This sunday (27 Nov), X Plastaz will perform a short live show at Via Via in Arusha. Free entrance but be on time, show starts at 4PM (saa kumi jioni)! Catch this rare chance to see XPS in action – with Kamaa, Mary & Yamat. This week a documentary & photo shoot is being done about X Plastaz for Dutch children’s magazine SamSam and they will film during the event.

Behind the scenes at the BET Hip Hop Awards 2009 in Atlanta: Gsan with Nicki Minaj. They had previously met while recording the BET Cypher in Brooklyn, NY.

Today is a good day: we’re finally presenting the new song & video by X Plastaz titled ‘Africa’. The highly anticipated song features contributions by Fid Q, one of Tanzania’s most respected hip hop artists, and legendary producer/vocalist Bamba Nazar (aka Dj Threesixty).
‘Africa’ was shot in different parts of Tanzania: Unguja (Zanzibar), the island off the Tanzanian coast, and Arusha, the city where X Plastaz live.  Highlights include a scene shot around an uninhabited island off the East African coast, another part recorded inside the remote ruins of a palace built by the daughter of Zanzibar’s sultan in the 1800′s, and Arusha’s Maasai market.

‘Africa’ features X Plastaz members Kamaa aka Steve, Diney. For this song they teamed up with Fid Q, one of Tanzania’s most successful hip hop artists and a strong supporter of conscious lyrics, and Bamba Nazar, who has toured and recorded with X Plastaz since 2003. Bamba also did the beat for the X Plastaz classic ‘Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki‘ and he produced the latest singles by Def Jam artist Redman (USA).

Also seen in this video are Yamat aka Merege (X Plastaz’ Maasai singer) and new X Plastaz member Maria. The track was produced by dj Threesixty (Bamba Nazar) and the video was shot and edited by J4 (Thomas Gesthuizen) for Rumba-Kali.

X Plastaz member Ziggylah aka KZZ is working on a mixtape called ‘Shule’. Containing all beats produced by KZZ himself using the MPC and other tools, it’s promising to be an hour-plus of undiluted Swahili hip hop. Invited artists included OCG (who once was a X Plastaz member before he went solo) and JCB from Arusha.
The first single of ‘Shule’ is now out, here’s the video.

A moving tribute to Faza Nelly (X Plastaz) and other heroes from the Tanzanian hip hop community who passed away too soon. This remix and its original version are featured on JCB’s first solo album ‘Nakala za makala’. Part of the video was shot at X Plastaz home in Arusha (you can see Steve, Maria and their younger sisters) and Faza Nelly’s grave. Salute!

X Plastaz have just released their new music video ‘Mic moja’ on the web. Watch it here:

‘Mic moja’, a song talking about the bare essence of hip hop music (‘all we need is a microphone, a piece of paper and a pen’) was recorded by X Plastaz member Ziggylah (aka KZZ). The video was shot in the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden during October 2009 and is intended as a web-only video.

‘Mic Moja’ is the second music video since X Plastaz ‘comeback’ last year, when they released the ‘Furaha’ video with FidQ after a three-year hiatus caused by the death of their group member Faza Nelly. Also last year, group member Gsan participated in the BET Hip Hop Awards in the USA alongside KRS One, Wale and Nipsey Hussle.

In 2010 X Plastaz have planned further new releases including the track ‘Maasai reggae’ which fuses roots reggae music with a traditional Maasai song, and another collaboration with Dar es Salaam’s finest Fid Q and singer Bamba Nazar, who is better known as the producer of Redman’s latest track ‘Coc Back’. That video to the upcoming X Plastaz song was recorded in Arusha and Zanzibar during the island’s power cut of February 2010 and will be out before June.

Bamba Nazar with Yamat & Steve from X Plastaz. Pic: BBC

On February 14, 2010, X Plastaz performed at Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar town, Tanzania together with Bamba Nazar and Fid Q, premiering their new song ‘Afrika’ (music video out soon!). The inclusion of Fid Q & XPS in Bamba’s show had not been announced and was a nice surprise to the 1000+ people that had gathered in the old fort on the final day of Busara which coincided with Valentine’s Day.

The performance was featured on the BBC website, see the photo. While in Zanzibar, Juma4 shot the final footage for the music video that will accompany the ‘Afrika’ single. The video is planned to drop in spring 2010.

The Busara performances were featured on the BBC website in a photo report (Feb 19), click here to see the other pics.

In September 2009, Gsan traveled to Brooklyn, New York to participate in this year’s BET Cypher, the annual gathering of America’s top hip hop emcees. He was joined by dj Premier, KRS One, Wale and Nipsey Hussle. The Cypher was first broadcast on October 27th on BET. Watch the video here!

Photo: G-san with dj Premier and KRS One after the cypher in Brooklyn, New York

In anticipation of his new album ‘Reggie Noble 09 1/2′, Def Jam recording artist Redman is dropping the first single titled ‘Coc back’. Production for the song was done by Threesixty, also known as X Plastaz’ dj.

A couple of artists who have distinguished themselves from the generic Bongo flava-sound in Tanzania have joined up for a new single and video. ‘Furaha’ by Arusha-based group X Plastaz and Dar es Salaam’s finest, solo rapper Fid Q, was launched in May on Channel 5 (East Africa TV) and this week across other stations and the web.