Their arms are muscular but not unattractive.  Their bodies look tough yet almost tender looking.  The sounds from their drums say a lot—they reverberate with power, strength, control and something indescribable.  These are the Amazones Women Master Drummers, yes you heard right, women master drummers who have squashed many norms of the African society. [...]

  Innocence Lost to Arms     Darfur still cries for help; Rwanda did so over a decade ago and was ignored for some time.  Sierra Leone also experienced this gruesome inhumane episode in 1993, with children forcefully recruited into the army and robbed of their innocence.  A hard look into the eyes of a [...]

  Dozie’s soothing music reminds you of the calm you feel when listening to Maxwell, Seal or Sade, with an added flair of contemporary African melodies. Redemption sounds nothing like an ordinary debut but more of a seasoned craftsmanship that echoes originality. Each track effortlessly melts into the next in smooth transition of professional musical [...]

  Music has always had the ability to create channels that lead to some form of cultural exchange –one of its most appealing qualities. Hip-hop for instance has taken over the world’s youth with its “cool vibes” while spreading a part of the African-American culture. For many years traditional African instruments have been used to [...]

  M.anifest’s solo debut album Manifestations set to be released this Spring is yet another creation depicting the progression of African pop-culture in the West. This 13-track record blends African beats and contemporary Hip-hop rhythms into music played to well-constructed poetic lyrics. Manifestations looks promising and qualified to compete with other successful records.   The [...]

  Africa’s musical artists have experimented with rap music since its introduction to the continent in the 1990’s. American rappers and “gangster” wannabes in Africa were usually middle-school and high-school students spitting lyrics by hard core rappers like Nas and the late Notorious BIG, sometimes with no knowledge of their effect and even the depth [...]

  Steeped in beautiful African melodies and uplifting lyrics, AfroFlow can be labeled as one of the most inspiring Hip-hop albums out today. It does not echo your usual testing-and-trying-to-make-it-happen records; instead it presents sounds of masterful instrumentals and substantial lyrics.   Mike-E describes AfroFlow as a movement and the record speaks for itself.   [...]

  After numerous attempts to release a record in the last 20 years, Titus Fotso is seeing his dream unfold as he shares his life experiences through his debut album, I Refuse with the rest of the world. This master dancer/musician released his first record on December 22, 2006, an accomplishment he is yet to [...]

  With the direction today’s media is taking, one has to wonder about the effect it is having on the youth. The disappointing focus on negative and superficial subjects has proven to leave no room for youth empowerment or positive change. However, some young entrepreneurs are combating this problem by introducing new media outlets that [...]

   ’People of the Rising Sun’     Since the Nigeria-Biafra civil war of 1967-70 which resulted in the mass killings of Igbo migrants living in northern Nigeria, some writers, particularly those of Nigerian descent, have attempted to document this piece of historical moment in their work, either as a sense of nationalism or their [...]