If there’s one thing we’ve learned these past eight years, it’s that as bad as it’s been in the US under the Bush regime, it’s even worse overseas. The silver lining? Dubya’s hamfisted foreign policy has sparked a hip-hop renaissance from English-speaking MCs plying their trade abroad. With Canada-via-Somalia rapper K'Naan (leading the way with the June 28 Interdependent Media US release of Dusty Foot Philosopher and burning up the summer festival circuit), there’s some serious knowledge being dropped on our shores like bombs over Baghdad, only different. Unless Shyne turns into Chuck D while behind bars, auto unions won’t be the only ones complaining about losing their jobs to foreigners.
K’Naan, “Soobax”
The term soobax is a Somalian rally call to “come out”; K'Naan flips it into a hard-driving Third World call to arms. When he raps, “Mogadishu used to be/A place where the whole world come to see,” it’s with the same angry sense of betrayal and abandonment you might (and should) hear coming out of New Orleans.
Klashnekoff, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (On Channel U)”
If you think we have border issues, they’re nothing compared with the cultural upheaval immigration has spurred on Europe. British-born lyricist Klashnekoff ponders the continuing struggle on this track from his 2007 LP Lionheart (Riddim Killa), borrowing elements from the ’70s protest music of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield.
Abyssinian Creole, “Don't Cry For Us”
Between the two of them, Gabriel Teodros and rhyme partner Khingz have Ethiopian, Dominican, and Haitian blood, so even though they live in comfy Seattle, you can imagine they know a thing or two about life on the other side. Their unflinching “Don’t Cry for Us” bumps with an understated sense of despair that’s echoed in this accompanying dark video treatment.
Zimbabwe Legit, “Vicious Cycle”
Although this crew have been in the US for more than a decade (and their accents have mostly vanished), the influence of Fela Kuti and the African diaspora can still be heard in this 2005 track from rappers Akim and Dumi Righ. They don’t go the fist-pumping route, but the sentiments are still the same.
