Spotted via Africa is a Country: Die Antwoord - a trio from South Africa that happens to be the hipster obsession du jour, has previously been referred to as a “wild and savage rap group from the deep, dark, …

A Worldtown one to watch: Of Rwandan origin and now living in Vancouver, B.C., Shad’s a hip-hop artist whose style inadvertently draws comparisons to rap from the early 90’s - you know, when it wasn’t a byproduct of autotune and bloghouse effects. With a second album and a Juno nomination under his wing, Shad’s in line as repping the under-the spotlight Canadian Hip-Hop scene thanks to artists like K’Naan and Drake. We ask Shad questions about his influences and future plans and see where the Old Prince stands as sought out hip hop royalty.

Diam continues to be “…known as a feminist rebel who spits rhymes about war, racism, poverty, and injustice–something that has placed the rapper in the line of French media fire.”

Read the full story from Bitch Magazine :: Judging An Emcee By Her Cover — Check out the video, and dates for Diam’s four month country-wide tour.

Aruna Boodram - My audio documentary project is intended to show the pluralities of women that Islam has affected, whether they be practicing Muslims or not… I wanted to know how they understood Islam, how they understood feminism, and determining what the combination of the two would mean for them as Muslim women or those in solidarity with Muslim women. I also wanted to know how Islam has provided the vehicle in which these women have understood and managed realms of empowerment, strength and resistance to globalization, Western discourses and every day problems.
Listen here for the full audio documentary…

Yet another creative project coming out of the experimental classes of Beirut. Yallah Undergound, a documentary that captures the underground music scene in the Middle East, drawing parallels between musicians and styles in urban centres like Amman, Cairo and Beirut of course. This trailer shows the interviews and soundbytes from Rayess Bek, I-Voice, Scrambled Eggs, and The New Government and plays like a visual mixtape.

I’m always conflicted when it comes to so-called “conscious rap”. Labels serve a purpose, yet at the same time they are confining and often times misleading. Immortal Technique is a “conscious rapper”, yet one can find countless homophobic and misogynistic lines throughout his albums. Cam’ron is a “gangsta/crack rapper”, and yet his classic tracks “D.R.U.G.S.” and “Sports, Drugs, & Entertainment” both astute commentaries that even Nancy Reagan could have championed in her “Just Say No” crusade. Another problem I have with the “conscious” label is that it immediately strips the music of its aesthetics and style. It removes the craft and art from the music. All to frequently, we as the listener tend to conflate “good message” with “good music”. Fortunately for us all, there exist emcees such as Narcy [The Narcicyst], an Iraqi emcee raised in Canada, who effortlessly weaves aesthetics and message together. It is music whose both form and content leave one feeling enlightened.

Entering the home studio that Yassin Kassem and Mohammed Turek of the rap duo Invincible Voice (I-Voice) have built in the Palestinian Refugee Camp of Bourj el Barajneh gives do-it-yourself (DIY) a whole new meaning. A small bedroom - which on this day was subject to enduring electricity outages - is converted into a base for mixing, producing, songwriting and entertaining the journalists that have started to take an increasing interest in these boys’ story. We enter the dark studio, leaving the door open to let the outside daylight in. Grey sponge sounds-proofs the walls of the ground-floor converted bedroom, and Tupac paraphernalia decorates them. This is one of the first “production houses” inside the camps of Lebanon, and is playing a big role in spreading the rap bug in refugee camps across the country.

We trawl the news media so you don’t have to.

Inside Indie: Digging Roots :: Rabble TV

Check out our video pick: K’Naan’s This is Africa (T.I.A.).

The Sheikh’s Batmobile is the product of pop-culturalist Richard Poplak’s two-year search for hallmarks of North American culture – “pop songs, sitcoms, Hollywood movies, shoot ‘em up video games, muscle cars and punk music” – in the least likely of places: the Muslim world.