I decided to kick off this blog with Emmanuel Jal when I saw that he's offering a free download right now that you should get. My sister introduced me to this war child just shy of a year ago, and I was most moved by his storytelling. You're not going to hear lyrics reeking of overinflated ego and machismo on a Jal album. He's not going to talk about how much money he's making, how many girls he's doing or how many people should fear him. In fact, you might hear him say exactly the opposite. His song "No Bling" includes lyrics that say, "I ain't the best rapper," and "No hos, no bitches, no bling / I don't need none of those things." This material-seeking, ego-boosting lifestyle is not his story, and for Sudanese-born Jal, true hip hop is all about telling your story. He confirms this with the opening line in his hit song "War Child"—"I believe I've survived for a reason / to tell my story, to touch lives."
Jal's story is a treacherous tale of one of the most horrifying injustices in Sudan: child soldiering and genocide. While he uses some beats familiar to the U.S. hip hop scene, his songs have strong African and Jamaican rhythms and often incorporate a mixture of languages.
And Jal is an activist, too, working with several organizations and campaigns to end child soldiering and creating his own non profit GUA Africa to help war-torn villages make poverty history. His songs even call to question some of the issues in the world with bold lyrics like "To Mr. Oil-, Diamond-, and Gold-miner / stop treating Mama Africa like a vagina / She's not your whore, not anymore / You take the riches and you leave the people poor" in his song "Vagina."
So I'll start you with a short Jal mixed tape playlist of a few songs I like:
Warchild, Warchild, 2008
Many Rivers to Cross (feat. Roachie & Ayak), Warchild, 2008
Vagina, Warchild, 2008
I Never Knew, Gua, 2005
Mother, Instant Karma, 2009
Learn More
Emmanuel Jal: The music of a war child | Video on TED.com
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