Messengers of Truth

Hip-hop is one of most influential musical and social movements among young people. The United Nations acknowledges it can be a useful tool to convey its messages to young people worldwide and to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Out of this belief came the idea of the "Messengers of Truth", which involves hip-hop groups nominated by the UN who are going to dedicate their time, their art and their energy to spread the Millennium Development Goals and support initiatives for the development of young people in underprivileged districts and urban centers.

On 14 September 2004 at the World Urban Forum in Barcelona, eleven (11) Hip-Hop artists/groups as well as Carlinhos Brown, a world renowned musician from Brazil, Bebo Valdes, a pianist from Cuba and Fernando Trueba, an award-winning Spanish film director, were appointed UN-Habitat Messengers of Truth by Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements.

The Hip-Hop artists appointed as Messengers of Truth include La Haza and Geronación (Spain), Gidi Gidi Maji Maji Kenya, Godessa (South Africa), Nuuk Posse (Greenland), MV Bill of the “City of God” (Brazil), and La Etnnia (Colombia). K’naan (Canada/Somalia), Equicez and MADCON (Norway), Kelly Love Jones (USA).

What all these artists have in common is social commitment. All of them have used their respective art genre to create awareness on various issues touching on poverty, social exclusion, and youth at risk. They have also in their own ways created hope, trust and solidarity among otherwise disenfranchised youth.

LA ETNNIA

Hip-Hop in Colombia is about the search for identify among those whose voices are never heard. La Etnnia is the best-known rap group in Colombia. The group was formed in 1986 and has released four records. Their rap is a good example of the hip-hop in Latin America, as it is about promoting pride and self esteem in Colombians. The group has been praised for having its own label and using it to maintain its independence in the market. La Etnnia is considered the pioneering group of the hip-hop movement in Colombia. The group’s theory is that its not that hip-hop is black in itself but that black music has opened up spaces so that the universe can relate to its own. They feel that in hip-hop everyone has something to relate and to sing to.

The members of La Etnnia named their record label seal 5-27 Records, with which they recorded "The attack of the Metano", "Native Malice", "Criminología" and "Stress Pain & Adrenaline. All these records talk about the problems affecting the youth in Colombian urban streets, the malice, the crime, the hatred, the wickedness, the treason, the difficulty to survive, to leave of an environment that traps and that almost never shows a light of hope.

MV Bill, one of Brazil's most popular hip-hop artists, was born in the western part of Rio de Janeiro in 1974. His debut solo album released in 1999 was entitled CDD Mandando Fechado which, with lyrics heavily structured on social calls, helped put Rio on the map of Brazilian hip-hop. The CDD is in reference to “Cidade de Deus” – City of God – the favela or neighbourhood where MV Bill was born and lives to this day. MV Bill uses his words and music to paint a grim picture of the slums he grew up in and their legacy of racism, drugs and violence. Much like in the United States which set the trend, rap music in Brazil was created by marginalized groups and is regarded as the voice of the disenfranchised. He was involved in the making of a documentarty which showed the lives of 16 kids in the favelas, of the 16 kids, onl one remains alive today.

MV BILL says he made the documentary because he had lost three brothers and sisters to drugs and violence and he wanted to show kids that death is real, and to encourage them to take a critical look at their lives and their situation. He also wanted to raise awareness of the situation of youth at risk and to open up a dialogue between people living in the favelas and the government.

The revolution, as MV Bill calls it, seeks to deconstruct the myth of racial democracy and to present the real face of racism, poverty and social exclusion. MV Bill now devotes the better part of his time to TUFA, the Centre of the Songs of the Favelas.
This is a center dedicated to the development of youth in the slums. Most kids in the favelas sell drugs and walk around with firearms. But he feels that they could be more than that and the center provides traning for 4,000 youth at any given time. They learn how to read and write, as well as other skills. With their interest in the music scene, they are taught how to record music and make videos. All the people working in the center are volunteers and the center recieves no money from the government.

He says that his biggest wish is for black culture to become part of the mainstream culture in Brazil, and for our kids and our people to become empowered.

