Rae Diaspora

Son Of Sade: An Ode

Dessa is one of the many unsung women of hip-hop. Alibi is a very different song. It concerns Dessa telling her friend that she doesn’t have to defend her husband’s crimes in court, and potentially getting locked up herself. Dessa reminds her that she is willing to help her with a place to stay…and her alibi.

It really upsets me that there are currently no well known female hip-hop artists in the game  that have a real message, that spit intelligent verses that depict the harsh reality in which we all live. Guys like me have artists such as Nas and Common to look up to as positive hip-hop role-models…females have no one.

One of the main reasons I dislike Nicki Minaj’s presences in hip-hop so much is that her grossly overrated watered down music casts a heavy shadow over all the other female hip-hop artists that actually have something real to say. Dessa is no exception. Alibi has more meaning in it than Nicki Minaj’s whole discography put together X10, but you’ll never hear any of it on the radio of course.

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London based Nigerian lyricist drops his debut mixtape. He goes for dolo on this one and features are far and in between. Expect his partner in rhyme O-Cube,Kestrup, Steel, Hiphop Poster girl Kel and our very own Mister Rae on the guest list.

Pretty good effort if we do say so ourselves.

Fela Kuti + Ginger Baker: LIVE! Remixed is produced by Teck-Zilla of Str8buttah Productions.  “Inspired by the urgency and need to share Fela’s legacy from a Nigerian’s point of view,” Teck-Zilla combines snippets of rare interviews with Fela, Ginger Baker and Fela’s musicians with sound bites and remixes of the live recordings from his 1971 “LIVE!” album, which featured Africa70 and Ginger Baker.  Original soundscapes by Teck-zilla are also present on the DocuMixtape’s featured tracks.

Stream, Download And Share After The Jump!!

When listening to some of the tracks on the African Hip Hop EP The Big Rae, you might think you found a lost mixtape from the 90′s New York Hip Hop scene.  A sound not typically associated with Nigerian Hip Hop, The Big Rae holds a production style where influences such as DJ Premeire, Pete Rock, and the Large Professor (just to name a few) are evident. The rhymes are inspired by artists from Native Tongues, to Saul Williams to Yasiin Bey/Mos Def. Allow us to introduce you to the man behind the rhymes, Mister Rae (AKA Rae Diaspora). Mister Rae dropped his EP The Brand New Masqueradeearly 2011, and is now back with his collaborative project, The Big Rae, with producer Bigfoot.  Mister Rae was gracious to talk with us about the origin of his name, the ties between hip hop and literature, and the positive effects of globalization concerning African Hip Hop. With all that discussion in the mix, he even talks to us about travel! We love it! Join us for Part 2 of this interview where Mister Rae and I get into some choice tracks off the EP The Big Rae. 

By Roxanne L. Scott

Beatsmith/MC/Motionographer, XYZ is currently preparing an all new beat tape for your listening pleasure.

This ones for all the aspiring MCs out there, we urge y’all to jump on this when it comes out.