Hip Hop Senegal

Catégorie: Rap Galsen

Mots clés: meta, somewhere, in, africa, peace, love, harmony, dakar, senegal

Somewhere in Africa sounds like the classic you can't believe you've never heard. Take note, it is a classic song that you will be humming for weeks and months to come. "Peace, love and harmony" sung so sweetly by Meta, is the message that people across continents need to have embedded in their musical minds. For this reason, Meta returned to Senegal after an eight-year hiatus to record the video in his parents' home village of Jaff, as well as in Dakar where Meta himself was raised. "A tasty and solid drumbeat drives Meta's neo-gospel paean to the world's second largest and second most-populous continent... " Says Clive Chin. Obviously exuberant in his homeland, Meta raises the bar in this video with his natural charisma bouncing off the colorful landscape. There is a prism-like collage of color and joyful smiles that twinkle like a wink to say: Don't worry, Africa will be just fine. Meta stands tall while passing along the message to fellow Africans, "Stand brother man...can't you see? ...Stand up sisters..." his energy vibrating and blending into the scenery as the chorus hums, "Stop this war, stop this war, Africa". Without difficulty Senegalese directors Guelongual capitalize on Senegal's eye-popping landscape and people in this video, which seems to have been made for HD screens. But this common enough image of West Africa is illuminated by a simple storyline showing Meta clothed in white, hands upheld in protest of a dispute among brothers. Meta appears as the peace-maker, carving a path through the lines of men and diffusing the angry tension as he slips a machete out of one man's hand to split a coconut and offer up nourishment to all, accompanied by the verse "just be a man, don't be a devil...this world can make it good I say". Indeed, "there is a tribal fight...(and) this is a true verse coming from a true artist..." Determined is the tone as Meta exclaims, "gotta stop this war, fire-fear dread". This first official video from Meta and the Cornerstones is a springboard launching the projects of the coming months. Meta recently shot the video to "Lost Girl" in New York City Directed by Kamir Meridja and is to be released in the fall. This Senegalese man has a quality of magic about him that is almost shamanistic. Somewhere in Africa shows him towering over the small village huts, but the softness of his gaze pleads for compassion among all Africans. It's as though he wants you to remember that his eyes are like so many other pairs of eyes, softly and humbly asking for "Peace, Love and Harmony.... Somewhere in Africa". Written by: Keri Sinclair

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