The days between Xmas and New Year’s are good days, always.  Here in Alexandria, VA, I went to a naming ceremony (Sierra Leonean/Islamic style, culture and religion) for one of my uncle’s children, a beautiful baby girl named Fatima, which is the name of her great grandmother.

Sierra Leoneans are party people (okay, maybe not as much as Jamaicans, but nevertheless Salone people party hard too) so after all the formalities with the imam, the old men and women, the soundsystem was turned on, & the disc in the system Best Of Africa, Vol. 1 - a fantastic party compilation, containing a series of mini-mixes plus a few original songs by one Sierra Leonean artist, whose name is shouted, reverberated, and unclear.  The CD booklet and case are nowhere to be found, but from what I can make out (and I might be completely wrong here), the DJ is Ousmane Sayyid and the singer is Succulent The Bug.  Here’s the opening mix, with the first/title track performed by Succulent.

Tumba Mix

“And in fact, my love for you is like a water with many fishes…”

The comp is buyable here.

Look below for  Sierra Leone autotune tumba worship music (via youtube)

Lil Wayne - Can I Talk To You (Feat. Nutt Da Kidd & Mack Maine)

I’m not going to talk about this track (from The Leak V) It’s great, you already know… but what can we say about this new picture/image? Emotional, laughter, astonishment, what do you feel?
Lil Wayne threw away the pen and the pad, completely erasing the distance between himself and his art.

pictures courtesy of The Smoking Section.

can’t remember, but i like it

T-Pain - Phantom

that “aay” sound (not in this track) is a much more common effect than autotune…, plus it is a more psychological thing to talk about, trees for forest sometimes. His skits involve ‘rings’, as in straightfaced circus jokes rather than Tolkien or marriage.