The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I've heard a lot of Senegal's DJ Awadi and how he is talked about a lot when it comes to African hip-hop. We've seen a lot of conscious and meaningful hip hop come out of Senegal and Awadi's Positive Black Soul deserves a lot of the credit. Awadi's recent album, Presidents d'Afrique (African presidents) was released in 2010, the same year many African nations celebrated their golden jubilees of independence. Awadi took us back to the 60's and told us those messages of unity, positivity, leadership and revolution still ring true today. So, I had to let you know all about the album :-) African rap legend, Didier Awadi , is one of the most highly respected African musicians. He spent four years of research, reading, collecting and interviews preparing his most recent album, Presidents d'Afrique. He featured many African rappers and musicians on the album, making a transcendent and monumental African rap album. L'Esclave opens the album and feature...

As you know, American President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting with Young African Leaders from over 50 countries about the future of Africa in an interconnected world and the role of the United States as a partner with African nations. I had wondered how old these young leaders were but from the video, it seems these leaders are as young as 30 and even below. Sweet. I loved how they were repping in their cultural attires too. Here are some soundbites I found particularly interesting. THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House, and welcome to the United States of America. And that includes even our friends from Ghana, who beat us in the World Cup. (Laughter.) Where are you? Over there? That's all right. It was close. We’ll see you in 2014. (Laughter.) HAHAHAHA We need young Africans who are standing up and making things happen not only in their own countries but around the world. Diaspora Africa’s future belongs to entrepreneurs Can't stop saying this line right here So it...

From August 3-5, American President Barack Obama will engage with 115 young leaders from 47 nations of sub-Saharan Africa at his Forum with Young African Leaders. The Forum is an opportunity for the participants to engage with each other, their American counterparts, and U.S. government officials on key themes of youth empowerment, good governance, and economic opportunity. North Africa will not be represented, which is cause for another debate that my friend MBA has already started here . Major props to the Obama administration for putting this together. Learn more about the breakout/forum/summit/camp here . I'll be following through Twitter #youngafrica . Yay, for Obama and his folks using Twitter. Isn't that why we love Hussein anyway? Yes, we can. What I really wanted to share with you was the list of young African leaders? First off, I was so surprised I didn't know about this till last week. A whole me! :-) A friend, Mac-Jordan, even asked on Twitter if we knew of any...

On July 11, around 12:40pm GMT, I was rounding off a night of partying in Las Vegas. To me, life was good. What was I missing? Barack Obama's address to the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra. Obama is building a legacy of great speeches and this was also bound to be a historic one. Hussein did not disappoint. He was speaking the capacity as the 'leader of the free world' and president of the great US of A. As I read the speech more carefully today, I felt America's first Black president seemed to be speaking for Africans and Africa, even more than for America. He did show a lot of tough love to Africa in there but his tone was one of - this is what Africa needs and desires, this is the way 'we can do it', and this is the way the rest of the world (America, etc) should help. Obama has some Africa in him and for those of us Africans who wondered how much help he'll be to us, I believe we should sleep well at night because he does mean business. I wish I could post ...

This past weekend marked the visit of Barack Obama to Ghana. A lot has been said about the significance of this visit, this being the first trip to a sub-Saharan African nation by the first Black American president. I missed most of the speeches and festivities since I had 'gotten away' for the weekend and have been reading up on some blogs written by various Ghanaians on the Obama trip. I will like to share some thoughts from these awesome people. GhanaConscious' own Omanba critiqued Barack's speech. She broke it down into four major parts - democracy, health care, conflict resolution and doing it yourself. I personally think too much mention is made of democracy but Omanba spells it out nicely - "An era of tyranny, gagging, misuse of power and governing with impunity sprinkled with a dash of Elections every so often, does not constitute democracy. Africa must take note!" She stresses the fight against HIV-AIDS and Malaria and also mentions drug counterfeit...

