Africa is the future of hip-hop. It’s 54 African nations. Not only are they spitting like crazy, but they’re also braiding languages. Hip-hop is going to like 3.0 when you talk about Africa. Hip-hop is there. So that’s the sustaining power if you want to pay attention to it. – Chuck D

Blitz the Ambassador: A True “Diasporic” Rapper

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It is absolutely essential to mention Blitz the Ambassador when talking about and discussing African Diaspora rap artists and their influence on their own community and the Black Diaspora itself. One of the important things Blitz the Ambassador does as an artist is make sure to communicate with and connect the Diaspora through his lyrics. In his particular song, “Best I Can”, ft. Corneille, Blitz the Ambassador talks about his personal experience growing up in Accra, Ghana.

Throughout the entire song, Blitz makes connections between his experience being raised in Ghana – like growing up barefoot in the streets – to the general experience of others in the Diaspora / African Americans – like growing up listening to Rakim. Most Black people of the Diaspora, directly from Africa or not, most likely know a song, or at least have heard of the artist Rakim – as he is from the golden age of hip hop and contributed greatly to its prominence, success, and history. Because Blitz references Rakim, he draws a direct line, or link, to the African Diaspora.

In “Best I Can”, Blitz the Ambassador also communicates the line that “we never had much” – a line that is very quote-able, as this is a popular phrase in not only African American hip hop but in the Black community/ African Diaspora in general. It is important to note this line because it describes and emphasizes the shared experience of many people of the African Diaspora – that a lot of us suffer from oppression due from the repercussions of slavery, jim crow, apartheid, colonization, the taking of African resources, and so much more. These instances of oppression are different from each other, but not too much in the sense that they all contribute(d) to the social suffering, physical suffering, and even “mental slavery”, that occurs in nearly all communities of the African Diaspora. The important thing that Blitz the Ambassador does is create a link between those in the African Diaspora, telling us that we’re not so different from each other and that we need each other in order to achieve and create our own success. A good example of this is his song, “Best I Can”, but this is a central theme in a lot of Blitz’s music – which absolutely attributes his success, positive reaction, and popularity among Black people all over the Diaspora.

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