NUUK POSSE

Hip-Hop in Greenland is about encouragng pride in the Inuits and their almost forgotten way of life. Peter Motzfeldt, John Olsen and Henrik Broberg formed Nuuk Posse in 1985. Previously, they had been deejaying, breakdancing and putting up graffiti art in local youth-clubs. Later Andreas and Lars and heard their raps and asked them if they wanted to join the group. In 1989, they performed their first concert, which was a huge success. They released a single, "Sussa Apinnagu", in 1991. In 1995, they released another album, NP followed by a single “Indiginous Reality”. In an interview for “Milkycat”, an online magazine, Henrik Broberg of the group had the following to say:

“We are a country that had a primitive life just 60 years ago. The development goes really fast in Greenland. There are still some Eskimos that can't follow. Some are confused, and some can cope. Because of the development we forgot our culture in those 60 years; the development went on, and that's the reason we included some traditional music on "Kataaq". We wanted to wake up the culture, and remind the young people that we after all are INUIT's and we shouldn't forget it. Mixing new music with traditional chants are a thing we like up here.”

The group sings about daily life in Greenland and in 1996, they received the National Cultural Prize, given by the Government of Greenland. Nuuke Posse have been featured on the “Best of International Hip Hop”, a compilation CD featuring artists from different countries which has received favorable reviews.

Gidi Gidi Maji Maji

Gidi Gidi and his friend Maji Maji, represent a vibrant duo that has risen to stardom within a remarkably short time. They started rapping when they were young and met at a talent search competition. Their first track, "Ting badi malo" (Throw your arms in the air) took the Kenyan airwaves by storm and set record sales. The group became extremely popular on the club scene performing in several of Nairobi's nightspots. Their hit song “Unbowgable” was so popular during the Kenyan elections of 2002, that it became the theme song for the opposition party. The song based on Bwogo, (a luo word for fear) represented for most Kenyans, the struggle they had endured for years under the former regime, intimidation and fear.

The message that Kenyans were no longer afraid was loud and clear. Though the duo had never intended to write a political song, the song became an anthem. The group was the first Kenyan band to be signed by a major label in South Africa. They recently released their second album.

Godessa

The group was established in 2000, in Cape Town. The group consists of Shameewa Williams, a longstanding activist in Cape Town’s hip hop community, EJ von Lyrik, a long time collaborator with Ready D and Burni, a notorious spoken word poet. The three members came under the leadership of Shameema who had been trying to form a female rape crew since the early 1990’s. Their philosopy is that when one looks back at history, they will undoubtedly find that some of the most powerful leaders of all time were queens and Goddesses each one representing a fact of life. Godessa is based on the belief that women represent eternal life through giving birth, carrying knowledge and possess the balance of being psychological and analytical thinkers. The girls wanted to make effective contributions and changes in their community, not just by rapping and performing but also by getting involved in the community

Their rhymes combine substance, style and street wrapped in incisive flows. They use playful beats that can appeal to anyone no matte their age group. Music critics have dubbed their sound as “ effortless, their beats are fly enough to keep the party flowing while their socially conscious lyrics insinuate themselves into your head on an almost subconscious level”. Goddessa became the first ever-female group to sign a recording deal with independent label when African Dope records signed them.

Asked about working in a male dominated genre, they defend themselves by saying that hip-hop has no gender, it is built on a activist ideology and anyone can be an activist. They stress that they are not feminists but that they provide encouragement to young girls in South Africa who lack role models. They also insist that they get a lot of encouragement from the males that they work with though they do sometimes encounter nasty male egos but mostly from crews that are not from Cape Town and thus are unfamiliar with them.

EQUICEZ

There is no doubt that Equicez have come a long way since they first met up in 1993. Their debut was long in the making, and after ten years with gigs and battles the debut album “State of Emergency-Generation Equiz” was finished. Both Cast and F’Em One knew that making a hip-hop album would be hard, and that they would have to work over a long period to achieve this. The debut was a great success and the ten year wait was definitely worth it. One year after the release of ”State of Emergency-Generation Equiz” Cast and F’Em One are looking back on a very successful twelve months. Their album is definitely the most praised hip-hop album ever to be released in Norway, and this naturally puts them among the heavyweight rap artists in Scandinavia.

Both ZTV and MTV have been airing two of Equicez’s music videos, “Barsnlig” and “Live from pass it”. The single “barnslig” aired on Norway’s biggest radio station P3 for 16 weeks. At the Norwegian hip hop awards 2004, Equicez collected three prizes; album of the year: “Equicez-State of Emergency”, Song of the year: “Barnslig”, and the award for the best MC went to Cast. Equicez has also been nominated for many awards at Spellemannsprisen (Norways Grammy) and this year they won in the category “Best hip hop”. They also won the well-respected Alarm award for best hip hop album. F’ Em One assures us that they have been working a lot the last year, and that within five years they will be one of the biggest acts in Europe. Equicez have played the biggest festivals in Scandinavia including Roskilde, Quart and Øya during the last year. Their enormous success has also attracted other interested artists who would like to work with Equicez, this resulted in the mixtape album “The Omen”. This album includes Cast and F’Em.

