Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Consumer Guide Album

African Underground Vol 1: Hip-Hop Senegal [Nomadic Wax, 2004]
According to the label head's senior thesis, there are 3,000 hip-hop acts in Senegal, so a big up to BMG 44 and Omzo, who take the lead tracks here after highlighting Trikont's 2002 Africa Raps. But where that music was Senegalese first, this sounds like the true Afrofunk. Flow yeah yeah, and the label guy says the lyrics are conscious, although the few in English could be sharper and are welcome anyway. But here, there, and everywhere, the techno-flavored synth/guitar splats of international hip-hop sink their hooks into frantic gutturals of unknown meaning. A-