African rap: the Paris-Dakar connection

Positive Black Soul and Pee Froiss

Paris 

28/02/2003 - 

There's no doubt about it, Dakar's rap scene is thriving like never before! But although the Senegalese capital is home to thousands of hip hop groups, few albums have been released beyond national frontiers. Now, however, things look set to change. Daara J are back in the music news with their third album, Boomrang, Positive Black Soul are getting the international recognition they deserve with New York-Paris-Dakar and Pee Froiss's debut offering, Konkerants, has also secured an international release.

Remember the old proverb "everything comes to he who waits"? Well, it looks like it's finally come true for Positive Black Soul. Six years after New York-Paris-Dakar was produced in studios between Europe, Africa and the United States, the group's album has finally secured the international release it deserved. What exactly, you may ask, happened in the six-year interim? Well, the twelve tracks on New York-Paris-Dakar – recorded in collaboration with the likes of KRS-One, K-Mel from Alliance Etnik and Manu Key – were relegated to the back burner when Chris Blackwell (Bob Marley's producer) left the legendary Island label after the label was bought out by Polygram and sold on to Universal. Record company shenanigans had, once again, prevented happening African rap sounds reaching the ears of the European public. (Originally, New York-Paris-Dakar was only released in Africa as a cassette).
With a wind of change blowing through the Dakar scene and Senegalese rap finally winging its way to Europe, the future kings of the Dakar rap scene recently flew into Paris to defend hip hop "made in Senegal". Sporting trainers, baggy jeans and impressive heads of dreadlocks, Didier Awadi (one of the singers from Positive Black Soul) and all three members of braved the Parisian winter to meet French journalists at Palais-Royal. The issues on the agenda, as the Senegalese hip hoppers leafed through the French press and read books on the economic/political background of"Françafrique"? Politics, the lack of proper funding for music and the obstacles blocking the development of the African rap scene.
Besides promoting their latest releases, the Senegalese hip hop crew were eager to check out the latest trends on the European scene. They deserved to rest a laurels a bit, too, following the critical acclaim engendered by Positive Black Soul's lastalbum, Run Cool(recorded two years ago in New York with Franco-Cameroonian reggae diva Princesse Erika, Jamaican stars Red Rat and Bob Marley's son, Ky Mani Marley).
United on the same label (Night and Day), Positive Black Soul and their young protégés, Pee Froiss (a trio formed ten years ago who have already released six cassettes and guested on various compilations including Da Hop, produced on Youssou N'Dour's label Xippi), share the same outlook on the Dakar hip hop scene. "Basically, arrived in Senegal thanks to air travel," says Didier Awadi, "What happened was stewards started bringing back cassettes from the U.S. and then video clips arrived on cable TV. After that a number of specialised record stores started springing up in Dakar… Now there are a lot of local radio stations playing rap."

Pee Froiss and Didier Awadi have not forgotten the lean years Senegalese rap went through after the election of President Abdoulaye Wade. "There was a major crisis between 2000 and 2002," says Gee Bays from Pee Froiss, "sales of cassettes plummeted and the number of concerts dropped radically too." "Since President Wade came to power," complains Didier Awadi, "Rappers seem to have run out of themes and inspiration. The problem is, there was this huge surge of hope and then nothing. The politicians gave us "sopi"(or change, the political alternative promised by Abdoulaye Wade when he stood against Diouf), but they didn't fill us in on the details. During the election campaign there was a lot of talk about rap and some parties tried to get local rappers on board, trying to get them to go along and sing at their meetings. But once the election campaign was over the fever subsided and now rap is back to being seen as young people's music of no commercial interest."

Rebel Rap

If a young generation of rap artists are thriving on the Senegalese scene today, the majority of them are aware that they owe their existence to Awadi and Positive Black Soul. Outspoken rap rebels with a cause, Positive Black Soul were the pioneers of a consciousness-raising form of rap during the "white years" at the end of the 80s when school lessons and university courses were disrupted by endless strikes. Threatened by the explosive content of rap's hard-hitting message, President Diouf dismissed the late 80s rebels as "the sick youth of today" (a concept picked up on Positive Black Soul's Faux Départ). In 1992 PBS took things even further, breaking taboos on their album Boul Faléon which they accused state institutions of full-blown corruption.

