Dominique Preira, better known as Dip Doundou Guiss, is a well known Senegalese rapper. His inspiration mainly came from Positive Black Soul at a young age. As his love for music grew, he began composing his own songs and collaborated with his friend Swazi ultimately founding the group Doundou Guiss, which translates to “Live to Learn”. The duo signed to the label REP’TYLE Music, where their first single “Hors Nomale” gained widespread acclaim and began to gain mainstream notoreity in Senegal. His songs “NLMD” and “Enemy Doundeul” that were released at the end of 2017 were also very successful, even achieving international recognition by reaching up to 2 millions views on Youtube.
Dip Doundou Guiss recently partnered with French rapper Lefa on his new single entitled KMND. “KMND” is the abbreviation of Kou Meun Na Def which is Wolof for “Who can, Must do”. In the song, Dip is stating that people should push boundaries and be the best version of themselves. Furthermore, Dip expresses the fact that what may be good for him is not necessarily good for someone else in the lyric “Lima djik djigoul gni”. This is illustrated in the video when Dip, Lefa, and a couple of people are in the middle of a desert dressed in all black. In my opinion, this scene depicts Black Excellence and Black unity. This image reinforces the overall idea of the song that it is important to see your own potential in order to achieve success.
Staying true to his African roots at the beat drop, the rhythm of the tam tam is heard, which is a very common instrument used in Senegal. The tam tam is even seen being played by a man with dreads in the video which emphasizes the Senegalese culture. Another traditional element seen in the video is a traditional Senegalese dance known as “Mbalakh”. However, contrary to some of his other songs that gives the public more of an inside look into Senegalese culture through the scenery of the country or the clothing, the “KMND” video has a more modern contemporary aspect to it. Dip contrasts a rather dark environment in the woods in the beginning of the video with a more white environment surrounded by snow towards the end. The dark scene represents power through the idea of Black excellence and that they should embrace their culture rather than conforming to anyone else’s. On the other hand, the white scene in the snow depicts two men in white chained on the ground. This can illustrate the idea that black people tend to find themselves in an environment where they are exposed to predispositions but that regardless of that they should continue to stay true to themselves and embrace their blackness.
Dip’s Youtube Channel
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