(Used courtesy of Pioneer Unit)

Once in a while an artist comes along with the vision and ability to turn a genre on its head whilst taking it back to its roots. Ben Sharpa has achieved this with his debut solo offering, B. Sharpa, an iconic album that pays homage to the best socially conscious lyrical traditions of hip hop whilst innovating a completely fresh sound that Sharpa himself calls ‘robot army music’.

Described by BBC Radio 1 DJ and experimental music maven, Mary-Anne Hobbs as “one of the most inspired and agile lyricists in the world today”, Ben Sharpa has created an epic work that takes the listener on a journey into the tortured mind of an artist who has remained fiercely dedicated to his art despite the hardships he has had to endure as a result.

Born in the rugged ghetto slums of Soweto, South Africa in 1977, Ben Sharpa (aka Oh Kaptin My Kaptin, or simply ‘Kap’ to his friends and fans) experienced the full force of the brutal Apartheid regime and the revolutionary turmoil that surrounded the struggle against it. While Ben was still a young child, his father took the opportunity to escape the hardship of life in South Africa by relocating his family to Chicago, Illinois, where he took the post of Audiologist at Cook County Hospital before moving on to become a Scientist at the prestigious Michigan State University.

BNTS10 !! is here

My dude Sensei t8 from Zimbabwe was kind enough to give me hand with the show, after i asked him. so he came through and put it down, appreciate that playboy!...Great show, dope tracks, nice soundscapes...to get your head nodding..

Feedback/Critic/Opinion/Suggestion....vera much welcome


Intro-MxL/Seff
Brother Watching- Shad, The Old Prince (Rw/CA)
Streets run red- Dezyne feat splifsta (KE/US)
Classik-Bakar,(FR)
Musica Certa- Bob da rage sense, sir scratch and tamin, Skunk Mixtape (Por)

Sensei T8 session
Imagery Gemini remix-Zubz, Producers Digest (SA)
Emgungundlovu- Zuluboy, Masambisane da first hip hop lesson (SA)
You never know- Negash ali, Sickess (Eriteria/Den)
Let me know-Apani B fly, Atmosphere airlines (US)
Jealous/Tuliza homie- Shida mingi, Decolonizing the mind (KE/US)
Mindscape Nyambz remix-Invisible man,(SA)

So tall- Zion I, Tru and livin (US)
Ukweli- Goreala, Metaphor za mtaa (KE)
Street Symphony- Manifest, Manifestations (Ghana/US)
Foreigner/Ulaya - Bamboo, African american dream (KE/US)
Out there - Magestik Legend, Free Magestik Legend (US)
Seekers- Major Cone (Ghana)

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Whats goody?

Albums have been dropping slow, so far the most we have bumping to Erykah- New Amerykah  ,If there is ever spark to music this is personification of it, the deep basslines of my people and the crooning on healer, Also that new Blu and Taraach C.r.a.c (Pronounced crass, not crack) Knuckles album, Also if you can please check out this cat Zerostar Ignore the nerdy name dude is nice with his, From the Mamaland we are bumping a mixtape called Beats Za Hype, Overall aiight mixtape fills the vaccum, we have been experiencing.

Elsewhere Kalamashaka are dropping an album, Will go by the name "Jamuhri Day", Peep track on this African hip hop radio show Dope track. We are still waiting to get our hands on the promo, as soon as we get it ya know its up on BNTS podcast.

Ghetto Radio been up, why aren't you listening? peep on Tuesdays and Thursday's evening for dope hip hop with Dj Zaq aka The Incredible Vinyl Assassin  , Peep some interviews we just uploaded, with Mwafrika conducting the interviews.

Rakaa Iris science Part 1

Part 2 

Part 3 

Look out for Bnts 10, upping coming soon... 

Peace! 

2008-01-25 

Happy New year!!! 

Hope everything is good with ya'll.

Of the jump its sad how things have turned out in KE, Greed,Selfishness and just plain Heartlessness from people called "leaders". Also quite disturbing that some leaders are behind some of the attacks story here. ..With that said we hope and trust the people, citizenry, realize its about us, its up to US to solve the problems, Underlying ones exposed by the Elections. Peep website for some great reading on the situation in KE Kwani? .

