytelling way back into the days of Sundiata Keita. The repertoire Bassekou plays is from the region of Segu, the heart of Bambara culture. Unlike mandenka griot music, Bambara music is pentatonic in nature -- music as close to the blues as you can get in Africa. Segu Blue features artists Kassemady Diabate, Lobi Traore, Lassana Diabate and singer Zoumana Tereta. By the way, there is no kora or djembe on the album. Taj Mahal describes Bassekou as "a genius, a living proof that the blues comes from the region of Segu."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Black Stars: Ghana's Hiplife Generation
Label:	OUT HERE RECORDS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	OH 008CD

Black Stars: Ghana's Hiplife Generation, compiled by Out Here Records' Georg Milz (also of the Munich-based Daladala Soundz), presents some of the most popular Hiplife artists from Ghana to the rest of the world. The title of this compilation tips its hat to Jamaican black activist Marcus Garvey, who founded the Black Star Line, a shipping company that brought African-Americans back to Africa, and the black star on Ghana's national flag. However, in 2008, a new crop of stars rose when Ghana's youth stopped dancing to Highlife, and switched to Hiplife -- the local mix of hip-hop, highlife, reggae and dancehall. Hiplife gained prominence about 10 years ago with Reggie Rockstone, known as the "Godfather of Hiplife" and the first to rap in Twi, the most common language in Ghana. Hiplife is everywhere in Ghana now; it has developed into one of the most popular music styles in the country and has broadened into several sub-genres. Tic Tac is a true hiplife veteran and the success of "Kangaroo" (featuring Nigerian superstar D'banj and Batman Samini) also made him a pan-African popstar, with its mix of hiplife and ragga, known as Raglife (a style that was pioneered by Terry Bonchaka, who also appears on this compilation). One of the most well-known hiplife crews is V.I.P. who sings in Ga, a language spoken in the region around Accra. Their song has become one of the most popular hiplife tunes in West Africa. One of Ghana's biggest-selling artists is Ofori Amponsah, whose high-pitched voice can be heard coming out of every club in Ghana. His style is often described as modern highlife, since he rarely features rappers on his tracks. King Ayisoba has also won over Ghanaian audiences with his two-stringed kolgo (an ancestor of the guitar) and his hilarious broken English. Other artists include Sheriff Ghale, a roots reggae artist, Afroganic, an ambitious project by producer Kwame Acheampong who has created a 100% acoustic African club sound, Ghana's underground hip-hop heads QDL and Kwaku-T, and of course, founding father Reggie Rockstone. This collection showcases the unique Ghanaian sound, with detailed liner notes that place the music in social and historical context. International recognition of hiplife is long overdue. Also featuring Kontihene, Kwabena Kwabena, Amingo, Tony Harmony, Triple M, FBS Crew, Tinny, Barosky & Kofi Nti, Mailaika, Pidgen Allstars and Nkasei.

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