Press Release
For immediate release
Album Release Date: 15th October 2008
Download the B Sharpa Press Kit (510k)
Once in a while an artist comes along with the vision and ability to turn a genre on its head whilst taking it back to its roots. Ben Sharpa has achieved this with his debut solo offering, B. Sharpa, an iconic album that pays homage to the best socially conscious lyrical traditions of hip hop whilst innovating a completely fresh sound that Sharpa himself calls ‘robot army music’.
Described by BBC Radio 1 DJ and experimental music maven, Mary-Anne Hobbs as “one of the most inspired and agile lyricists in the world today”, Ben Sharpa has created an epic work that takes the listener on a journey into the tortured mind of an artist who has remained fiercely dedicated to his art despite the hardships he has had to endure as a result.
Born in the rugged ghetto slums of Soweto, South Africa in 1977, Ben Sharpa (aka Oh Kaptin My Kaptin, or simply ‘Kap’ to his friends and fans) experienced the full force of the brutal Apartheid regime and the revolutionary turmoil that surrounded the struggle against it. While Ben was still a young child, his father took the opportunity to escape the hardship of life in South Africa by relocating his family to Chicago, Illinois, where he took the post of Audiologist at Cook County Hospital before moving on to become a Scientist at the prestigious Michigan State University.
Growing up in an alien culture and intensely aware of the plight of his fellow countrymen back home in South Africa, Ben was inspired by the radical new voice that Hip Hop was giving the disenfranchised and oppressed. When Ben came back to South Africa in 1993 for the first free elections, he quickly set about establishing himself as a major force in underground hip hop, forming cult crews GroundWorks and Audio Visual, who were known for their experimental, abstractedly asynchronous beats and stream of consciousness rhymes.
In recent years, Sharpa’s rhyme style, whilst remaining idiosyncratic and hard-hitting, has become more accessible. On ‘B. Sharpa‘, Ben addresses corporate greed, the media, the music industry, politics, the struggle of the downtrodden in the African continent, the ecology and the art of emceeing. At times Sharpa reflects what he sees with the lucid clarity of a prophet, at other times this reflection is clouded by an opiate haze of conspiracy theory paranoia. Throughout the album, Ben rides the rhythms with the ease and fluency of an old skool hip hop veteran, effortlessly switching from playful, witty braggadocio to spaced-out asymmetrical streams of consciousness, to gritty heartfelt tales of street life.
‘B. Sharpa‘ is at the forefront of a new wave of ‘soundsystem’ music, underpinned by heavy, hybrid hip hop beats with influences from electro, dub, Detroit techno, dancehall, electronica and glitch. On production is Dplanet, Sibot, Kaptin (a Sharpa alter-ego), HueMan (RIP), X-24th Letter and UK Bass Music super-producer Milanese. There are guest features by label-mate KONFAB, Archetypes, Teboho Semela (Sharpa’s sister, a virtuoso violinist) and Brooklyn-based, Lyricist Lounge all-star, Wordsworth.
Ben’s razor-sharp lyrical skills effortlessly bring the various influences together as a coherent whole. Even with the eclectic nature of the production, the listener is left in no doubt that ‘B. Sharpa‘ is a bona fide hip hop album by a master craftsman.
‘B. Sharpa‘ is the second major release from the hottest new independent hip hop label in South Africa, Pioneer Unit. The label has been making power moves since the 2007 release of the critically-acclaimed debut album, ‘Planetary Assault, which was described by Hype magazine as, “some of the strongest material ever to come out of SA”, and rated as one of the top 5 releases of 2007 (October/ November - Pg.16).
The first single, How We Roll, currently has over 30,000 views on Youtube (more than Skwatta Kamp’s hit Umoya, and only 9,000 views less than The Clap Song in half the time). Tracks from Planetary Assault were on heavy rotation on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. As a result Ben Sharpa performed at some of the biggest music festivals in the world, including Glastonbury (UK) and Dour (BEL). This has seen international interest in Pioneer Unit that has lead to the label licensing music to MTV for their hit show, Dirty Sanchez.
‘B. Sharpa‘ has aleady been licensed to French label, Jarring Effects and is scheduled for full European release in February 2009. Jarring Effects will also be releasing a limited edition, 6-track 12” vinyl EP. The EP, Sharpaganda Theory: Lesson 1 is a preview of B. Sharpa and it includes an instrumental of Off the Rails and an a cappella of Hegemony. The vinyl is due to drop in Europe in September 2008.
There is no doubt that B. Sharpa is one of the most important releases of 2008 and honours Pioneer Unit’s promise to deliver ‘real African hip hop that is at home anywhere in the world’.
Just remember to B. Sharpa.
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Off the Rails live in Cape Town
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Note to media: for more information, artist biogs, press photos, audio samples and other press opportunities, please contact Damian at Pioneer Unit.
E-mail: pioneerunit [at] gmail [dot] com
Call: +27 (83) 658 8921.
For distribution enquiries, please contact Soul Candi:
E-mail: leyton [at] soulcandidistribution [dot] co [dot] za.
Call: +27 (0)11 880 5662.
1 response so far
Critical Mass // Sep 17, 2008 at 01:32 p.m.
Well Done Guys! PIONEER UN1T ROCKS THE FUCKING WORLD IN 2009!!!
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