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Sample Track 1:
"Boomerang" from Boomerang
Sample Track 2:
"Si la Vie n'est pas Belle" from Boomerang
Sample Track 3:
"Babylone" from Boomerang
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Boomerang
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Live Review
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Illinois Entertainer, Live Review >>

After more than 20 years of existence, hip-hop has traveled much further than any Bronx b-boy ever dreamed. From Hollywood to fashion runways and academia to the Dirty South, hip-hop culture has touched almost every aspect of the mainstream. You can go to any remote village in Europe, Asia, or Latin America and hear strains of a Tupac or 50 Cent tune. But it takes the three gifted MCs of Africa's Daara J to truly demonstrate just how long the journey has been.

"In Senegal, we have over 1,800 hip-hop groups. Everybody knows hip-hop was born in Africa," said Fadda Freddy at the start of Daara J's dynamic, tongue-twisting set at the Empty Bottle. Unfortunately, thanks to a neverending cycle of musical and cultural appropriation in the U.S., this is not such a well-known fact. Once Daara J got through singing and rapping in English, French, Spanish, Wolof, and Jamaican patois, however, there was no doubt about where hip-hop came from, and ultimately its essence will be preserved.

With Senegal's red, green, and gold flag draped over the stage, Fadda Freddy, Aladji Man, and N'Dango D bounded out, captivating the crowd from that moment on. Eschewing their typical hip-hop gear for brilliantly-colored, flowing jellabas (N' Dango D rocked a fedora and spray-painted African suit) paired with sneakers, Daara J personified hip-hop with an African sensibility. Instructing the crowd to "Wave your hands for Senegal," they launched into "Exodus," from their current CD, Boomerang (Wrasse). With Fadda Freddy embodying Bob Marley with his soulful singing and Aladji Man and N'Dango switching between Jamaican patois and Wolof with a blazin' hip-hop delivery, the trio drew on the African diaspora and called them all home.

After treating fans to the midtempo melodies of "Esperanza," complete with some Spanish rapping, the group announced, "It's time for some exercise." They decided that the fast-paced "Bop Sa Bop," which required an equally quick delivery, needed some acrobatic jumping to go along with it. When the eager audience failed to keep up, the DJ turned the beat up to a manic speed, to which they rapped and jumped without missing a verse.

Introducing "Boomerang," Aladji Man explained, "the music traveled from Africa and right now, the Africans are bringing the music back to you." With a hypnotic chorus that captures the spirit of Africa and the hip-hop that it spawned, Daara J turned it into the requisite call-and-response but with a twist. After instructing the crowd to sing "eeah ah oh eeeh eeh ah oh oh," Fadda Freddy was not satisfied. "In Africa, it's not just about singing, it's about dancing as well." So the mostly white, Gen X audience was obliged to dance the jalgaty, a traditional Senegalese dance that Freddy broke down into "two steps to the right, two steps to the left." Instead of the expected "wave your hands in the air" and "everybody scream," Daara J created a unified spectacle of singing, African dancing, (maybe bumbling) hip-hop fans.

Topping off their show with the African ritual of each performer dancing in a circle, they combined Senegalese moves with pop locking and breakdancing to ensure the connection was clear. Their elaborate robes soaked with perspiration from actually engaging their fans, their presence warm and enlightened, and their message hopeful, Daara J represented the true path for the future of hip-hop.

-- Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
 07/18/05 >> go there
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