Bongo Barbershop tracing the roots of hip hop from Diaspora to Africa

Producer Charlie Ahearn has come up with a documentary that features Balozi a.k.a. Dola Soul, an original member of the group Deplowmatz.  Balozi grew up in Nigeria for a little while before moving to the UK and then moving back to Tanzania.  It was here that he got involved with rap and was a founding member of the Deplowmatz, performing as Dola Soul.






Balozi stars in a short film (2005) by Charlie Ahearn, director of the classic movie ‘Wild Style‘, showing hip hop gone full circle. The film also stars some of the pioneers of hip hop music from the Bronx, including Grandmaster Flash’s original partner, DJ Easy Mike, and Grand Master Caz.
In the film, Balozi wanders into a Bronx barbershop on his pilgrimage to find the real hip-hop. The barber, DJ Easy Mike, calls out Grand Master Caz, who spits a rhyme on how we are in the place of hip-hops origins. Shop sweeper DOA adds vocal percussion to the mix and Balozi Dola rhymes back in his native tongue, Swahili. Bongo is the Swahili expression for brain used in local hip-hop slang.
Also check out the documentary ‘Hali Halisi – rap as an alternative medium in Tanzania‘, shot in 1999, featuring interviews with the old school of Tanzanian rappers including Balozi.

source: jamati

Posted in: Music