[gotnext]

Growing up in Africa , the screens have always shown the glamour of America. Africans have grown up watching American stories, having American aspirations. While the American interaction with the continent of Africa, has been and still is, limited to the adverse images of war, femine and disease. The refreshing images reflect jungles and the rich wildlife. Very little has been done to boost the urban and modernized images of Africa. Its true Africa has its fair share of shortcomings, no continent is exempted from its share of flaws, but now, there is a new Africa that's boiling with opportunities. Emerge Media Films, do just that with their latest offering, Hip Hop Colony - a film about the African Hip-hop explosion is part of the QD3 collection series and will be exclusively distributed by Image Entertainment through out north America ( U.S. & Canada) The title will be available on DVD April 3rd 2007.

The film which has captivated film festival audiences all over the World and won three major awards, including the prestigious Hip Hop Odyssey, for best documentary feature, continues to make significant cultural strides, having been selected to screen at different colleges across the States, including Harvard.

This critically acclaimed documentary film, celebrates how hip-hop, despite being birthed in the States, continents away, is impacting Africa. Hip-hop Colony opens a new and exciting chapter for hip-hop. Although explicitly mindful of the ways that hip-hop can be seen as yet another colonial force, the film shows the many ways that Kenyan artists have made hip-hop their own, localizing its forms and practices for their own purposes and in their own languages. As much as their voices sometimes ring with the familiar grain of 50cent or Jay-Z , their self-consciousness about such appropriations and about their projections of Kenyan - often via Sheng and Swahili and invocations of Mau Mau, though also in more subtle ways - demonstrates with clarity that there is little uniformity at play.

The exposure Hip-hop Colony has given the artists is so significant that Hollywood has taken notice. The Academy award winning film, Constant Gardener included the song 'forever' by Necessary Noise as part of its soundtrack. Primeval, which was shot in South Africa, utilized the song 'Compe' by Bamboo for its soundtrack – he's now U.S. based and scheduled to release an album early June. Others such as Nameless also featured in the film have also been recognized in Europe through avenues like the MTV Europe Music awards, for best African artists and more continue to make subtle moves into mainstream channels. Renowned Hip-hop author Jeff Chang, featured Hip-hop Colony in his latest offering Total Chaos. A book revered for illuminating the special truth that hip-hop speaks to youth around the globe.

The film is objective, Kenya looks terrific and stemming from records held in long distance running, one fact that is overlooked is that movies shot in Kenya have so far won a total of 12 Oscar awards, which is much more than the rest of Africa combined.

The world may be waiting for Hip-hop's Next big thing to emerge from the ghettos of Brooklyn, Detroit or LA., but tomorrow's Hip-hop leaders are coming straight out of Dakar , Lagos, Cape Town or Nairobi.


"Kenya is not just about Lions, giraffes and fast running men…it's also about
Studios and Hip-Hop!" - Tedd Josiah - Music produce

"Hip-Hop is reborn in so many forms, and the evolution has to be documented. Hip-Hop Colony does just that by showing the raw, authentic side of hip-hop in Kenya." - Clover Hope - XXL Magazine

"Like the classic early-'80s American films Wild Style and Style Wars, Hip Hop Colony is a historical document, capturing a fast-developing culture at a seminal moment in time"
- Erick K. Arnold – East Bay express


"HHC is an in-depth look into the origins, identities, and cultural power Hip Hop music has fostered in Kenya, while creating a global perspective that will influence many directors and producers for years to come." - Darryl Phillips, Publisher BLOW! Magazine & DVD

"Hip Hop Colony proved to be a thought-provoking film, which surprised us all at the Hutuz Film Festival. Chosen to be the opening film of the festival simply due to the elements presented, like Hip Hop, Africa and cultural transformation, it ended up instigating a 1h30 long spontaneous debate between the audiences after the session. For us, Brazilians, "Hip Hop Colony" created a bridge for comparison, a possibility of drawing parallels between the path of Hip Hop in Brazil and in other third world countries like Kenya - its differences and similarities." - Fabiana Comparato, producer of the Hutuz Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"Hip Hop Colony is an educational well-paced gem which should be included in high school and college curriculum's across the globe in an effort to dispel stereotypes about our kinship, Kenya, and about African Diaspora" - Vanessa Morman – Houston Black Film Festival

"Hip Hop Colony is a film that any person interested in learning about the global impact of rap must see!! - Adisa Banjoko, author "Lyrical Swords Vol. 1&2: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix"

"Hip Hop Colony captures the power and influence of Hip-hop on Kenyan youth culture and how viable Hip-hop is to connect with African youth" - Lidet Tilahun Director, Harvard University's African Hiphop Research Project W.E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research

[Glibness]

i would love to get ma own copy but i will check it via netflix.com this weekend and see whats all the rage about .....