Interested in giving a hand to displaced families visit this website to HELP. Also in case you come across any incidents and wish to report them this website is place to go Ushahidi, or you can visit to see the where incidents are happening sorta like Google earth. Afrofusion also has program that if you buy a certain tee, the donate 5$ to help the affected families in KE...check them out here Afrofusion.

This what we have been listening to Ethiopian Gangster, totally remade with all Ethiopian samples, dope...dope, check out the website to sample, here . If you wish D/L , go there. We also BNTS 9 up we should have that upped here in a few days...

Peace!! 

 2007-12-10

The good folks at Mickboogie.com have offered a mix of J dilla's (RIP) beats, with busta doing most of the vocals, also contains older material ('how we roll')...not bad at all, favs so far include , 'other side of the road' and 'who trying to kill you'.

Zubz who released one of the better albums last year 'Headphone music in parallel word' released a video of one of my favorite cuts in the album, which was supposedly banned from tv in SA. The name of the track is 'Get out' peep video  here

I Hope NBI heads are not giving the new Goreala album 'Metaphor za mtaa - Street Metaphors' the sealy posturepedic treatment....peep some snippets on his Myspace Dope. Abroad heads you can cop it here . Look out for the track 'Ukweli'.

Ghetto radio is about a week away, from starting live streaming on the internet props  on that for finally making it and for heads in Nbi the station is 89.5. Major daps on my dude Mwaf on being PD, you will not be disappointed about time a real head got chance to make headway in the media...props as well to dj Zaq. Visit the website for more articles and material....

Visit new kid on the block House of hip hop , they have some free shit on there as well.

also pick up...Zimbabwe Legit cd House of stone..has some dope feature, production is also on point...not so sure about the cover though...ha ha. Some great feature though YZ, Mike G (Jungle Brothers), Breez Evahflowin’, Vast Aire, Asheru (Unspoken Heard), Stic.man (Dead Prez), Prince Po (Organized Konfusion), Cadence, Chubb Rock, Apani and Skillz...

While we on that Landmynz, remember them we covered them here  released a second CD, unfortunate for ya leechers..lol, you gotta cop this, so far its only on sale in SA but they are working on having digital downloading thing going on...till then peep their myspace. On the mic is my fav joint so far...."Straight from the beneath da surface....."

How good has 2007 been for hip hop?? ...and there is still some more shit coming ...Wu,Jay-Z, Freeway, dplanet, Blu, Ghost, Scarface, Landmynz....

Oh the boards are open, come visit and build....

Peep latest  PODCAST .... and visit affiliates Hiphopcalypse and 20/20

Peace! 

I finally got the motivation to finish up on the podcast, and its here. A thousand Apologies for slacking major.... It has been.......A WHILE. Nevertheless we got on the J.O and finished it.

Not a whole lot to add...

Feedback/Critic/Opinion welcome and much appreciated.

Intro - Msaniixl/G-ni
Boxing my shadow- Knaan Dusty foot philosopher (Somalia/CA)
Siyosusa Simele - Zuluboy, Masambisane da 1st hip hop lesson (SA)
What it is- Pharaoh Monch, Desire (US)
Big bang Theory - Gagle, Big Bang Theory (JP)
One step - Strong arm steady, Deep Hearted (US)
Kichwa Maji- Mashifta, Mashifta Classics vol.2 (KE)
Third world wide - Gabriel teodros, Lovework (Ethiopia)
B-boy Massacre - Blitz, Suicide Stereotype (Ghana)
Damascus - Cilvaringz, I (Mr/Netherlands)
I'm a rapper- J-live interlude(US)
Struggle- G-ni Elimisha Jamii (KE)
Uncrowned Kings -Eraze (Namibia)
Jipange - Kimya feat Jaymo, Headbangaz 07 (KE/TZ)
How we Rrrrollll - Konfab Feat Jaak, Planetary Assault (SA)
Go_and_Ask_(Hambubuza) - Driemanskap, Planetary Assault (SA)
Hopolang Leeto - Konfab , Swat Gevaar, (SA)
She smiles easy - Goreala feat project, Metaphor za mtaa (KE)
Back Again -Third Eye (Malawi)
The World is.....- Blu and Exile, Below the heavens (US)
Red, Black and Green - M-I, Umi featuring Kalamashaka

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Peace!!!

