http://youtu.be/il7o5zG7jB0?t=12s Sarkodie takes a break from the Azonto and jumps on a Hammer beat, getting back to his rap (Hip-pop? Tema-pop? Hip-life?) roots. The interpretive dancing, and artsy black and white beach shots make it seem like the director has been watching some Ingmar Bergman.

I was going to post the link to Das Racist’s latest offering, a funny, irreverent and poignant mixtape by Heems AKA Himanshi Suri, unofficial leader of the NYC rap group, but the FBI has just shut down the file sharing site Megaupload, which Heems used to post his free mixtape, “Nehru jackets.” Apparently Megaupload has been accused of pursuing a business model based on copyright infringement. This comes after a week of high profile protests against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Interesting times indeed.

Let’s do a Friday Diaspora edition. There are some half-baked attempts at linking the videos in here. But don’t take them too seriously. French-Congolese Youssoupha on living in France in ‘Irréversible’ (he couldn’t not refer to the charges laid against him):

The 28th edition of the African Cup of Nations kicks off in Gabon and Equitorial Guinea tomorrow. 16 teams–including the joint hosts who did not have to qualify–will play for 2 places in the final match scheduled on February 12. The big question is, of course, who will take the trophy.

http://youtu.be/wnGy2Dtr3MQ Blitz the Ambassador, a staple on AIAC, has been releasing these videos (titled “Koshka Sessions”) where he eschews his big band and accompanied by only a percussion instrument delivers raps like this one “Colonial Mentality.” This is number 3, the latest, in the series.

Remember the Alabama Shakes–the best band of 2011. At the heart of the Alabama Shakes–the best band of 2011–is guitarist and singer Brittany Howard, described by my wife as “a cross between Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse.”

Gebaste Rhymes sent us a link to his single ‘Kaap issie Bom’ [translated: Cape is the Bomb], the first single off One Day Vol. 1. The full album (or audio hip-hopumentary) will be out later in 2012 and “forms part of a larger alternative education initiative.” Gebaste Rhymes describes himself as “a Cape born artist […]

We can deduce certain trends about Egyptian painting and the nature of its buyers.