One doing two solo projects and also them together with a brand new song as Equicez. Dirty Oppland’s Onkl P also guests this album. Cast and F’Em One are both in progress with each their solo album. These are planned released winter 2005, but this autumn you will be hearing the new singles. Cast, F’Em One and other artists signed the “Pass It” record label can also be seen at this summers Quart festival. There “Pass It” will be warming up Dizzie Rascal and N.E.R.D

Equicez have the ambitions and the talent to make it big, and with other artists either selling out, or getting out of the game Equicez have a golden opportunity to make they’re mark on Europe.

K'NAAN

K'naan moved to North America as a Somali refugee in 1991 first to Harlem, NY then settled in Toronto Canada. He comes from a long line of Somali poets and over the years he has toured extensively and recorded with various Hip Hop, spoken word and World Beat Artist. Recently he signed a production deal with Grammy Awards winners Track and Field (Nelly Furtado). As well a recent signing to ATV Sony Publishing has allowed him to start recording his debut album that will be produced by Track and Field and feat various Internationally known artists. In 2003, he returned to East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) for the first time to shoot his debut video for the single Soobax as well as a documentary of his life story as it relates to art, music, war and being a refugee.

The song Soobax is the lead single from the long awaited debut LP – The Dusty Foot Philosopher. Soobax means “Come Out” in Somali and is a direct conversation with the gunmen and warlords, a plea to stop the blood feuds and on going wars to “come out with the troubles they have caused” His mission has been to present a platform for Africa and East Africans to speak with the world, create dialogue and raise awareness of the struggles and BEAUTY of the people.

La HAZA – Spain

HAZA (the Haze) is often described as an unstoppable phenomenon that is raising the level of expectation of the Spanish hip-hop movement which began slowly, qt first, in 1989. Sergio Lopez is a young Sevillian. Haze is his alter ego - a visceral chronicler that raps about the painful reality of the district of the Pajaritos in Seville. "Crónicas of the Barrio", released in 2004, is a testimony to the vicious cycle of drugs and delinquency, of pain generating more pain and of alienation generating more alienation. Despite appearances, his message isn’t only negative, he also raps about the courage that is needed to go beyond one’s daily reality and to discover and empower oneself.

KELLY LOVE JONES - USA

Hailing from New Orleans, LA, Kelly Love Jones encompasses the cultural richness of her hometown in her music. With her own unique blend of acoustic guitar, folk, hip hop, blues, and poetry she has impressed audiences of music lovers both at home and overseas. Drawing inspiration for lyrics from her daily life experiences, Kelly has, for the past 12 years, used music as an emotional outlet, linking her with the hearts of her listeners through personal rhythmic reflection. Among the issues she sings about one can cite women equality and empowerment, social consciousness and solidarity. In her own words, "It's the connection that makes the music worth making. Everything outside of that, as we say in New Orleans, is lagniappe (extra)".

GERONACIÓN

After the challenges experienced by pioneers of Spanish Hip-Hop in the 1980’s, Girona saw the birth of Geronación in 1991 – a fusion of previous styles. Each members of the group had previous exposure to different music genres. The members: Urban; Arse; Soyez; and Apre started out by participating in rap contests. Their theme song "Hey, Hey” and "Pa Representar" put Geronación on the map. These songs set them apart from the rest and established a unique style. Young people have commented: "they are different, positive………sound fresh!"

The group through its songs advocates for preservation of culture and heritage. Geronación also rap about the social ills and how youth can play a role in governance and promote societal consciousness.

MADCON

Madcon, made up of Tshawe Bagwe(Kapricon) and Yosef Wolde-Mariam(Critical) have established themselves as a force to be reckoned within the European Hip-Hop community. They have been recognised as one of Norway's best live artists and have preformed as opening acts for a broad range of international artists. They have recently established their own record label AA-Recordings and also signed a deal with Bonier Amigo music - the largest independent label in Scandinavia.

Other Artists Appointed as Messengers of Truth

Carlinhos Brown

It is impossible to go anywhere today in Brazil without hearing the music of Carlinhos Brown. His name is almost synonymous with music. Carlinhos Brown says he is a workaholic, if you can call singing, drumming, writing and dancing "work". In addition to his band Timbalada, and his solo record, Alfagamabetizado, he has been collaborating with artists from all over Brazil: Daniela Mercury, Marisa Monte, Sergio Mendes, and even the rock group Sepultura. 30 of Brown's compositions have topped the Brazilian charts over the past decade. The one constant: the Bahian sound, a mix of Afro-Brazilian percussion with a touch of a reggae beat.

