Another day, another brilliant piece of work from an up-and-coming Ethiopian artist. This time, indulge in the beautiful simplicity of Mizan Kidanu’s “7 Billion” below:
Her EP, Dark Blue, is out on Nov. 6 on Terrible Records. Until then, check out her other tracks on SoundCloud..
Come out and enjoy the 2nd Annual #HabHalloween Party on Friday, Oct. 30th from 9pm-2:00am.
SPACE IS LIMITED. RSVP ONLY.
Venue: Addis Ethiopian Restaurant
Cover: $5 with costume // $10 without costume
Drinks & Hookah available
+21 and over. .
Learn more about Vala Tseguy, rapper hailing from New Orleans, LA!
Where did you grow up and how, if at all, did your environment influence your music and who you are today?
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Growing up there will definitely shape you in some way. There is a lot of culture. We do things a lil different. Music drives everything there. It’s impossible to be out in the city & not see street performers, people drinking in the streets, and smell flavorful foods. It’s also difficult to grow up there and not get exposed to violence. It’s called the “Big Easy” because it’s easy to get by with the lost cost of living but that also breeds an environment of people who aren’t used to having a lot of things, including myself. That makes it pretty difficult to be successful when you don’t know many successful people. Musically that has always inspired me to think bigger and travel to other places. Artists rarely break from NOLA. The market is pretty small and there’s a lot of crime but a lot of talent. People will try to end your life if you’re good and they view you as competition. I think the city is still searching for its identity in today’s music scene. There hasn’t been an artist to break out of New Orleans since the Hot Boys / Lil Wayne era. Most people leave Nola and find success in other places. So being from that environment and now here in California, I’m able to see all the opportunity and outlets for an artist.
By: Henok Elias
I am not the first one to point this out – shoutout to Sebastien Francois at Zumic. If you listened to hip-hop in the 1990’s, or you use Spotify and its ilk to pretend that you’ve been hip for two decades, you know who Erick Sermon, Method Man, (the Oxford comma lives) and Redman are. An introduction would be superfluous and extra. But, I didn’t even know who Erick Sermon was until The Game released “My Life” in 2008 and said, “I ain’t no preacher, but here’s my Erick Sermon”. Open another tab and do terse internet research to feed your curt attention span, then return to reading this article, if you don’t know these men. Sermon’s song “Clutch” was released this past Summer, but the music video just dropped at the end of September. Some samples are used as an undertone. This is not the case in “Clutch”. I hold this truth to be self-evident, that these men sampled noted Habesha music man ዓለምዐየሁ እሸተ (alemayehu ishete), and they were not the first to do so.
If you follow the Zumic link above you can find a Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def aka Black Dante track called “Stay Forever Alive” that samples the same ዓለምዐየሁ. Since Oh No’s, Madlib’s brother, fingerprints are on this joint, I want to also point you in the direction of Oh No’s 2009 “ETHIOPIUM”. As its title hints at, this an addictive instrumental-only album of Habesha samples mixed with hip-hop. Is there anything that is more me? Is there anything that is more you? Let’s continue down this musical rabbit hole. ገብርኤል ቴዎድሮስ (gebreyl teywodros or how the government spells it Gabriel Teodros) is a diaspora Habesha who put lyrics to Oh No’s “ETHIOPIUM”, and calls his concoction “Ethiopium: A Jitter Generation Mixtape”. Don’t be shy to click the link, it’s a free mixtape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Exy__D7D4.