Juju Girl is a Short Film/Music Video set in 1960s Ghana from the latest project titled D I A S P O R A D I C A L the EP by the eclectic Afrocentric hip hop artist, Blitz the Ambassador coming out this April. I have for a while now, admired Blitz’s brand and music and the way he so effortlessly fuses and delivers his talent in a musically idiosyncratic manner. You can tell he knows and cares not just about the chops but also the message. Lyrically and musically on point. Excellence. And his passion for the continent is infectious. Tops in my books. Here’s two of my favorites from him.
About Blitz
Blitz is the conveyor of the Afrotronic-hop. A hip hop ambassador of African culture in the diaspora.
Samuel Bazawule known by the stage name Blitz the Ambassador, is a Ghanaian-American hip-hop artist and visual artist based in Brooklyn, USA. Samuel Bazawule was born in Accra, Ghana in April 1982. He is the third of four children and attended the renowned Achimota School. While in school he amassed awards for his visual art, but later developed an obsession with hip hop music after hearing his older brother play the classic Public Enemy album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Drawing on his love for history and social observation, he began to research and write historically-loaded rhymes for which he became famous in school.
Blitz (as he had come to be known) was first recognized by Ghanaian Ace producer Hammer of The Last Two. Blitz was asked to come to the studio the next day after delivering an impressive eight bars upon meeting Hammer, who wasted no time in putting him on wax. He recorded a verse on the song Deeba and – in the fashion of one of his idols, Nas, gained instant notoriety and received an award for best new artist at the 2000 Ghana Music Awards. Soon after, in 2001, he moved to the USA to study at Kent State University in Ohio. It was while studying for his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration that he developed his skills as a live artist, performing at several live shows and opening for iconic rappers such as Rakim as well as recording a self-released album, Soul Rebel (2004), under the moniker Blitz.
After graduation, Blitz moved to New York City to pursue his dream. In NYC, Blitz recorded another album, Double Consciousness (2005), discography after this includes 2009: StereoLive EP and in 2013: The Warm Up EP. Studio Albums: 2009: Stereotype, 2011: Native Sun, 2014: Afropolitan Dreams and more recently a 2015: Diasporadical EP. Drawing from his diverse musical background, he immersed himself in the project with explicit intent of changing Hip Hop forever. …via wiki
Blitz the Ambassador live in Switzerland (Full Show)
With a vision that embraces his personal West African past and a revolutionary future of Afropolitan cross-pollination, Blitz the Ambassador meshes African popular sounds, American vintage soul, and hard-hitting beats and lyrics with the help of an international cast of collaborators, including the elegant Angelique Kidjo and Afrobeat firebrand Seun Kuti.
But as always with Blitz, the album is about far more than the music. It’s about the Immigrants who made America, who shaped and molded it. Each person, each generation, each bearer of culture arriving on a boat or airplane has made an impression. Immigration is the chain that links the past to the present, the near to the seemingly far…Via his site for more info.
Stay tuned for more news on the forthcoming Diasporadical EP (released on Jakarta Records) on Blitz The Ambassador’s page.
Beautifully Dreaming…Positively Doing..
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