Category: Ethiopia
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Lola Monroe’s “Grime”
Lola Monroe, or “Queen Roe”, is an artist who has been steeped in hip hop culture long before she first picked up a mic. The Addis Ababa born, DC raised emcee first got her start in hip hop as a “video vixen” in the early and mid 2000s, when she…
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A Connection, Not a Title
Recently, I wrote about the Ethiopian-American rapper from Portland, Amine, taking the rap scene by storm. His song ‘Caroline’ was an instant sensation for people of all ages, and today I want to look at one of his songs on the same album. The song ‘Baba’ was written by Amine…
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First Generation Superstar
Hip Hop has always been the voice to the underrepresented in our world. Those who haven’t seen themselves in the popular culture of mainstream media can find a piece of themselves in their favorite MC or DJ. No one embodies this philosophy of putting underrepresented groups on the map like…
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“All hip hop is local”: Teddy Yo’s Gurageton
Teddy Yo’s 2007 hit single “Gurageton” serves as a great example of the phrase “all hip hop is local” and demonstrates how African emcees strive for hip hop authenticity. Teddy Yo is a veteran to the Ethiopian hip hop scene; he is self-taught, began making music in the early 2000s,…
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Skat Nati’s “Sira”
A rising star on the Ethiopian hip hop scene, Skat Nati is a young artist whose popular 2018 song ስራ “Sira” has made him tough to overlook. The sound, lyrics, and imagery in the “Sira” music video exemplify the extent to which hip hop has become so globalized in recent…
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Yearada Quanqua – Amharic for Slang
I have blogged about Teddy Yo the Ethiopian hip hop artist before and I have decided to raise him as a topic again. The title of this blog post is how do African rappers use their native language, slangs and other types of languages in their songs.
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Aminé
African infused hip hop is becoming a big thing all over again and many African, but American based artists are climbing the charts and becoming recognized. One of my artist that I liked the most is Amine, he brings a fresh but playful idea to his rap songs. For him…
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Amine – Caroline
Amine known by his real name – Adam Amine Daniel born and raised in Portland, Oregon is an American rapper with roots in Africa (Ethiopia). He first caught my attention when I came across his single “Caroline”. I heard the NPR version where he played with semi full band and backup…
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Diaspora Artists: Aminé
Aminé is a hip hop artist who has roots in both Ethiopia and the United States. As an artist who grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood, but spoke Amharic with his parents at home, Aminé has cultivated a unique identity that displays his African heritage, as well as solidarity…
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Gabriel Teodros Brings Ethiopia to the Emerald City
Gabriel Teodros has been making socially conscious hip-hop music for nearly 20 years. The Ethiopian-American artist, based out of Seattle, Washington, he managed to infuse his Abyssinian heritage with the Pacific Northwest world around him. An early agent on the Northwest hip-hop scene, Teodros worked with and paved the way…