I haven't followed Barack Obama much since he became the US president but ever since news broke of his impending visit to Ghana July 10-11, I've become a little more attentive. I hear he will be giving a speech at the Independence Square for which Ghanaians from all walks of lie could go see him speak. Obama is noted for great speeches and I believe we have another one coming up, after his stirring speech at the American University of Cairo earlier this year. Recently, he sat down with journalists from AllAfrica.com to talk about his visit to Ghana. Ghana is seen as one of the shining stars on the continent and it's easy to see why it would be chosen. It is also a leader in the Pan-African movement, with events like Panafest. President Kuffour also built great ties with Bush's America and the ties will continue with Obama-Mills. Barack Obama is believed to be visiting the Central Region during his short stay in Ghana, probably touring the slave castles there and learnin...

A friend shared one video and I felt I should share with you all. See how people celebrated Obama's victory in some African cities. We were all very happy, but some people were happier than others http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFPczM58G6w This video was made by Africanews.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSWz95ynwm4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkvgG5HMTw

More blog downtime, so here is another poem. Yes, Obama won the election and I am very very very happy. I walk around with my shoulders up these days and that sense that I 'own' the world is even more prominent within me now. I do want to take a moment to thank God for what I have and how He has blessed me. I thank Him for people like Barack Obama who can inspire us. I hope he ends these 'two wars' America is fighting soon and amicably. I am also praying for peace, let's believe that we will have that all around the world sooner than later. Here's another 'war-child' poem I wrote on the same day I wrote this one . Enjoy. Life has laid its burden on thee! Oh, innocent son of Junta, Longing to see a Santa What has thou to live for? Bread or blood For the love of life, And the death of hate, Thou have to fight. Clear your sore eyes, Thy strength shows in your tears. Wash your filthy hands, Thy blood is no different. Blow your hollow cheeks, Thou have never ...

November 4th, 2008 was a monumental day. A black man became the leader of the 'free world' and the president of arguably the most powerful nation on earth. I supported him, because he was the best candidate and I admired his vision, character, personality, ideas and ideals. As the results came in, I thanked God for the impending victory and the lack of 'surprises'. The last thing I could handle was to have the opinion polls heading into Nov 4th say one thing and provide a different end result, especially when it would be going against the outcome I so much wanted to happen. Obama said 'Yes, we can' and yes, 'we' have won the election. Barack made it clear though, that the change he'd preached for more than a year wasn't here yet and that we needed to work hard to see it come to fruition. Yes, we can but we are not done yet. I received a text from a friend saying: "Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King (MLK) could walk, MLK walked so Obama co...

Champs, thanks for the encouragement. Y'all make me want to write more. I hadn't planned on writing tonight but I got inspired again. Shebi shebi, I am on fire. I am hot right now. Nah, there's no 'eye candy' or mishap in this story. I just attended an event at Stanford: An evening with (Skip) Henry Louis Gates, Jr, who was interviewed by Claude Steele. I remember Skip from an event I attended at Harvard when I was still at MIT, where he led a panel discussion celebrating Wole Soyinka's 70th birthday. I met both Skip and Uncle Wole that night, and that experience requires another blog. This conversation was very interesting; but this is what I remember - education, racial 'stuff', paradigm shifts in how black people are perceived and Barack Obama. They couldn't resist talking about Barack Hussein Obama, would you? I already spoke about him here but this is a follow-up. I am engulfed in Obamamania and I can't wait to see him win this election. Ho...

Whew! I almost missed my flight back to the Bay after a jolly good weekend in the surrounding areas of LA. Well, I didn't go to Universal Studios like I always wanted to, to try and get a cameo in the next big movie, but I went partying in Hollywood. The other big pieces of news other than my trip to Tinseltown is news of Hurricane Gustav (I thought all hurricanes had female names?), transfer deadlines in Europe, and the national political party conventions in the US. Needless to say, Obama has been on my mind lately. I really like Barack Obama. He's a breath of fresh air, he's the kind of leader I adore. He is inspirational, he gives great speeches (would be nice if he threw in a couple of Latin quotes once in awhile), he is young and ambitious, he is a writer, he craves change for the better and he seems concerned about the average Joe and Joana. When I grow up, I want to be like Obama. Totally. We all know he's black (like me) but he also has an African father. As if...