The Show

M1 & Umi enter the "stage" – the fans have moved in so much into the "stage" – that both Umi & M1 tell them to move back and give them a little space to move while performing. The fans move a little bit and leave a 2m by 1m space. The people's army (M1 & Umi) decides to start the show with 'The cops stop you cos u black, that's war………………….Why they so rich n we poor, that's war". The crowd is chanting that's "WAR" and where I was standing I could not see shit so I had to walk slowly towards the stage.

"Am an African, Am an African and I know what's happening" was being performed as I walked nearer to the stage still not seeing anything. Then right after " It was all a dream, I started organizing in my late teens, Malcolm X and Huey P, who I wanna be, Marcus Garvey on my wall". At this time I could see Mutulu & Umi- courtesy of Da Joint – all the people I asked to give way looked back, saw me, said hi and let me pass.

By the time I was back stage M1 was performing Stic's verse of Turn Off The Radio and the WaPI crowd (reminiscent of Muki's days as the WaPI MC) was busy chanting "Turn Off The Radio, Turn Off The bullshit!"

After that song was done – M1 talks of the British government still having its feet on Africa's chest. To most of the crowd this was a shocker. To people who had an idea of what Dead Prez is all about, we expected that just not as explicitly as he said it. He then talked negatively of British colonialists, and said although he was on a British porch (British Council) he could not forget of the evils they've done to Africa. I looked up only to see The British Council Director staring in disbelief – most probably asking himself – "Who the fuck did we invite?". Hey Higgs, thats just Dead Prez no disrespect was intended.

Then the piano riffs of the police state started playing and M1 dropped Stic's verse on Police State "I throw a Molotov cocktail at the precinct, you know how we think". By this time I was back stage singing along and before I could know it I was uttering M1 last lines "Now many ended for one conclusion, Niggaz ain't ready for revolution".

M1 took a small break and let Umi rip it. He performed his first single off the album he is working on. The song was straight RAW, Rugged fuck the Commercial Bullshit type shit. The crowd still heard its fists up in the air. A little bit later Mutulu was back performing his verse on Assassination "fuck The Bible, Get On your knees and praise my rifle". I remembered rocking to that shit with Jua Cali like 7 years ago.

The whole show was wicked, but I gotta fast forward to when M1 said he had something for the ladies. When the Mind Sex beat dropped the crowd screamed, and as soon as he started performing a big part of the crowd was singing along word for word. I remember this chick with a big ass camera singing along on some "I ain't got to get in your blouse, It's your eye contact that be getting me aroused……….my aim is to touch you in a delicate spot, and once we get started I ain't trying to stop"

M1 then talked a little before "Hip Hop". When the beat dropped……the whole fucking crowd went crazy. "It's Bigger than Hip Hop, Hip Hop". On some reggae shit he stopped and started the whole thing all over. He then spit his verse "One good thing about music when it hits you feel no pain, white folks say it controls control yo brain, Am better than that that's game". A few lines into Stic's verse he went accapella "Rappers get a lil money n think they hot, talking about how much money they got"

By the time that song was done, I don't think anyone would have complained. Mutulu had repped for his brother Stic.Man and still wasn't done, he performed his solo single "Till we Get There" but not before shouting out his Somalian comrade KNaan

"I borrowed a page from the book of Martin Luther, and decided that it's better to hug you than to shoot ya"

To the British Council & all people who might consider Dead Prez a threat, M1 finishes on a peaceful note.

PEACE!!!!

Hip Hop is not dead! And if she is, her ghost appeared to me at the Rock The Bells concert in Mansfield, MA. From the weed smoke swirling above the jammed stadium, she materialized - manifesting herself in her old glory of the early to mid 90's - before she was prostituted into an ugly  cheap whore.

