Mon Afrique

Clearly, Mokobé has decided to embark on a solo career with a splash: 22 tracks, a dozen high-profile guest musicians who have invested wholeheartedly in this debut project, and the slickest of productions recorded in Paris, Abidjan, Dakar and Bamako. As a result, this is a beguiling voyage into Mokobé’s cosmopolitan roots. There is, however, an occasional tendency to lapse into clichés.

No one disputes the rapper’s engagement at the side of his parent’s continent. Mokobé has African blood coursing through him and he shouts it on every roof here. He declares his pride at being African in the opening track, hard on the heels of Martin Luther King’s most famous speech “I have a dream”. Oh boy, one fears the worst. But then the rapper gets down to serious business with a scintillating exchange featuring Salif Keita, called “Mali Forever”. A soaring voice, on top of a bed of driving bass and then Mokobé’s urgent lyrics that sweep us into a finale, capped by a typical female chorus from Mali.

What swing, what style! The Malian-French artist has unabashedly drawn on what is best in both traditions and he enhances his lyrical acumen with an impressive guestlist. “Politique” alone is a tour-de-force bringing together Tiken Jah Fakoly, Manu Chao and the Senegale rapper Fou Malade. Then, there’s “Sur les Traces de Fela” featuring the Afrobeat king’s son Seun Kuti. On “Profitez” one can also enjoy the exchange Mokobé has with Youssou N’Dour and the majestic beat orchestrated by Marc Jouanneaux.

For the Francophiles amongst us, there is the touching “Nuit de Flammes”, a duo with the new French rap star Diam’s. This song recounts the horrific summer fires of 2005 that killed dozens of immigrants in the centre of Paris. “The people cry but the Republic doesn’t give a damn,” sings Diam’s in reference to the relative indifference of the authorities to the deaths.

This is arguably the only melodramatic song on the CD. The rest are upbeat, fresh and truculent. Mokobé is at his most vibrant with the posse that helped him shoot to fame, 113. “Mes Racines” (My Roots) reflects the rich texture of French hip-hop. “I have the colour of misery/ I’m Black and proud, brother/ I’m the descendant of slaves, we crossed the seas/ Each day my roots come back to haunt me/ I don’t wanna go back home/ But I’m not gonna turn over a new leaf/ I’ll always be linked to my roots.”

Mokobé knows how to shake things up. But he can be funny, too. “Marabout Diaby” takes the piss out of the superstitions of certain traditional leaders. “Gohou III” mocks the wooer yet ponders on what falling in love is all about. All in all, then, this is a rich and, at times, contradictory mix of scintillating beats and honest conversations between two worlds. Mokobé claims to be dishing out “edutainment” in the mould of KRS 1. It’s sometimes patronising, sometimes cliché-ridden. But it’s also a cauldron of exhilaration and experimentation, brought to a climax by the closing track which features the Guinean singer Bambino and the searing voice of Babani Kone.

July 2007

Daniel Brown

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