Born Gastone Phillipe Abe Abe, the politically sound rapper by the name of Valsero has captivated the Cameroonian audience for years with his ability to speak his mind about the injustices that the people of Cameroon face at the hands of their government. Being a native of the country, he is very familiar with the corruption that goes on and has quite a few political songs in his catalog that are known. He is a known political activist whose songs speak true to that. In this post, we will focus on his song “Levez-vous”, and the messaging within it.

The song begins with a very traditional hip-hop beat, and you can tell he is about to go off in this song. The sign feels very raw and straight from the spirit, and you can tell that whatever comes from his mouth is exactly how he feels. The song “Levez-vous”, which translates to “Stand up” in English, is a nice way to signify strength among the people. There is great power behind telling a group of marginalized people to stand up in unity with one another, and he is very aware of this. There is power in numbers, and change happens when everyone can stand together against the oppressor, so just off the title alone and his history as an activist you can tell the song has a powerful message.

The video is very straightforward, with just him and a few other people looking into the camera, with the occasional guest mouthing the lyrics instead. I think this further emphasizes the message of standing up as one, all understanding the strength that is present in numbers. One lyric that stood out to me in particular was “On a formé une armée, ils nous appellent la Meute/On a formé une famille, on est des Talibans/On construit un esprit, ils parlent de terrorisme/On a construit un parti, ils parlent de milice “. These lyrics elaborate on how the government sees the gathering of family as a united people as a threat and will say and do anything to make them seem like they are a danger to society. He then goes on to rap in French about how they would rather see them die and stay silent than for them to live on and speak on inequality and make change. This is a powerful message and shows that he is far from afraid of speaking his mind on issues with the government.

This song is a great way to call people to stand up and unite against the oppressive government regime. With Cameroon currently in a state of political unrest and uncertainty, this kind of encouraging message that will get Cameroonians to stand together and use their voices for change. Valsero is doing what he does best: bringing attention and power to the people and their voices.