soul food: mike e + afroflow

an american born in ethiopia, mike-e is a spoken-word artist and emcee with something to say.

©GVW

his album afroflow ii pays tribute to the fact that hip-hop flows from africa and his music is heavily influenced by the sounds of africa, in general and ethiopia in particular. 

in addition to being an incredible lyricist and poet, mike-e has also used his music to generate awareness and promote change and social responsibility both in america and in ethiopia.  his annual afroflow tour is a collaboration with the american cancer society and aims at engaging youth and families in the fight against cancer. in ethiopia, he has launched the christmas in ethiopia campaign which is raising funds to purchase uniforms, educational supplies, and gifts for children affected by HIV/AIDS. all proceeds from album sales in december will go to this fund. listen and buy the album, here. 


good music + art creating change = awesome.

soul food: mike e + afroflow

a thousand [and one] hills

a few weeks ago, i was listening to zoe chace interview ms. lauryn hill on NPR. it appeared as though ms. hill was back: performing again, talking about recording again. i took to twitter and facebook and tentatively shouted it from the various virtual mountaintops. my prayers to the gods of music had been answered: ms. hill is back. i had no idea, at the time, that on her journey back, she would show up in my proverbial back yard. a little over a week ago, i was standing backstage at a concert that i had dreamed of attending since i was about 17. as the announcer began his introduction, i stood next to ms. hill as she climbed the steps to take the stage at the pan african dance festival in kigali, rwanda and i had myself a moment, y'all. i suddenly snapped out of professional organizational mode and fully realized what was happening. ms. hill was back. and she was here. in the land of a thousand hills. if you had told me 15 years ago that this was even possible, there is no way i would've been able to fathom it. but a few brilliant people with a vision and relentless determination made it happen! and i bore witness.

this is the exact time negrita's brain realized what she was witnessing.

...read more here...

a thousand [and one] hills