HIS BLACKNESS

HIS BLACKNESS
IN THE MOOD

Monday, July 16, 2007

what did I say?

I actual do not remember the last time I wrote down anything; forgive me dear reader (or scanner). Ghana has seen a lot of changes and events since we shared information.

Entertainment in the GH is quite exciting these days, I mean, we also have our fair share of incarcerated fellas. Daasebre ‘handsome’ Dwamena was in the docks for about a year. The dude was caught with some ‘coca’ in his suitcase in the UK, locked up, which had him supposedly writing 1500 songs (I am waiting to hear them). Another bright young fella, who nearly made it to Idols west Africa, Ramsey Noah, is behind bars for allegedly being involved in armed robbery. At least when Akon sings about being ‘locked up’; daasebre and Ramsey too can make a remix.

The Ghana @ 50 celebrations saw a whole lot of people trooping into the motherland. Live concerts and shows has flooded mother Ghana ever since the president decided we were going to celebrate it for a year amidst ‘light off’.

All African leaders stormed into Accra early this month to discuss in effect how to make Africa one and a better place to live in. what happened after the motorcades and the whole flurry? Erm….. nothing. I can’t still travel from Accra to Lagos without being harassed a bit. It’s our fervent prayer that something happens.

The month of July begins another half of the year 2007, and frankly already the year has its calendar full with ‘things-that-shook-the-world’.

I am definitely back, after a long break. Catch you tomorrow.

WHAT IF THERE WAS A UNITED STATES OF AFRICA ?

I shudder with excitement and fear when I think of it;. Call me what you want,

but have you ever thought of it? When I mentioned it to a real hardcore

Christian pal of mine, he said ‘that would mean the end of the world’, in a way it

is true, with the current state of affairs of the world. Imagine a new nation under

God. UNITED STATES OF AFRICA’Original’.

Think about it, wouldn’t Africa be a lovely place to live. Under the U.S. of ‘A’, I

have no doubt that the continent would be an interesting place to live in. Holidays

in beautiful Kenya, skiing in south Africa ,swimming in Tanzania, Mountain

climbing in Egypt ,ah, countries would be states, imagine a sign post that

reads ‘Welcome to the Gold Coast –the wonderful state of Ghana’. I strongly

believe that all people of African descent would come ‘home’.

What if there was a United States of Africa? Blacks would fly to space in the

most pimped spacecraft ever seen by man. That brings a smile to my face, this

simple unification born out of Marcus Garvey and pioneered b the first Pan-

Africanists i.e. Lumumba, Du-Bois,Nkrumah, Haile Selassie ,Padmore, Kenyatta,

amongst others will be a dream come true by every Blackman.

Colin(my creative pal) believes and still is deeply rooted with the whole

George Clinton and his funkadelics. He believes that arts and entertainment

move the world forward; therefore the idea of G.Clinton in futuristic wears. I

mean, who would have thought that wearing colored locks and weird outfits

could create such a following. Today we have the Snoop Dogg’s and co.

The belief that Africans have always spearheaded mass world movements

makes the yearn for a united Africa even more appealing. Africa is the most

appealing place in the world. Without Africa ,I.M.F,the world bank and the bling

bling of 50 cent,Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang and Slick Rick will be out of

sparkles. Paul wall and Mike Jones would have nothing to sing about.

What if there was a United States of Africa? The population

of the other nations I imagine, would just deplete by half. I already see the planes

and ships working their way back home to the motherland. I doubt it if any person

of black origin would want to live elsewhere .What would be our

economic strength ? I implore thee to let your imagination run wild, imagine a

nation with such gifts.

Alas it is not like that, instead we have the African Union , E.C.O.W.A.S ,

the U.N. so I ask you again, what if there was a United states of Africa?

Things I did

I keep on thinking; does anyone pay attention to the underground musicians? Does anyone know what is happening on the streets of lyrical Accra? Well, I know, because it’s fun to abandon one’s car and take a walk to places where raw talents exist.

Welcome to my diary.

One of the places to really check out for raw talent , the karaoke way is Karldoff at Tesano. Thursday night attract a lot of young Ghanaian youth. The microphone is just right, and I was not surprised when I saw a young lady I had seen earlier crooning away amongst the TV3 mentor contestants. Apart from the looming crowd on the street disturbing traffic, it seems an ok place to hang out.

The eve of independence day saw me at Dansoman City (DC), checking out a real street hiphop thing. I mean the last time I saw something like this was at Nima in the 90’s. Two turntables, cd deck and a microphone. My boy DJ Snoop had it going down, and I couldnot resist o put in some few scratches,chops and blends. I could not hold myself back when Shaolin monfunk(an underground rap group) grabbed the mic and started spitting raw hardcore hiphop. I was not surprised to have the crowd screaming and clapping. These dudes have their songs on i-tunes and were the first underground hiphop act to be win an award on Africanhiphop.com(proving all wrong that radio play helps sales)

Enough of DC.The music industry in Ghana is growing and even though we do not have record companies here, the producers and musicians are doing all they can to make sure one can dance and sing along to music made in Ghana.

Nuff said , will keep you posted