Before I even venture past the stadium gates, I can already feel her presence. The parking lot is a tail-gate party of some sorts with speakers blaring classic sounds from BDP, Biggie, Rakim and all that good old classic shit. The concert is scheduled to start at 3:00pm (eastern time for all you cats receiving us from Antarctica) but by 2:00pm, the queue is already snaking several hundreds of meters down from the entrance. Thanks to my BNTS connection, I have my press pass which allows me to walk right to the front; in time to set up the cameras and get a strategic spot from where I would document the majic.

Fleet Center in Manfield, MA is a huge stadium with a stage that has two giant screens such that you wouldn't have an excuse to miss a single moment of the show even if you were at the lawn area in outer most ring. But with a press badge you get to move around freely, one minute you are at the "pit" right in front of the stage, the next you are at the V.I.P looking to see which MC just checked in.

As we enter this giant stadium at about 2:30pm, Supernatural, a freestyle champ, is already on stage. This cat freestyled for 9 straight hours last year and holds the record for the longest freestyle session. He says he plans on breaking his own record some time soon by doing 13 hours. Supernat warms the stage for the Jedi Mind Trix by performing incredible lyrical stunts such as having the audience hold out whatever item they have in their pockets and then he raps about them! "He just took the 36 Chambers CD out of his pocket/ let these lame ass rappers know that was a classic/". In between each performance, Supernat keeps the stage live by wheeling in his little DJ kit to the center and then freestyles and mixes for himself at the same time!

The Jedi Mind Trix are the first ones to blaze the stage. These cats from Phili have been around for a minute even though the average consumer of rap music has probably never heard of them. This is isn't your average crowd, however and so people rap along every song. Next up is a cat commonly referred to as the Che Guevera of the hip hop era, aka Immortal Technique. He spits his politically charged, anti-imperialist darts in between speeches about standing up to the powers that be and calling men that beat up on their women pussies! His 7 year old son also lends him a hand by bursting a few break dance moves even though you can tell that his bones are not strong enough for such kinds of strains yet.
 

Immortal tech chopping it up with our writer

Later on I catch up with Immortal back stage and chat about his music, the state of the industry and the state of the world. He laments about the current materialistic obsession which he says does not even represent real wealth. "Myself for example, i purchased a 300 acre piece of land in Peru where I supply a whole town with vegetables." he pauses to absorb the "ahs from his audience. "Now that's real investment right there."

Meanwhile Pharaoh Monch's live band is setting up. One thing that immediately strikes you about his cast is that the two lead female singers are not exactly built like the Hollywood type walking twigs; that in itself makes a statement in the face of a genre that is hopelessly misogynistic and bent on portraying females as sexual gadgets. Monch does not disappoint the audience. By the time he gets to his classic hell raising "Get the fuck up" club anthem, everybody is crazy and ready to bumrush the stage.

A former label mate from the defunct Ruckus Records, Talib Kweli is next. His performance range from throwback tracks from his days with Hi-Teck to jumpoffs, The Beautiful Struggle and his latest album Ear Drum. He is the right person to ready the crowd for the legendary group Cypress Hill. Their stage antics are just as thrilling as their head banging classics, insane in the membrane and how could i just kill a man. The blow up a giant size buddah statue and invite the revelers to light "they joints". At some point, B-Real and the band's drummer light up a huge bong on stage and take a couple of hits as the crowd wildly cheers on.

Then enter a man who is arguably one of the best MCs to ever touch the mic. The man that brought you Illmatic and bloodied Jigga's nose with Ether. The God Son, even though smaller in physical stature than his legend is, has the whole stadium in his palms as soon as he enters the stage with the controversial hit, Hip Hop is Dead. It is now already dark and Nas, in his white v-neck tee in front of the bright stage lights, almost appears luminous. His track roster is a blend of nostalgic New York State of Mind, If i ruled the world and a host of newer ones. When it comes to Ether, he holds out the mic to the crowd for the entire song and lets them do the damage.

The Shaolin Swordsmen were the show headliners. Behind a white satin like curtain they stood but you could make out their silhouttes and hear the beginning of the track Wu Tang Clan Aint Nothing to Fuck With. Then as the curtain pulled away and the beat kicked in, the 9 Mcs invaded the stage with the RZA setting it off like : I be tossin, enforcin, my style is awesome/ I'm causin more Family Fued's than Richard Dawson. This is what the crowd had been waiting for. It is hard to imagine how a group that has been around since '93 still commands this kind of fanatical following even amongst people who could have well been in they moms wombs when the RZA first brought the Staten Island kids together.

