X Plastaz

X Plastaz at Sauti za Busara 2010

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:14:41 +0000

Bamba Nazar with Yamat & Steve from X Plastaz. Pic: BBC

On February 14, 2010, X Plastaz performed at Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar town, Tanzania together with Bamba Nazar and Fid Q, premiering their new song ‘Afrika’ (music video out soon!). The inclusion of Fid Q & XPS in Bamba’s show had not been announced and was a nice surprise to the 1000+ people that had gathered in the old fort on the final day of Busara which coincided with Valentine’s Day.

The performance was featured on the BBC website, see the photo. While in Zanzibar, Juma4 shot the final footage for the music video that will accompany the ‘Afrika’ single. The video is planned to drop in spring 2010.

The Busara performances were featured on the BBC website in a photo report (Feb 19), click here to see the other pics.

Maasai reggae

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:21:36 +0000

Coming soon: Maasai reggae. After X Plastaz introduced their own brand of hip hop, aptly titled ‘Maasai hip hop’ for its fusion of Maa vocals and hip hop beats, it’s time for the next step.

When X Plastaz member Yamat, born and bred (and currently still living) in the traditional environment of a Maasai boma, got introduced to the sounds of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, he immediately became a fan of reggae music. On tour in Gabon (West Africa) with Dutch dj Precise, a freestyle session over some reggae riddims led to the inception of a new style of music.

The first performance of the new song was captured on video. Watch Yamat rip the mic in the French Cultural Center in Libreville (Gabon) in front of the assembled VIP audience:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Judging from the crowd response, the new style hits home. A studio version of the track was recorded earlier this year and is now being mixed for release before the end of 2009!

Gsan in BET Cypher 2009

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:26:43 +0000

In September 2009, Gsan traveled to Brooklyn, New York to participate in this year’s BET Cypher, the annual gathering of America’s top hip hop emcees. He was joined by dj Premier, KRS One, Wale and Nipsey Hussle. The Cypher was first broadcast on October 27th on BET. Watch the video here!

Photo: G-san with dj Premier and KRS One after the cypher in Brooklyn, New York

The annual BET Hip Hop Awards are watched by millions of hip hop fans across the United States. Especially the part of the show in which Gsan participated, titled the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, was highly anticipated as it’s a true gathering of giants in rap music. The cypher, in which the artists go back to the raw essence of hip hop, sees legendary dj/producer Premier team up with emcees such as Mos Def, Black Thought, Eminem and Joe Budden. The section in which BET pays tribute to the growing popularity of hip hop from East Africa by including Gsan has the Arusha-born rapper performing alongside veteran rapper KRS One along with newcomers Wale and Nipsey Hussle.

The inclusion of X Plastaz in this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards came about when BET contacted X Plastaz, after seeing their music video ‘Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki’ on the Youtube website. ‘Nini dhambi’ which has drawn over 400.000 views is one of the most popular East African music videos on the web. Gsan flew out to Brooklyn, New York where the cypher was pre-recorded in an empty factory building. His contribution was a rap in Swahili over an old school loop, cut up by dj Premier. While Swahili language hip hop was something new for the other artists, KRS One and Premier were full of love for the African input into this year’s cypher.

Watch it: BET cypher 2 with KRS One, Wale, Nipsey Hussle and Gsan:

Click here to view the embedded video.

After recording the cypher, Gsan attended the Awards ceremony which took place in Atlanta on October 10 and was finally broadcast on the 27th.

Says Gsan in an interview with Emcee Africa presenter Lee Kasumba: “Well, the Cypher segment was recorded in New York before the actual award ceremony. For me, it was just amazing to be there with people like Eminem, KRS One, DJ Premier playing the beats, and being able to showcase what I had. Many people were blown away with what I did and asked me why I rhymed in Swahili ‘cause they wanted to understand. I was just like ‘English is not my first language, I speak it, I love it but you will be able to mess me up if I rhyme in English’. There were emcees from all over the world in one setting, and I was happy to represent for Africa. I wasn’t starstruck, just glad to showcase what I did and could do with my American counterparts. I mean, think of it, we really have the same names, just one word changes, African American and African, do you understand what that means?”

Official BET Hip Hop Awards website: http://www.bet.com/specials/hiphopawards09

Threesixty & Redman

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:56:12 +0000

In anticipation of his new album ‘Reggie Noble 09 1/2′, Def Jam recording artist Redman is dropping the first single titled ‘Coc back’. Production for the song was done by Threesixty, also known as X Plastaz’ dj.
Threesixty previously produced a couple of X Plastaz tracks, including the popular ‘Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki’. At present the single hasn’t yet seen an official release; it was leaked to the web around October 15, the day Redman was recording a music video for the song.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

New music video: Furaha

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:07:48 +0000

A couple of artists who have distinguished themselves from the generic Bongo flava-sound in Tanzania have joined up for a new single and video. ‘Furaha’ by Arusha-based group X Plastaz and Dar es Salaam’s finest, solo rapper Fid Q, was launched in May on Channel 5 (East Africa TV) and this week across other stations and the web.

X Plastaz had not recorded new material after the death of group member Faza Nelly in 2006, while Fid Q has released a couple of very succesful singles in the past months. The beat is by dj 360, X Plastaz’ tour dj and producer who has also produced for the likes of Redman, Outsidaz and Freestyle Fellowship as well as Senegalese artists Wa BMG 44.

Watch the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The music video to ‘Furaha’, which raises the quality bar of hip hop videos in Tanzania, was made by Kilimanjaro Film Institute (KFI). KFI is a training institute based in Arusha which educates youth from disadvantaged backgrounds in different disciplines of filmmaking, in order to help them gain the necessary skills to find employment. The Furaha video, for which they received guidance from two Dutch film students, was a pilot project in which they were introduced to the specific discipline of making music videos.

The music recordings were done in Fid Q’s studio in Dar, and coordinated by African Hip Hop Tanzania, a new local offspring of the African Hip Hop Foundation. More about African Hip Hop TZ soon…

Check out the ‘Making of’…

Click here to view the embedded video.