Carlinhos Brown is one of the leaders of a movement that takes the traditional Afro-Brazilian drumming, and sets it to pop beat, with electric guitars and a brass section. The sound is infectious, and it is largely responsible for Salvador's millions of visitors annualy, tourists on musical pilgrimages.

There are certain cities that simply "are" music, cities that live and breath creativity, New Orleans, Louisiana or Havana, Cuba. Salvador de Bahia is certainly one of those cities. Salvador de Bahia was Brazil's first center of government (from 1549 to 1763), but remains it's musical capital. For centuries, Bahia was home of the Portuguese the sugar industry, and the slave trade. As a result, today Salvador is the largest center of African culture in the Americas. Amidst the colonial architecture and cobblestone streets, there is the unmistakeable beat of Bahian drumming. It becomes overwhelming when the large drumming ensembles take to the streets. Olodum, Filhos de Gandhi, Ile Aiye, and Carlinhos Brown's Timbalada all perform regularly in public. These groups "Blocos Afros" don't just have two or three drummers, but often number in the hundreds.

Carlinhos Brown began drumming as a child. As a teenager, after falling in love with the music of James Brown, he changed his name from Antonio Carlos Santos Freita to Carlinhos Brown. He began playing music from all over the world, Angola, Cuba, America, and Brazil, taking tunes of Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Roberto Carlos, and transforming the music with an Afro-Bahian sound. In the early 1980s, he was hired by Salvador's radio station WR to compose advertising jingles, pop tunes, with that Afro-Brazilian drum beat. They became instant hits. This led to collaborations with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Djavan, and others, and gave Brown the opportunity to launch the band Timbalada. The group is named after the timbal, a small hand held drum which he designed.

Today, Timbalada is one of Bahia's most popular bands. Timbalada features 120 instrumentalists (most of them drummers). Based in the neighborhood of Candeal, Timbalada is also a neighborhood association. It's social mission includes educational projects, and assistance to street children. "Like many cities in Brazil", says Brown, "we have many many street children. One of our projects is working with these kids, allowing them to work with professional musicians, and play with a wide variety of instruments."

Adapted from: <http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/brown.html>

FERNANDO TRUEBA

Fernando Trueba is a Spanish director of light, frolicsome comedies with classical characters and story structures. Trueba had directed features and penned screenplays for a number years, starting with "Opera Prima/First Effort" (1980). The release of "Belle Epoque" (1993) snagged a 1993 Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. The film illustrated Trueba's desire to entertain through well-scripted comedies. His signature films include "El ano de las Luces/The Year of Awakening" (1986) and "The Mad Monkey" (1989), his English-language debut, starring Jeff Goldblum. According to Trueba, his influences include such diverse film directors as Billy Wilder, Jean Renoir and Woody Allen.

Trueba started out as a film critic for a Spanish daily before founding his own film magazine, CASABLANCA, in 1980. He has also produced several films including "Lulu de Noche/Lulu By Night" (1985) and an English-language series entitled "Magicians of the Earth" (1989). Filmmaker Fernando Trueba, is doing a documentary on the Candeal neighborhood, in Salvador de Bahía, Brazil. The miracle of Candeal is a "musical", which features Candeal favela (slum). The Documentary is a story of how the solidarity, determination and efforts of a small group of people can change and to improve the life of a community. Actors include Carlinhos Brown and Cuban pianist, Bebo Valdes.

BEBO VALDÉS

	Bebo Valdés has built a career based on hits. Close friend to some of the personages who have changed the course of history of Cuban music and Latin jazz, the greatest praises come to him from certain musicologists who relate him to the top nineteenth-century Cuban composers such as Saumell, Cervantes and Romeu. A top-notch pianist/composer/arranger, Bebo Valdes (father of pianist Chucho Valdes) and was the musical director of nightclub shows at the Tropicana in Havana by 1948. Very active in the 1950s, Valdes is considered one of the giants of Cuban music, arranging many recordings, composing mambos, and organizing Afro-Cuban jazz jam sessions.
Above: Bebo (right) with Carlinhos and Fernando
He defected from Cuba in 1960 and by 1963 had settled in Stockholm. In 1994, after 34 years off records, he cut Bebo Rides Again for the Messidor label, not only playing piano but composing eight numbers and arranging 11 songs in the 36 hours before the first session.