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Nomadic Wax is an international music, film, and events production company specializing in hip-hop and underground music. [1]
Ben Henson founded Nomadic Wax in 1999, while living in Brooklyn, New York. In the summer of 1999, Henson discovered a local independent hip-hop scene in Senegal and was inspired by the music which contain politically and socially conscious lyrical content. [2] Nomadic Wax was founded for the purpose of aiding artists and musicians who use art as a medium of social and political activism. Nomadic Wax expanded to an office in Washington DC, run by Creative Director Magee McIlvaine. [3]
Nomadic Wax began working with film in 2007, debuted in the film “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar" [4] co-produced with non-profit film company Sol Productions. The film is a feature-length documentary that explores the role of youth hip-hop activism in the 2007 Senegalese elections. On December 11, 2008, “Democracy in Dakar” was screened on LinkTV. [5] In 2009, it was screened on WHUT in Washington DC. Till then, “Democracy in Dakar” has been shown at film festivals and universities internationally. [6]
“Democracy in Haiti” [7] is Nomadic Wax's third documentary project. It follows a variety of young people to examine why Haiti's youth have become so separated from mainstream Haitian society and the democratic system.
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Hip hop music has been popular in Africa since the early 1980s due to widespread African American influence. In 1985, hip hop reached Senegal, a French-speaking country in West Africa. Some of the first Senegalese rappers were M.C. Lida, M.C. Solaar, and Positive Black Soul.
Hip hop music arrived in Cuba via radio and TV broadcasts from Miami. During the 1980s hip hop culture in Cuba was mainly centered on breakdancing. But by the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of the Special Period, young raperos, exposed to foreign tourists whose wealth highlighted their struggle, turned to rapping to affirm their cubanidad and advocate for further revolutionary reforms.
Senegalese hip hop is a form of hip hop that originated in Senegal in the early 1980s. When hip hop first hit the scene in Africa, it went from merely being a fad, to a more social and political movement. Amongst the most influential leaders of this movement were artists from the country of Senegal. With the modernization of the country, and the rise in media, the youth of Senegal were able to embrace a new form of expression.
The Hip Hop Caucus (HHC) is a national, non-profit organization in the United States, which aims to promote political activism for young U.S. voters using hip-hop music and culture.
Skavoovie and the Epitones is an American ten piece ska band that formed in Newton, and Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States, in 1994.
Positive Black Soul is a hip hop group based in Dakar, Senegal, one of the first such collectives in the country. Founded in 1989, the group is composed of Didier Sourou Awadi and Amadou Barry, both of whom had previously been in other hip hop groups. They perform in the English, French, and Wolof languages and use traditional Senegalese instruments as part of their songs. Political and social activism have played important roles in the group since it was founded.
Didier Awadi is a Senegalese rapper and a significant figure in Francophone West African hip hop. As a founding member of Positive Black Soul (PBS) with Duggy Tee, Awadi toured around the world contributing to the international popularity of Hip Hop Galsen. Awadi works as a solo artist, accompanied by his crew PBS Radikal. He participates in the Senegalese music industry through his label, recording studio, and rehearsal space, Studio Sankara. Awadi offers a conscious and revolutionary style of music strengthened by articulated and rooted messages. His motivation and inspiration is grounded in the Burkinabé revolutionary Thomas Sankara's phrase: "Let's dare to invent our future!"
The cinema of Senegal is a relatively small film industry which experienced its prime from the 1960s through to the early 1980s, but has since declined to less than five feature films produced in the last ten years.
Aldo Villegas, better known by his stage name Bocafloja, is a rapper, poet, spoken word artist, and outspoken social communicator from Mexico City, Mexico. Bocafloja began his musical career in the mid-1990s with the groups Lifestyle (1996–1998) and Microphonk (1999). As a solo artist since 2000, he released his demo EP album Lengua Insurrecta in 2002. Bocafloja burst on the Mexican hip hop scene with the release of his debut album, Pienso Luego Existo, in 2003. Followed by the successes of Jazzyturno in 2004, A Titulo Personal in 2005, El Manual de la Otredad in 2007, and Existo: Matriz Preludio al Pienso in 2009, Bocafloja has transgressed into one of the most revered icons in the hip hop scene in Mexico. Lyrically Bocafloja critically addresses topics such as institutionalized racism, social and political oppression, mental slavery, colonialism, and other human conditions. Bocafloja's most recent album Patologías del Invisible Incómodo, released in 2012, is a concept album which narrates the experience of the body of the oppressed as a vehicle of transgression to hegemonic structures. Bocafloja is projected to release by 2014, a music video for each of the album's 16 tracks.