One clear fact however is that no matter how much people argue over who the dopest MC in the clan is, it is obvious that a Wu Tang live performance aint nothing without Mr. Mef a.k.a Method Mand. He feeds off the crowd energy like a starving hound devours on flesh. "The energy that you give to us, we gon' give it back to y'all." He tells the crowd and follows through by diving into the crowd in the middle of performing "M.E.T.H.O.D Man". He even balances and stands supported by the hands of the crowd, mic still in hand! "if there is one thing that I can claim during my 14 years in the rap game, it is that shit!" he says about his stunt. "Can nobody else do that shit."

The show is closed with the promising news that a new Wu Tang album has already been completed and it is going to be titled The 8th Diagram. Then Meth. counts to three in three languages and on the third count...the whole place reverberates with PEAAACEE.

More pictures can be found here Rock The Bells Pics

Whats goody heads and hip hop lovers?

we return to present to you DKR(Nota)/Bsunn collaboration, both have been featured on BNTS before, on our podcasts and on one occasion a free upload of the DKR album.

album can be picked up at KYN Records website 

Whats goody peoples…?

Just little updates on things happening with African hip hop. First up is Nomadic wax sponsored tour “Global underground tour” its going to be in Nyc, rhode Island and boston. Featuring zuluboy(SA), Chosan(Sierra leone/US) The Foundation(US) among other so if you reside anywhere close go visit them boys and support. Peep Flyer.

Speaking on Zulu boy, that’s what we are currently bumping to, 21 tracks deep mostly done in Zulu. The vibe is proper, production on point and the chants on some tracks is dope as well the use of his musical environment i.e. other African influences make for pretty interesting album. The album is titled ‘Masihambisane –Da 1^ST Hip Hop lesson’. Look out for track or two to be featured on BNTS 08…currently being cooked up. 'Siyoyisusa Simele'  is a fav at the moment rich layered track, track is fiyah.

Mashifta dropped an album…Mashifta classics vol 2…. The few tracks I have heard are nice. I’m awaiting my copy look out for a review and some tracks to be on BNTS 08….

We got two reviews coming up as well look out for that, Proverbs- ‘Manuscript’,  and Zubz  – ‘Headphone music in a parallel world’ . Both are pretty good albums though I would Zubz a head over the Proverb.

Look out for Hip Hop Colony film review, which you can cop at the moment, Amazon is carrying it, if you want to peep before purchase Netflix, Blockbuster and Hollywood video are also carrying it. Target, Best buy and Fye are the other store that you can purchase from. Dope film btw.

The Knaan Video interview is still being worked on, we are still editing it. It should be up soon.

Unless you have been asleep you must have heard about the Good folk at Piooner Unit, who are prepping a major album dropping at the end of the month. Several tracks have been available in our podcast so you must have heard a mention of it. The are currently shooting the video for the first single 'How we rrrrroll!!'. Look out for the album 'Planetary Assault' dropping at the end of June and yes you heads abroad have no excuse for not supporting this here. Its going to be available on Amazon and CD Baby as well.

Peace

BNTS fam  

Our writer SK gets his grizzly on with the review abbas aka doobeez album Anga Banga

Read the rest of the review then discuss here 

Yassshhh! we slow flows ya'll to death, reaching like midget for cookie jar...ha ha its all good though. ...aiight so we finally upped our first cast for this year. Mix that Abas charisma "they call it kitumoto in Japanese", Vigetis wordplay , Tumis poetry, Gza's other wordly Lyricism, Maradona's realness (gotta feel it oozing from his words), Premier mic destroying skills from Zubz, Doom's fantastic 4 killing flow ....sprinkle a little bit of 'Ootz's' opera -influenced soundscape on 'Whats real', Synth skills on 'slow flow'.... a double dose of uChizi ndani ya mitambo, Crazy drums amid chants of 'get out'..end result BNTS 007!!!.