Since the arrival of Positive Black Soul the Dakar hip hop scene has burgeoned beyond belief. Major structures have now been put in place allowing the organisation of big stadium-style and new studios have been springing up all over the place. 100% hip hop home studios mean that a new generation of artists can now produce their own cassettes without passing through the circuit set up by long-term Senegalese stars such as Thione Seck and Youssou N’Dour. And yet, despite the hyper-productivity of the Senegalese rap scene, few albums have managed to break beyond national borders. "I really hope things move on a bit," says Xuman from Pee Froiss (who, incidentally recorded their album in Paris, "I hope Senegalese groups will get the chance to travel and sign to record companies abroad. The idea is that they'll then be able to bring back material to Senegal and pass on what they've learnt through their experience of working with technicians abroad."

Positive Black Soul have never shirked such investment on a human level even during their "years in the desert" when they were bound by contracts for the album Paris-New York-Dakar. While work on this superb production – which combines the talents of American hip hop pioneer KRS One and cutting-edge sound maestro Scott Harding – was held up, the group continued playing concerts across Africa, the U.S. and the Antilles. Meanwhile, they also produced the Sénérap compilations (1 & 2) and the group Pee Froiss.

Little Senegal

Didier Awadi and Doug E.Tee also took advantage of their recording hiatus to read the works of great African philosophers and thinkers such as Cheikh Omar Tall, Amilcar Cabral and Kwame Nkrumah. And at the end of the day it was the Senegalese crew's political commitment and their defence of citizens' rights in their songs that won over KRS One's team in New York.
"Working with KRS One was an absolute dream come true," recalls Awadi, "He's a totally militant and brilliantly educated kind of guy. The day we arrived over there we ended up sitting up all night discussing the concept of pan-Africanism and the work of Cheikh Anta Diop... KRS One is really into the idea of educating young kids. A lot of American rappers like to shoot their mouths off about their African roots, but they don't want to stand up and defend them. It's just a fashion thing for them. But KRS One is a true militant!"

Positive Black Soul's collaboration with KRS One led to the group discovering "Little Senegal" (the Senegalese neighbourhood in the Big Apple) and meeting countless taxi drivers from Dakar during their stay. The group also gained precious experience in the studio. "The Americans are still the best when it comes to hip hop," affirms Awadi, pointing out that frequent power cuts and broken electric equipment is the lot in "under-developed countries!" "The problem is not so much that Africa is poor, it's that it's not united," complains Awadi, a fervent campaigner at the anti-globalisation forum in Porto Allegre and an equally ardent supporter of the Drop the Debt campaign. Meanwhile, French hip hop star K.Mel raps to "export his inner city housing estate to Gal-séné" (backwards slang for Senegal).
As on their last album, Run Cool, Paris-New York-Dakar combines the very best of American sound with Senegalese verve, energy and original phrasing. And cutting-edge samples are subtly blended with traditional instruments like the balafon and PBS's distinctive sense of humour. As for Pee Froiss's album, Konkerants (recorded in Paris), this fuses excellent production with powerful hip hop beats, catchy samples and lyrics in French and Wolof. Konkerants serves up its fair share of political commitment and the odd touch of humour too.
Meanwhile, Didier Awadi continues his work on a solo project and Positive Black Soul keep up their involvement in collective albums. The group are set to feature on the upcoming compilation for ATTAC (an organisation campaigning for a tax on financial transactions). Looks like the boys from Dakar haven't said their last word yet!

Pee Froiss : Konkerants (Africa Fete/Night and Day)
Positive Black Soul : Paris-New York-Dakar                              
(Africa Fete/Night and Day)
Positive Black Soul : Run Cool (Warner)
Da Hop compilation (Delabel)

Elodie  Maillot

Translation : Julie  Street