X-PASTER
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 12, 2007
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Saleh J (real name: Saleh Jaber) from Tanzania was the first rapper in East Africa to release an album with raps in Swahili. Although he wasn't the first to pick up the mic in Tanzania, his tape was widely available in music stores all across the country and it played its part in the birth of Swahili language hip hop. This song uses the instrumental of Heavy D's 'Now that we found love'.
The current overflow of Tanzanian hiphop releases doesnt exactly remind of the situation in the early nineties. At the time there was hardly any local rap on the radio, and only one tape in stores. Hiphop afficionados had to go out to catch the few local artists in competitions like Yo Rap Bonanza, or at disco nights like the Kilimanjaro Poolside or New Africas 7th floor.
That one legendary tape that was blasting from cassette hawkers systems all over the country was Ice ice baby King of Swahili rap by Saleh Jaber, and though it cant be seen as representative of all the different crews at the time, it certainly reached a lot of people and thus its influence must not be underestimated. All these years, Ice ice baby King of Swahili Rap sat in my record collection and with its msela style cover it remained somewhat of an enigma.
Were talking 1992, and only shortly afterwards and at the height of the craze, Saleh J had to leave the country to go and live in the United Arab Emirates. Hes been there ever since, making it hard for the new generation of emcees to get an idea whos behind this name from the old days....
Source: africanhiphop
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