"Waka Waka"

Boima's WFMU post about the detective work involved in retracing the steps of a mystery tune we were both recently hunting down went up today, detailing the journey of a Cameroonian military song lost in translation throughout the world. I was introduced to it through a Bubbling remix of a Dominican Merengue pop hit, him a Darkar rap song. We found traces of what we were referring to as "Waka Waka" in The Netherlands, Suriname, D.R., Rwanda, Liberia, France, Senegal, taking many forms but always retaining the same sweet melody. Youtube videos were piling up, but the origin was unknown to us until Boima solved the case which ended up stemming from a rather humorous 1980s military band in Cameroon. Wasn't my guess as to it's roots but hey, it's globetrotting abilities were alarming so really are we surprised?

Weird Mixtapes Vol 1

Since countless instances of philosophizing the mixtape have occurred before, I'm not going to add anything to the pile. Instead, I'm going to make it a regular feature over here to talk about the hidden gems I've collected from secret Youtube links, Datpiff, and street CD-Rs. The ritual of digging through all this shit is one that makes music fun for me, and probably the reason I'm content about the lack of solid albums in the world today. Hopefully I'm finding some stuff your not, but if you got something you want to talk about send it, I like getting emails.


Munchi - Baltimore Club Promo 2009

"Weird" isn't really the word to describe most Baltimore Club, but it works when we're talking about the complicated relationship it has with the Netherlands. As strange as Bubbling is to begin with, it's even stranger when your trying to make Bmore anthems with the Murder She Wrote Riddim. The title of 20 year old Dominican born, Rotterdam raised Munchi's demo is a bit deceiving, because I don't think Dutch Pop remixes will get you a gig in Maryland. Maybe in a parallel universe where people pop and lock while doing the Crazy Leg, but we live in a world where the Wu-Tang and the Dutty Wine sit on ether side of Watagatapitusberry. Your usually supposed to pick a side but the young producer's culture clashes push the kind of buttons we love to talk about around here. An outsider with a passion who gives back almost as much as he takes, these tracks are like classic Unruly records holding hands with Mr Moortje and the friendship they have is pretty damn cute.

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Dios, Patria y Libertad

New Gangland episode last night, NYC and Jersey based Dominican gang Trinitarios. Lots of lime green bandannas wearing dudes welding machetes and screwdrivers. Lame of me that this is my first DR post and it has to be a violent one, promises of positive music posts very soon.

It's a pretty great episode though.