MEET THE FIRST & ONLY EAST AFRICAN RAPPER TO BE FEATURED ON THE BET HIP-HOP AWARDS CYPHERS

Since 2007 The BET Hip-Hop Awards have been honoring the emcees, music, and artistry that keeps the culture we love moving forward and evolving. The ceremony’s rap freestyle series, “The Cypher”, highlights the lyrical ability, charisma, and stage presence of both hip-hop icons and emerging emcees in a traditional rap cypher setting.

 

Rappers have given some memorable performances throughout the years, with some artists making their mainstream debut in their cyphers to classic acts getting together, creating fan-favorite reunions, the BET Hip-Hop Award Cyphers has always created exciting moments for hip-hop fans.

 

In 2009, America’s BET Hip Hop Awards paid tribute to Tanzanian hip hop: rapper Gsan of the group X Plastaz from Arusha, Tanzania who participated in 2009 BET cypher among legends such as KRS One, Wale, Nipsey Hussle, Mos Def, Eminem and dj Premier.

The annual BET Hip Hop Awards are watched by millions of hip hop fans across the United States. And in the year 2009 the part of the show in which Gsan participated, titled the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, was highly anticipated as it’s a true gathering of giants in rap music. The cypher, in which the artists go back to the raw essence of hip hop saw legendary Dj and producer Premier teaming up with emcees such as Mos Def, Black Thought, Eminem and Joe Budden. This section had BET paying tribute to the growing popularity of hip hop from East Africa by including Gsan performing alongside veteran rapper KRS One along with then newcomers Wale and Nipsey Hussle.

 

The inclusion of X Plastaz in the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards came about when BET contacted X Plastaz, after seeing their music video ‘Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki’ on the Youtube website. ‘Nini dhambi’ which has drawn over 400.000 views is one of the most popular East African music videos on the web. Gsan flew out to Brooklyn, New York where the cypher was pre-recorded in an empty factory building. His contribution was a rap in Swahili over an old school loop, cut up by dj Premier. While Swahili language hip hop was something new for the other artists, KRS One and Premier were full of love for the African input into this year’s cypher.

After recording the cypher, Gsan attended the Awards ceremony which took place in Atlanta on October 10 2009, and which finally got broadcasted on October 27.

 

Gsan in an interview with Emcee Africa presenter Lee Kasumba said: “Well, the Cypher segment was recorded in New York before the actual award ceremony. For me, it was just amazing to be there with people like Eminem, KRS One, DJ Premier playing the beats, and being able to showcase what I had. Many people were blown away with what I did and asked me why I rhymed in Swahili because they wanted to understand. I told them that English is not my first language, I speak it, I love it but you will be able to mess me up if I rhyme in English’. There were emcees from all over the world in one setting, and I was happy to represent for Africa. I wasn’t starstruck, just glad to showcase what I did and could do with my American counterparts. I mean, think of it, we really have the same names, just one word changes, African American and African, do you understand what that means?”

 

Watch the cypher we talking about below and rate Gsan`s performance:

 

Credit: Baboon Forest