Phil Ade and Levelz Interview at DC Diaspora Liv Nightclub Event

Phil Ade with Di'Ja

By the time young pop singer Di’Ja opened the set with a new song “Private Show,” from her upcoming album, the crowd was ready to get down. The show that was billed as a DC Diaspora Thanksgiving event lived up to its Diaspora name simply by virtue of the performing lineup. Di’Ja has Sierra Leonean, Nigerian and Lebanese ancestry, Levelz is from Nigeria, and US-born Phil Ade is from Nigerian and Grenadian stock. But even though Di’Ja amply warmed up the masses with her catchy pop

Bouncing Cats Movie Screening at National Geographic

The name of the movie is curious enough to make you wonder what in the world it’s about. I’ve been hearing a great deal about Bouncing Cats, so I’ll probably catch it when it screens at National Geographic in Washington, DC next Tuesday November 9. After only a few months on the festival circuit, Bouncing Cats is already an award-winning feature, grabbing trophies at New York’s Urban World Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival, and an Audience Favorite Award at Doc Utah. It follows the inspiring story of a young Ugandan B-Boy “Abramz” (Abraham Tekya) and his Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU),

New Video: Lady Pcoq and Mello-D at Bossa Bistro

Lady Pcoq performing at Bossa Bistro

“Who in here remembers State of the Union? On U Street?” asked Lady Pcoq of the audience during an interlude where her group Lady Pcoq & the Plumes was performing at Bossa Bistro in Adams Morgan. I was among a few who raised their hands. Back in the late nineties while shooting a documentary film about poetry and spoken word in Washington, DC, I spent many an evening at joints like State, Kaffa House and Mangos.

Mello-D & the Rados – The Sound of Live Hip Hop

“Amongst thousands and thousands of very good MCs, a poet will flow like the breeze…” Rhymes delivered by no less blessed an MC than KRS One, and certainly the first ones that came to mind when I heard Mello-D dropping lyrics on the mic a few weeks ago.

Jam Session: DP, Mello-D and Olugbenga

Now, I had seen Mello-D perform live before, even though I’d never met the rest of his band, the Rados. Well, when Afrofusion TV dropped in on one of the band’s rehearsal sessions in the basement studio of Mello-D’s house in suburban Washington, DC, I thought to myself: this is the sound of true live hip hop.