Eddie Koko is illegal

I read recently that the legendary African freedon fighter Thomas Sankara was also an amazing guitarist. I really wanted it to be true, but probably this is an urban legend. Imagine that one of the most lucid minds of the African struggle against colonialism played like Doctor Nico in his spare time. Sadly, I could not find any information (no mention in any discography, label catalog, nothing). It is also true that there is very little about the recent music of Burkina Faso. But I did make a cool discovery...

This couple of great songs come from a youtube channel owned by a Nigerian (???) artist named Eddie Koko. His songs are often about African politics and history. Eddie is a gifted story teller as we love it here in this city.

If you do not know Sankara this is certainly a great place to begin with:

Joda, Malandreo y Lacreo (dos) - Hip hop and Hokum hop from Venezuela

Here comes the second episode in our series focusing on Venezuelan hip hop curated by Ernesto Gonzalez aka Bear Bones Lay Low. More to come. Stay tuned.

Apache is a great lyricist and has been in the game for a long time. Here you see him walking around his barrio (hood) spitting about how fucked up our country is in 2010.

Ardilla was a well known underground MC around Caracas and he used to have feuds with Rekeson from GCK. He was killed not so long ago during a shoot out with the cops, I think.



Pure thug shit from Caracas. I like Yastrenky's rawness and low budget videos. Check out his 7 minute mini-movie he did for his song "Malandreo en Pobreza".



Joda, Malandreo y Lacreo (uno) - Hip hop and hokum hop from Venezuela

Presented by the telonero Ernesto Gonzalez (Bear Bones Lay Low):

Venezuela has several hip hop communities spread out throughout the whole country, the most documented being the one in Caracas. Here are 10 songs (+ a bonus video) {presented in three episodes, a true Music City Summer saga!} that I dig and that could appeal to the slums and suburbs of the Music City. Take out some brown rum, pour it in a cup with a lot of ice, top it off with some coke and lemon and chill out like we do in Venezuela.

I remember my big sister Dalia once brought this tape home when I was in 4th grade and we started dancing to this in our living room. Our dad stopped the whole thing as soon as he heard the lyrics "Vine a matar, vine vine a cantar" (I came to kill, I came to sing). I felt so ashamed that I ran to my room and decided never to listen to gangsta shit ever again...

One of the sleaziest hit groups during the 90's in Venezuela, with lyrics like "women want chorizo" and "Gonna fill your cube with milk". We have dirty minds in Venezuela. I never dug these guys back in the days. Too filthy.

This is the first venezuelan hip hop group I got into when I moved to Belgium around 2003/4. They're probably one of the most well-known hip hop artists in the country and this is one of my favorite tracks by them. GCK broke up not long ago over some bullshit and there are several videos and diss tracks on the internet covering the subject.

1/2 of GCK, this is by far my favorite track by this dude. The lyrics are about how corrupt cops are in Venezuela, saying that they are basically malandros (thugs) in uniform. True talk over achill beat.

Jesui Yumbo "El internacional" and the missing peoples

This is the second series of Amazonian Kichwa music from Ecuador. As the great master Mishki Chuyumbo, his nephew Jesui Yumbo comes from Archidona in the Napo province and is gifted with an undeniable songwriting talent for catchy and dreamy songs that justify his nickname “El Internacional”. You may recognize Jesui Yumbo's songs as the unparalleled dancefloor hits of Dj Bonzai Tarzan's sets. They also feature in his therapeutic effort “Remède Radical” released by Music City last year.

Grab this and dance!

Cantaautor y Compositor Jesui Yumbo

Tracklist:

Antisuyu

 Wivaskuna

Killi Ñusta

Fonakin Ñusta

Jandia Ñusta

Jatun Raimi

 Maria Soledad

Antisuyu Mama

Pawshiyaku

Rukuyaya

Suyu Pakcha

Shamuy