hip hop, back to the roots angel luis lara & lorea bidegain
The great Chuck D, leader of Public Enemy, commented years ago that hip hop was the CNN of the ghetto. That was then, but times have robbed his pronouncement of the meaning they had. In fact, in the last twenty years this form of musical expression has slowly but surely fled its poor barrio birthplace, and, under music industry guidance, in the USA, it now outsells country and is slowly overtaking rock in the sales league as well. But, as someone once said, “to grow is to die”. Hip hop is losing the philosophy that anchored it at its birth. All that’s being left behind is the image. Us here, well, we’d like to introduce you to groups from western Europe that have managed to cling onto the original sentiment of hip hop. From Paris, Bams, black, Cameroonian. And from the Pan Bendito neighbourhood of Madrid, La Excepcion, gypsies with attitude. This is not Operacion Triunfo and Star Academy. bams (by angel luis lara)
Fans were completely surprised at the fact that someone entered the French hip-hop scene out of the orthodoxy of the repetitive beats without permission. The fact that this ‘someone’ was a woman became a piece of news. When in 1999 Bams published her first piece of work ("Vivre ou mourir") nobody suspected her nonconformism or her intention to dumbfound the Parisian scene. She has published her last album with the collaboration of RZA (Wu Tang Clan). This mc from Cameroon has escaped from every cliché. Without having a preconception, she reflects her desire for the combination of different genres and styles.
Bams isn’t a usual mc. With a Bachelor degree in Math’s, she has won the triple jump competition in France and Africa several times. She’s an actress and a journalist; her versatility doesn’t know borders. Anxious and traveler, she explains us the sense of her proposal:
“Nowadays, everything is very conventional. There isn’t any surprise; there’s a clear tendency to erase the multiplicity we all have inside. This is one of the messages in my last album. I talk about the multiplicity of composition and the exploration of new musical universes. When I used to talk about my new project, people laughed at me. However, I defend my own ideas: thinking with many senses for the human being is full of paradoxes, as well as life itself.”
That’s the way it is. “De ce monde” is a paradoxical and a half-caste experience that mixes jazz, afro beat, electronic music and flamenco. This is all prepared with the collaboration of RZA, Les Nubians, Dgiz, Casey and Patrick Gorager –the keyboard player of Femi Kuti and the drums of Lokua Kanza-. Her eclecticism has a unifying sense, as well as her own name, Bams:
“It comes from a Cameroonian ethnic, Bamileké. This is the ethnic of my parents, and they are called Bams in Cameroon.”
Her public appearance in the French hip-hop scene has also a complete sense:
“When someone comes from a place where there are social injustices, you have a duty to break the logic of exploitation, of rich and poor and black and white. I chose rap because it is the best way to show denunciation. I see myself identified in hip-hop. Energy, generosity, respect and freestyle are my highest values.”
That’s why we understand her need to place herself in this universe, although she has to fight against a double seclusion: on the one hand, because heterodoxy is her identity sign and on the other hand, because she is a woman on a scene highly dominated by men.
Bams is back with a new album. Meanwhile, she has been from stage to stage for two years and has created the “Respect” magazine to “decolonize imaginaries.” In her adolescence, she was fan of Kortatu, The Clash and Fela Kuti. Bams is a UFO in the insignificant sky of hip-hop.
la excepción (by lorea bidegain)
Hip hop is very competitive and it seems that this losehas spread quiet rapidly throughout Spanish hip hop, I mean, you yourselves have said that people here seem to have latched much more onto the image thing rather than the philosophy.
Well, our main influence is clearly North American hip hop, but you have to adopt that philosophy to your own reality. Your birthplace, the streets you’ve grown up on, the space around you... and they are obviously not the same as what you’d find in the USA. So, basically, we talk about our reality because that’s what we’ve lived through. As far as the aesthetics go... I don’t know, I think the posturing and the attitudes don’t really fit in here, they’re not natural here. Hip hop is a street creature, it has to be more humble.more ‘real’. What we’ve done is take the American influence and adapt it to Spanish reality. If they are influenced by soul, well, we’ve got touches of gypsy music, Los Chicos, Los Chungitos...
What type of reception have you had from the gypsy community?
Much better than we expected. The truth is that they are always asking us about what we do, they tend to be really surprised at gypsies doing hip hop. I mean, in most of our concerts, there are about 50 or 60 gypsies in the front rows. It’s special, you nkow, gypsies know how to address us. We never disrespect anyone – we love everybody, we are really grateful for any interest shown in us by anybody.
How did you get involved with the music industry?
Really quite complicated actually. Delicate, too. You really have to be careful with what’s being said around you, so there are no regrest about anything later on. It’s really important that you always know who you are, where you come from and where you wanna get to. That’s the most important thing. Then, there’s a load of shi... involved with each new record ... mmm ... it’s really boring. The fans are what really matters to us. We want to play gigs, feel the warmth given to us by the fans, see how well they receive us, they pass us on shit and all, they talk to us. Hip hop is for the people, not for the rich. We’ve just started working with a multinational, we really have to lash our balls up on the table to make things clear and make sure the whole business end of things is going well.
Do you make a living out of your music?
