Baloji - Kinshasa Succursale
(CD/Digital) Crammed Discs CRAM183, 2011-11-21

Baloji, whose name means "sorcerer" in Swahili, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1978. At the age of 4, he arrived in Belgium with his father and grew up in Liège. As a young adolescent, he discovered hip-hop, a passion for tagging, rap & dance. At 15 he joined the collective Starflam, a figurehead of Belgian hip-hop, who released a platinum selling disc Survivant (2001). Baloji quit the group in 2004 after a number of interpersonal disagreements and turned his back on music. It was a letter from his mother, whom he had not seen since 1981, and winning a poetry competition in Paris, that pushed him back to persue the muse of music. His first solo recording, Hotel Impala (2008), as much of a responce to the letter of his mother as it a quest to find his identity, is coloured with influences of soul, afrobeat, and hip-hop. A certified Gold Record, the album won two Octaves de la music (a Belgian equivalant to the Grammys) as well as the Rapsat-Lelièvre Prize and the Brassens prize for lyric writing. Baloji comes to Crammed Discs with his latest opus Kinshasa Succursale to be released November 2011. The album features contributions from some of the finest musicians from the capital of the DRC, including Konono N°1 & Zaïko Langa-Langa, as well as three brand-new remixes.

Blitz The Ambassador - World People 02 (MP3 Podcast on ParisDJs.com) 2011-05-02 The World People concept is quite easy: we meet artists in Paris, shoot some photos, ask them for a playlist of what they're currently listening to, we publish a mix of the thing, and find in the artist' selection the next guest. Our first guest, Seun Kuti, had Blitz The Ambassador in his selection - and what a blast it's been to discover this Ghanean-American's Afro-Hip Hop bombs!! His new album Native Sun will be out this week and if you get the chance to go and check him onstage, don't hesitate!! If in doubt,...

Blitz The Ambassador - Native Sun
(CD/Digital) Jakarta Records, 2011-05-03

Even though he'll be releasing his 4th album, Native Sun, in may, two weeks ago, I had never heard of Blitz The Ambassador. Then I met with Seun Kuti who playlisted him in his selection for Paris DJs, and who told me to go and check his music asap, describing it as some "Ghanean-American Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, but more hip hop"… After a short downloading session I must admit I was absolutely stunned!! This is HEAVY HEAVY shit, this is not Afro, this is not Hip Hop, it's both, and it's more than both. "Africa Is The Future" indeed!! Blitz The Ambassador has been touring in France these days, so I decided to meet him and invite the man to be the second guest in the World People series of mixes we've just started on Paris DJs (the concept being that the next guest in the series must be someone playlisted by the previous guest). Thanks for the kind people of the iWelcome promo agency, I finally met Blitz last monday (april 18th) and we had a long talk about African music, Ghana, Ebo Taylor, Voodoofunk and Soundway Records, Brooklyn, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Shad and a few other artists from his playlist… which you'll be able to hear in the Blitz The Ambassador mix we'll put online early may!! And this new album? "Native Sun the album is a journey backwards, back through hip hop, the Caribbean soundsystem culture that preceded it, back to its African roots, with the final kora", notes Blitz...

Seun Anikulapo Kuti - World People #01 (MP3 Podcast on ParisDJs.com) 2011-04-18 Seun Anikulapo Kuti, the youngest son of Fela, is now in his late 20s. He grew up in Kalukaluta, Nigeria, and we asked him about his musical background during the 80s and the 90s… "It was all about Afrobeat! Traditional music also, and reggae. Bob Marley of course, Peter Tosh too, he was a huge favorite of mine.", says Seun. He made this selection for Paris DJs as a snapshot of what he's listening to these days: dancehall, hip hop, afrobeat, reggae, and a Ray Charles classic… Seun Kuti is currently...