Washington, DC — One of the Ghanaian rap artists making a splash on the music scene in both Africa and the United States is Blitz the Ambassador.
Blitz has performed in Ghana and throughout the United States, where he is based, and has received critical praise and respect from both fans and colleagues in the music industry in both countries. Just before embarking on his latest U.S. tour, Blitz talked with us about his upcoming album as well as his impressions of the hip hop industry in Africa as well as the U.S.
Blitz was born in Ghana, and moved to Brooklyn, New York as a teenager in 1999. As a student at Kent State University in Ohio, where he studied marketing, he went from being a fan of hip hop to a hip hop artist. Since beginning his rap career, Blitz has released two hard-hitting CDs, Soul Rebel (2004) and Double Consciousness (2005). Both CDs enjoyed critical success and placed him at the top end of a short list of rap artists in the U.S. who call Africa home.
Blitz stands out among his fellow artists because of his style and subject matter. With songs like “The Foundation”, “Black Market” and “Uhuru” from Soul Rebel and “Emmit Still”, “Where Ever You Are”, and “Free at Last” from Double Consciousness, he speaks on issues of struggle, racism, imperialism, and commercial exploitation.
Blitz, however, stands out from his Ghanaian counterparts in that his music is Pan African by nature. He incorporates sounds from all over the continent. His song “Uhuru” transforms the Swahili word for “freedom” into a rallying cry for Black liberation. He also speaks to issues of poverty and crime not only in Ghana, but in the rest of Africa and the Diaspora as well. Blitz is also unlike his African American colleagues – without knowing his background, one immediately recognizes his sound as being distinctly African. His subject matter speaks to the diversity of the continent, while his African roots lace the tracks and announce his intention to take hip hop into a new frontier.
Both of Blitz's CDs are worthy of heavy rotation and put him solidly among artists such as Common Dead Prez, and K'Naan. Blitz's upcoming CD Suicide Stereotype is due out on in September. I interviewed the artist in March and talked with him about everything from being an African hip hop artist in America to the state of hip hop in Ghana and Africa. Excerpts:
What have your experiences been as an African rap artist in America?
It's given me a very unique opportunity to speak from a dual angle where I'm able to talk about struggles that we as people of color face across the world, be it on the continent or here in America.
And so you do ever get any backlash from those from the U.S. because you are a rap artist who is not from the U.S.?
Well there is definitely the sense of a, almost a protectionist hustle as hip hop is. You know, it's like people wanna rep(resent) where they're from...When folks hear you and you don't sound like you're from Brooklyn, they're not trying to hear it, you know, ...so...it was definitely something that wasn't easy to overcome of course, being that I'm representing a foreign idea, not just musically, but intellectually.
One of the things that make your music stand out is the lyrics and the beats, they're so powerful and the images that you invoke with the lyrics with sons like Emmit Still and Uhuru. So looking at your overall body body of work, what are some of the issues that you are most passionate about?
I'm definitely trying to rep those without a voice. I find ways to be passionate about some of this information, first of all, and once I have the information the question then becomes how well can I put it out there, so it's not a lecture. I talk about everything from third world strife to corporate greed to having fun to relationships. My body of work is very diverse. I am in no way against the conscious title because I think it's an honor. As much as some people have their own fears about being conscious because being conscious might mean being broke and nobody wants to be broke, but I think that anything is marketable. If they can market this garbage that they do, they can sell some consciousness.
Have you, in the past or on the upcoming album, done any collaborations with any other African MCs, whether in the U.S. or in Africa?
Yeah, one of the people we're working with on this project is a brother from the continent called Rocky Dawuni. I'm really trying to put a very solid African stamp on a couple of songs and there's some people I really admire and I'm hoping to work with in the future. Someone like Manu Dibango or Hugh Masekela or Youssou N'dour. These are brothers that I admire and grew up listening to and I think that the kind of new Afro-hop that we're doing needs their participation. I'm very cordial with K'Naan (Somalia) and we'll be planning to do some work later on. So there are numerous collaborations planned, it's just (a matter of) when.
In terms of networking with other African artists, especially in New York, there are a lot of African hip hop artists in New York. Do you network with that community as well?
Absolutely. Chosan (Sierra Leone) is one of the brothers in the circle that I'm familiar with. We've done a few shows together. One Love, but he's from the West Coast, but we've done a few things together as well. We are definitely very connected. We all know each other's work and we all support each other's work.
Older Africans criticize hip hop and younger people getting into hip hop saying that hip hop is not an African music. What do you say to those African who feel that hip hop artists from Africa are just trying to be African American and that they are leaving their African roots?
Ultimately I will that say that a lot of people who speak about hip-hop are not Pan Africanists to begin with. They see African Americans and Africans as different people, I don't. They see Africans, Caribbeans, and Afro-Asians as different people, I don't. African Americans are Africans to me, so me doing hip hop is doing African music. We've been segmented enough. And if we have something like hip-hop to bring us all together.
Do you have any plans in the future to perform in Ghana, or have you performed in Ghana?
I have performed in Ghana a couple of times. After this new album Suicide Stereotype comes out, I'm definitely going home, not just to Ghana alone, I'm working on getting a Nigerian show, a Zimbabwean show, a South African show, probably a Senegalese show.
What do you see in terms of the potential in general for hip hop in Africa? Because right now hip hop in Africa is still local, very few artists transcend national boundaries. Do you think there will ever be African hip hop version of Alpha Blondy or Kofi Olomide?
I think the potential is huge for African hip hop, which I call Afro-hop. I think the thing that would make (it) stand out is not necessarily just the lyrics being in a local language, but the music. I want to hear a local rapper rapping over a Fela Kuti (song) that is sampled with solid break beats. If reggae was just the blues sang in patois it wouldn't be popular.
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What about the debate over language? Some artists rapping French or English may feel more marketable outside of Africa, but may not be able to reach large segments of their own population who may not understand French or English well. So what do you think about rappers in Africa rapping in local languages or rapping in either French or English or Portuguese?
Make music in the language that you best understand. And the best way you can communicate. Personally, I can't totally communicate as well as I would want to in Akan or in Ashanti. So for me to just to do it just because, there would so much I would want to say, that I wouldn't be able to. If other people speak Wolof or Yoruba , and can't speak English well, there's no reason for them to make music in English because there'll be so much that they want to say that they can't say. I'm for whatever you can communicate in. If you can put it out there in patois, in pigeon, whatever it is, the people will find a way to dissect it.
What's in the future for you?
I'm very, very pumped about… Suicide Stereotype. We also have a record called “Revival” and I'm actually going to Ghana to shoot the video for (it). I'm working on a couple of film projects as well, cause this album is actually coming out with a movie. I've directed a couple of the music videos for my projects and I'm very amped to make this movie...working with a bunch of nonprofits to find ways of educating people on what true hip-hop is and how it relates to the continent. And how we can use that as a tool of empowerment.
For more information about Blitz please see his homepage: www.blitztheambassador.com
