Gambian hip-hop

The Gambian hip hop scene is a relatively new scene in African hip hop which mainly consists of young rappers primarily inspired by American Hip hop and Senegalese hip hop.

Hip hop in The Gambia started in the late 1990’s after the Gambia opened its National Television, Gambia Radio & Television Services (GRTS) in 1995.The Music Revolution. Retrieved 06 Jun 08 from http://www.djembe.dk/no/30/28tmr.html] It started with groups such as “Pencha B”, “Dancehall Masters”, “Masla B”, “Da Fugitives”, “Born Africans”, “Black Nature”, “Inspecta Chow Panachie” and many others. These groups were among the most popular and most successful in field at the time. They were also famous for mixing the hip-hop with reggae, mbalax, salsa, dancehall and other genres of music which made their songs very unique. Even though most of these groups have been taken over by younger new artists, their work still reflects on the hip-hop industry in the Gambia today and groups like “Da Fugitives” are still active in the industry. In August 1999 after releasing their first album, they were invited to the Pop Com Musical Festival in Germany alongside hip-hop artists from all over the world.Hip Hop & RnB. Retrieved 06 Jun 08 from http://gambiantalents.com/index.php?option=com_musicbox&Itemid=26&task=viewCat&catid=38] They subsequently won several music awards both nationally and internationally.

Revolution

From beginning of the millennium to date, Gambia’s hip-hop scene exploded with new rappers like "Freaky Joe"; now better known as Singhateh. In the early stages, the hip-hop scene mainly comprised male rappers based in The Gambia but now both female rappers and Gambian rappers settled abroad are getting into the scene. "Nancy Nanz" a.k.a "Gambian Beyonce", is one of the females who managed to make a breakthrough into the industry and is now well known in The Gambia. Among other upcoming young artists, [http://ibromeo.com/ Debbie Romeo] who is a talented female hip-hop, R&B and Gospel singer/songwriter, is trying to make her way to the top as well. Still working on a compilation of her own, she has recorded singles with “G Baby”, “Nube” and other Gambian artists in the industry. She also works closely with Gambian-American upcoming singers especially “Ooz” and “Amie Dibba”. Debbie recorded a song called "Black Beauty" with a young and famous rap group in The Gambia, "PSG". This song got into the "hip hop song of the year" category at the [http://gambiantalents.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=1/ Gambian Talent Awards 2008] .

Production

The highly renowned, and one of the first recording studios in the Gambia called [http://www.yellowgate.gm Yellowgate Studios] owned by Ellie Nachif, is where a lot of recording takes place. Among others, the newest studio [http://www.theblockstudios.com The Block Entertainment Studio] as opened earlier this year by a member of one the pioneer rap groups, “Da Fugitives” called Mohammed Kah a.k.a “Mo-Hawk”.The Block Entertainment Studio. Retrieved 06 Jun 08 from http://www.theblockstudios.com/] Being the CEO of this studio, “Mo Hawk” ventures to inspire young hip-hop artists like himself and give them some of the chances he never had when he just started.

Potentials

The hip-hop scene in the Gambia is still young and requires a lot of work to help promote all the young talented artists endeavoring to make it to the top and “put Gambia on the map”! Award ceremonies were held occasionally to promote Gambian singers in the beginning. The first was the special Rap Award ‘99 ceremony held at Kairaba Beach Hotel on July 31st 1999, organized by a Gambian music promoter, Harona Drammeh who was a staff of (GRTS) at the time.Hip Hop in Gambia. Retrieved 06 Jun 08 from http://www.africanhiphop.com/crew/gambia.htm] Now there are various award ceremonies held to promote Gambian artists in the music industry. Many Gambian hip-hop artists lose the opportunity to showcase their talents because it is difficult to get the publicity they need to start their career. For this reason,in 2007, and Black Lynx and One Tribe Sound, the best known hip hop movements and promoters in the country, had an alliance--Afric Alliance, and came up with the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CczfO2C_tP4 'open mic'] show where every rapper is welcome to get on stage and exhibit their talent and hopefully make connections to start up somewhere.Gambian artistes in major compilation. Retrieved 21 Jun 08 from http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/article/2008/5/23/gambian-artistes-in-major-compilation]

The media

The media, especially the Gambia Radio and Television Services does its best to support artists in the hip-hop scene. Apart from the normal broadcasts, Saturday nights are usually dedicated to showcasing the music scene of The Gambia and a show called “Extra Touch” was the first of its kind on GRTS to invite rappers to perform live in their studios. Websites like [http://gambiantalents.com GambianTalents.Com] have been set up to promote young Gambian artists. The hip hop/RnB section is especially quite dynamic, portraying the interest and energy put into hip hop by Gambians now.

References