hip hop roun' da world

September 7, 2008 4:17 PM

Being the ever-spreading global phenomenon that it is, it gets harder & harder to stay on top of all the amazing hiphop music that is coming out from all corners of the globe. Please to tell me about your recent favorite international hiphop acts.

some qualifications

:: Here's some folks i'm already familiar with-- MC Solaar, IAM, K'naan, Control Machete, Tang Ren Ti, DJ Krush, Asian Dub Foundation, Nesian Mystik, La Mala Rodriguez, Telmary Diaz, Freedom, Zimbabwe Legit, Wakimbizi, ...

:: I'm particularly interested in acts that incorporate indigenous musical traditions into their hiphop, a la K'naan or Freedom.

:: I really don't care how hiphop they are... a little thrown in for some extra flava is fine, a full-blown purist is also good.

:: I'm mostly interested in stuff from places outside the US or UK.

:: Yah, I know that there's some good threads earlier (e.g. on French & Spanish hiphop, but they're a couple years old & I'm hoping to catch some fresh acts.

Thanks y'all!

posted by jammy to media & arts (20 comments total)

I was too late to suggest them in some earlier thread, but the Balkan Beat Box [despite being a little less than entirely hip-hop-esque] are probably going to be a group you enjoy.
Diam's is a great french artist.

[I came in to recommend k'naan and felt like I had to make a comment anyway]
posted by Acari at 4:44 PM on September 7, 2008

Reggaeton? The wikipedia article mentions the usual suspects.
posted by rjt at 4:49 PM on September 7, 2008

From Canada:

* The entire Peanuts and Corn Crew
* Marathon of Dope
* Josh Martinez
* The Goods
* Buck 65
* Epic & SoSo
posted by stungeye at 5:42 PM on September 7, 2008

Balkan Beat Box... are probably going to be a group you enjoy.

you guessed right, Acari - they are a group I enjoy - Balkan Beat Box are great! do you know Anima Sound System at all? sorta similar in a more techno vein... and thank you for the Diam tip - I've never heard of her & am excited to check her out

::

Reggaeton! excellent suggestion, RJT - I really need to dig into it more - any suggestions? I'm familiar with Calle 13 but little else....

::

Canuck hop! I only recognize Buck65 in that list - thanks, Stungeye

::

one group I also forgot to mention above that are great is the Orishas crew - anyone know other good Cuban hiphop?
posted by jammy at 6:29 PM on September 7, 2008

You may have heard of some of these artists, but hopefully some of these names will be new to you:

DAM - a Palestinian rap group, check out their album Dedication.
Bisso Na Bisso - a group of Congolese rappers who got together in France. Their album Racines is one of my favorites; unfortunately it's out of print, but you can still download it on eMusic if you're a member.
Emmanuel Jal - a Sudanese rapper and former child soldier. He has a collaboration with oud player Abdel Gadir Salim called Ceasefire, and also a recently-released album Warchild.
Daara J and Gokh-Bi System - both Senegalese hip-hop groups.
Gipsy.cz - a Czech rapper who blends Gypsy/Roma influences with rap. His album Romano Hip-Hop got good reviews.
Les Escrocs - a Malian rap group who incorporate the kora (kind of like a West African lute) into their music.
I know of a couple Brazilian rappers, Marcelo D2 and Rappin' Hood, but I'm not overly familiar with their music; I've heard good things about them, though, so you might check them out.
And as for Cuban rap, all I can think of aside from Orishas and Telmary is Free Hole Negro.
posted by gg at 7:05 PM on September 7, 2008

Have you read Global Noise, by Tony Mitchell? It's a few years old but you should definitely read it.
posted by billtron at 7:13 PM on September 7, 2008

Oops, I left out Mabulu, a Mozambican group who combine marrabenta (a kind of upbeat dance music) and rap. It's more on the "a little rap thrown in for extra flavor" end of the scale. Their music is really good; I recommend Karimbo.
posted by gg at 7:32 PM on September 7, 2008

There was a great thread on the Blue about Japanese hip hop that included a lot of links to examples of hip hop from other parts of the world.
posted by Kattullus at 8:09 PM on September 7, 2008

comment that came in via email.

