"Umoja wa Tanzania" by Juma Nature

The artists featured on this new album Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap from Tanzania are from the country's youth generation. They are often the children of those who have come to Bongo - the street name for Dar es Salaam - from the countryside, or have moved there themselves to find a better life in the city. The fairy tale of this life, and the harsh truth behind it, is the subject of much of Bongo Flava lyrics - HIV/AIDS, scraping a life together, the difficulty of meeting basic needs, class and wealth barriers, holding your head high despite everything. These 14 tracks present a vivid narrative on what it's like to be Tanzanian today.

There's "Umoja wa Tanzania" by Juma Nature, a celebration of the country and the sense of unity that its has exemplified. Juma Nature's rap flows easily through the track, accompanied by simple synthesised drum beats, and instrumentation- rap in its pure story-telling form. The difference between this last track and the style of, say, LWP Majitu is huge. These guys are also from the same suburb as Juma Nature but are producing a much tougher sound. LWP stands for Live With Purpose and the group stands for hardcore rap. These guys are seen as the wild boys of Bongo Flava and you can hear it. The rapping is harder, slower and harsher than the other featured tracks. There's humor in there, but with little sound mixing, we're left with the harsh words and the emotion: "If you have money, I don't want to know you. Don't disturb me, man, get out of here."

Then there's X-Plastaz who are from northern Tanzania, near the heartland of the Maasai people. By creating 'Maasai Hip hop' - using the tradition of this tribe as the focal point of their sound and style - X-Plastaz are taking Bongo Flava in a totally new direction. The rap pounds along, complemented by the unique pitch of Maasai singing and deep a capella chanting. The production is slick, mixing in slow-paced back beats and ragga rhythms to create something altogether new.

The tracks on this album give a broad sense of the rap scene in Tanzania today- fast becoming the most popular music in the East African region. This isn't a safe, stylised and exportable version- these featured artists are literally topping the charts. So at the very least, this welcome compilation lets us eavesdrop on today's urban, African realities.

For more on Out Here Records, visit outhere.de. For more on the reviewer, visit lydiamartin.net.

Contributed by: Lydia Martin for www.afropop.org