Positive Black Soul is a Hip Hop group from Dakar, Senegal founded in 1989. The group is made up of two members: Didier Sourou Awadi aka DJ Awadi and Amadou Barry aka Doug E. Tee. They are known for integrating traditional music into their high-tech beats and rapping in French, English, and Wolof languages. Their music is heavily influenced by political and social activism and its shortened name, PBS, was a play on the Parti Démocratique Sénégalais initialism “PDS”.

The group initially performed at a music festival held by the Dakar French Cultural Center in 1992 and made many impressions. A French rapper MC Solaar was so impressed by their performance that he invited them to continue performing with him in France. Shortly after, PBS put out their first release named Boul Falé. Following their first release, the group started touring all over Europe and the UK and was featured on Baaba Mal’s album. After their explosion, they were signed with Mango Records and continued touring doing a total of 130 performances in 1970.

Positive Black Soul has promoted political activity and activism in other areas outside of their influence through hip-hop. The group urged Senegalese people to participate in the country’s government and vote in elections. PBS also decries images of Africa in the media, which they view as one-sided. They state: “We want to show the positivity in the black soul. That’s our fight. Africa is not only a land of suffering, misery, war, and disease. We’re proud to live there and we are not suffering.”They view their chosen medium of rap as an accessible way to talk about issues such as corruption and politics. AIDS has also been featured in their music: one song, “Écoute Fils” (“Listen to Son”), is written about the disease and cautions listeners about its dangers.