The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival is a free music festival that brings together Hip Hop artists from around the world. It has been held annually at Trinity College in Hartford, CT since 2006.
Diamantino Edgar Capacassa Feijó, better known as Diamondog is an Angolan rapper, currently living in Berlin. He is known for making political and conscious hip hop. Diamondog is a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and has a master's degree in visual media and anthropology from the Freie Universität Berlin.
Keyti is one of the first and most prominent hardcore hip hop artists in Senegal. With his group Rap’Adio, he offered a radical approach to Hip Hop Galsen violently recalling the initial purpose of hip hop as a means to denounce society’s flaws. Still radically critical, though less hardcore, Keyti now evolves in solo. He is part of the West African hip hop collective AURA and performs in its well-known musical comedy The Extraordinary Stories of Poto-Poto Children.
Matador is one of the most prominent figures of underground Hip Hop in Senegal. Founding member of the Thiaroye’s group, WA BMG 44, Matador has toured throughout the world gaining an international recognition from the underground hip hop scenes abroad. Since 2006, his struggle to represent the voiceless youth of his home country has taken a renewed turn with the creation of his structure, Africulturban in Pikine. Through this space dedicated to the youth, Matador reiterates his social and political engagement while pursuing his role of “Number One System Enemy” and “General Major Chief of the Dying People Army”.
Moona is a West African rapper. Known for her flow, sharp and poetic lyrics as well as for her active involvement with the youth, Moona is an active member of United Artists for African Rap (AURA) in which she represents her native Benin. Besides, Moona is the only female rapper to have been selected by Africa Unsigned among artists of the continent to receive support for their next production.
Simon Bisbi Clan is one of the most visible hip hop artists on the contemporary scene of Hip Hop Galsen. After his beginnings in Dakar, Simon grows from his diverse experiences on other hip hop scenes abroad during five years before coming back to his hometown. Since his return, he has been intensively contributing to the development of the musical sector in Dakar with the creation of his LLC, 99 Records, a structure dedicated to the promotion of Senegalese urban music and centred on the label “Djolof 4 Life Entertainment”.
Following an historical process of appropriation of American popular music by Senegal, hip hop emerged in the Senegalese capital city in the early mid- 1980s. Although hip hop galsen is now famous for its diverse musical productions, the movement there spread out from its dancing appeal rather than from its musical one. Indeed, Senegalese hip hop artists initially participated in this movement as smurfer, breakdancer, B-boy in general performing during organised podiums. Schools, nightclubs and other temporary public stages thus played an essential role in amplifying this movement in Dakar. Besides, and in contrast to American hip hop, which grew from the youth in the inner city ghettos, hip hop in Dakar began among a somehow middle-class youth who was able to access and/or introduce in their home place new ideas and new cultural expressions coming from abroad. Indeed, hip hop became popular in the capital city through the intensive through informal circulation of VH7 cassettes and recorded videos, which were imported from USA or France by diaspora people.
DJ EFN is an American record label executive and DJ, based in Miami, who specializes in hip-hop. Since the early 1990s, operating most often under the banner of Crazy Hood Productions, EFN has worked in the hip-hop industry in a variety of capacities, including as a mixtape producer, album producer and A&R consultant, radio host, marketing and promotions specialist, clothing retailer, artist manager, and film producer. He is currently best known as the creator and co-host of "Drink Champs," a weekly podcast carried by Sean "Diddy" Combs's Revolt TV network.
Rama Thiaw is a Senegalese filmmaker and screenwriter. She is known for her 2009 documentary Boul Fallé, la Voie de la lutte and her most recent documentary The Revolution Won’t be Televised (2016).
Nomadic Massive is an independent hip-hop supergroup based in Montreal, Quebec, active in the scene since 2004. They have achieved notoriety in Canada, United States, Brazil and France among many international venues. The membership of the band varies depending on song, but their ensemble includes rappers, singers, keyboardists, saxophone, trumpets, trombone, guitarists, bass, and drums. Many of the members are multi-instrumentalists and trade spots on stage. The official members are vocalists Waahli, Taliwah, Meryem Saci, Lou Piensa, as well as musicians Butta Beats and Ali Sepu. With lyrics in diverse languages including English, French, Creole, Spanish and Arabic, Nomadic Massive celebrates global music interpreted through an Afro-Latin twist with hip-hop as the main medium of expression. They have been a staple of the Montreal International Jazz Festival for several years.
Wagëblë are a Senegalese hip hop act. Their debut album was released in 2003.