Well, selling 25,000 to 30,000 is not gonna make you rich, but between that and the gigs, we’ve been able to put bread on the table out of music for the last short while. Take me, I’m married and I have a kid. I’ve just bought myself a place here in Panben, where I’ve always lived, well, flats are a fair bit cheaper than other places. Don’t think for a minute that I don’t know where I’m heading. I know where my place is. I have no great huge desire to end up like Bisbal and that lot. All we want is to be able to live from music with a bit of dignity.
Fans were completely surprised at the fact that someone entered the French hip-hop scene out of the orthodoxy of the repetitive beats without permission. The fact that this ‘someone’ was a woman became a piece of news. When in 1999 Bams published her first piece of work ("Vivre ou mourir") nobody suspected her nonconformism or her intention to dumbfound the Parisian scene. She has published her last album with the collaboration of RZA (Wu Tang Clan). This mc from Cameroon has escaped from every cliché. Without having a preconception, she reflects her desire for the combination of different genres and styles.
Bams isn’t a usual mc. With a Bachelor degree in Math’s, she has won the triple jump competition in France and Africa several times. She’s an actress and a journalist; her versatility doesn’t know borders. Anxious and traveler, she explains us the sense of her proposal:
“Nowadays, everything is very conventional. There isn’t any surprise; there’s a clear tendency to erase the multiplicity we all have inside. This is one of the messages in my last album. I talk about the multiplicity of composition and the exploration of new musical universes. When I used to talk about my new project, people laughed at me. However, I defend my own ideas: thinking with many senses for the human being is full of paradoxes, as well as life itself.”
That’s the way it is. “De ce monde” is a paradoxical and a half-caste experience that mixes jazz, afro beat, electronic music and flamenco. This is all prepared with the collaboration of RZA, Les Nubians, Dgiz, Casey and Patrick Gorager –the keyboard player of Femi Kuti and the drums of Lokua Kanza-. Her eclecticism has a unifying sense, as well as her own name, Bams:
“It comes from a Cameroonian ethnic, Bamileké. This is the ethnic of my parents, and they are called Bams in Cameroon.”
Her public appearance in the French hip-hop scene has also a complete sense:
“When someone comes from a place where there are social injustices, you have a duty to break the logic of exploitation, of rich and poor and black and white. I chose rap because it is the best way to show denunciation. I see myself identified in hip-hop. Energy, generosity, respect and freestyle are my highest values.”
That’s why we understand her need to place herself in this universe, although she has to fight against a double seclusion: on the one hand, because heterodoxy is her identity sign and on the other hand, because she is a woman on a scene highly dominated by men.
Bams is back with a new album. Meanwhile, she has been from stage to stage for two years and has created the “Respect” magazine to “decolonize imaginaries.” In her adolescence, she was fan of Kortatu, The Clash and Fela Kuti. Bams is a UFO in the insignificant sky of hip-hop.
la excepción (by lorea bidegain)
Hip hop is very competitive and it seems that this losehas spread quiet rapidly throughout Spanish hip hop, I mean, you yourselves have said that people here seem to have latched much more onto the image thing rather than the philosophy.
Well, our main influence is clearly North American hip hop, but you have to adopt that philosophy to your own reality. Your birthplace, the streets you’ve grown up on, the space around you... and they are obviously not the same as what you’d find in the USA. So, basically, we talk about our reality because that’s what we’ve lived through. As far as the aesthetics go... I don’t know, I think the posturing and the attitudes don’t really fit in here, they’re not natural here. Hip hop is a street creature, it has to be more humble.more ‘real’. What we’ve done is take the American influence and adapt it to Spanish reality. If they are influenced by soul, well, we’ve got touches of gypsy music, Los Chicos, Los Chungitos...
What type of reception have you had from the gypsy community?
Much better than we expected. The truth is that they are always asking us about what we do, they tend to be really surprised at gypsies doing hip hop. I mean, in most of our concerts, there are about 50 or 60 gypsies in the front rows. It’s special, you nkow, gypsies know how to address us. We never disrespect anyone – we love everybody, we are really grateful for any interest shown in us by anybody.
How did you get involved with the music industry?
Really quite complicated actually. Delicate, too. You really have to be careful with what’s being said around you, so there are no regrest about anything later on. It’s really important that you always know who you are, where you come from and where you wanna get to. That’s the most important thing. Then, there’s a load of shi... involved with each new record ... mmm ... it’s really boring. The fans are what really matters to us. We want to play gigs, feel the warmth given to us by the fans, see how well they receive us, they pass us on shit and all, they talk to us. Hip hop is for the people, not for the rich. We’ve just started working with a multinational, we really have to lash our balls up on the table to make things clear and make sure the whole business end of things is going well.
Do you make a living out of your music?
Well, selling 25,000 to 30,000 is not gonna make you rich, but between that and the gigs, we’ve been able to put bread on the table out of music for the last short while. Take me, I’m married and I have a kid. I’ve just bought myself a place here in Panben, where I’ve always lived, well, flats are a fair bit cheaper than other places. Don’t think for a minute that I don’t know where I’m heading. I know where my place is. I have no great huge desire to end up like Bisbal and that lot. All we want is to be able to live from music with a bit of dignity.