A few Romanian hip-hop suggestions. For indigenous musical influence,
as well as a wicked sense of humor, check out novelty hip-hop group
Fara Zahar's hilarious (if you speak Romanian) Sandu, a song
that parodies Eminem's My Name Is and Stan and satirizes Romanian
rural life at the same time, and Lov Stori, as well as Ca$$a Loco's Vand Fan (which will leave you scratching your head even if you do speak Romanian, as the lyrics make absolutely no sense, but somehow still manage to be funny), and Eterna si Fascinanta Romanie".

For old-school Romanian hip-hop, check out BUG Mafia (Dupa Blocuri, Raid mafiot) and Parazitii (Din Coltul Blocului, Fuck You Romania). And yeah, Romanian hip-hop does have an obsession with apartment buildings ("blocuri") -- if you've ever been to Bucharest,
you'll understand.

posted by jessamyn at 8:32 PM on September 7, 2008

Polish hip-hop:

You have your popular acts: Tede, Mezo, Paktofonika, Kaliber 44, Peja, Pezet [2] [3], WWO, Grammatik

Your gangster rap: Hemp Gru, Zip Skład, Pono, Dixon 37, Firma, JWP

Your college/intelectual rap: Eldo, Łona i Webber, Fisz, OSTR

Triphop: Noon, Skalpel (who are actually on Ninja Tune)

I probably forgot or intentionally ignored something, but there's a lot of stuff in here I don't like anyway.
posted by jedrek at 9:19 PM on September 7, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig ("The Youth of Today" phrased with a sort of finger wagging connotation, dutch)
Die Fantastischen Vier ("The Fantastic Four", german)
Big Red, from France.
Ceza (Turkish, fast)
V Double O (British, faaaaast)
posted by phrontist at 11:04 PM on September 7, 2008

Oh, and Madagascar has quite a seen, but I can't think of any artists at this hour.
posted by phrontist at 11:05 PM on September 7, 2008

I prefer Manau. Before them, I had no idea there was a fraco-celt heritage. Good luck with your love of hip-hop.
posted by humannaire at 12:44 AM on September 8, 2008

edIT, canibus and Prefuse 73 are all supernovascotia. funkstörung is also worth checking out.
posted by colorproof at 4:10 AM on September 8, 2008

From Portugal:

Hip hop with some rock thrown in: Da Weasel (they range from this to this)
More of a purist: Boss AC
I hesitate to call this hip hop... But I cannot not tell you about Buraka Som Sistema, who define their genre as "progressive Kuduro" (kuduro is a specific type of African music from Angola). So here they are. Also here, a bit more "professional" looking. And here, with a chorus in English.

(there are loads more, but these are my favourites)
posted by neblina_matinal at 6:15 AM on September 8, 2008

From France: TTC (electro-rap)
From Canada: Cadence Weapon (glitch-hop)
From Japan: Nujabes (jazz hip-hop)
posted by PTCHFRKR at 8:50 AM on September 9, 2008

dang! my cup runneth over! mucha mucha gracias, metafolk - i'll be checking these all out

of course my hunger is insatiable, so feel free to keep 'em coming...

(is it considered uncool to mark everything as best answer?)
posted by jammy at 12:14 PM on September 9, 2008

Canada (especially Winnipeg) has a pretty solid Native Hiphop scene.
War Party
Slangblossom
Tru Rez Cru
Team Rezofficial
posted by Sys Rq at 3:45 PM on September 11, 2008

A couple international hip hop acts that have piqued my interest of late are:

Stacs of Stamina: they're French/German I think, but they rap mostly in English. Great electro beats.

The Very Best is Malawian singer Esau Mwamawaya and European producer Radioclit. It's more singing than hip hop, but there is a very strong hip hop flavor (and he sings over an MIA acappella in one song.)

Actually, I haven't seen MIA mentioned in this thread. She might be too pedestrian/popular for this thread, but hey, she's all kinds of awesome and from Sri Lanka/London.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:41 AM on March 14

it's been a year but i just revisited this thread b/c of WCityMike's "best of the best" thread - i had forgotten how much great music is here - thanks again, everyone

in case anyone swings by, here's something fresh: over at Aurgasm there's a killer video (bottom of post) of DubFX performing - he's a beatbox street performer who uses on-the-spot recorded loops - fantastic multilayered stuff
posted by jammy at 7:18 AM on June 27