Alif

Dakamerap (Out here records 2004)
 
It’s a fact that hip-hop & rap has taken hold in a big way in West Africa. Notably the Dakar, Senegal, scene is thriving, built on the fluidity of the Wolof language and a long oral history of similar vocalizing (who knows rap's origins anyway?). Step forward Senegal’s first all-female rap outfit, blazing yet another feminist trail in a male-dominated society and setting some of the sharpest SeneRap lyrics to tough, rocking beats.

According to the sleeve notes Alif are the voice of Dakamerap - the camera which is always on, documenting life around the clock in Dakar and covering a broad range of subjects, all based in day-to-day life. ‘Jollaa’ recalls the dread name of the ferry which sank off the coast in 2002 claiming the lives, in terrible circumstances, of upwards of a thousand people. A song addressing the extremely taboo subject of incest, called ‘Bataxal’, comes in the form of a letter from a mother to her daughter, telling of her rape at the hands of her father. ‘Porose Bi’ laments the lives of household servants in Senegal, a virtual lower-caste group who work in approximately slave conditons.

Gritty lyrics, presented in a typically melodious song-rap style from the trio: Myriame (Mariéme Diallo), Mina (Ndéye Aminata Sall), Oumy (Oumy Ndiaye) and augmented by some familiar names from the Dakar scene - rapper Maxi Crazy, the singer and kora player Lamine Kouyate and Pee Froiss members Xuman and DJ Gee Bayss.