STORIES
Musicians
DONATE

Awadi

by Amanda Molinaro from Irvine

"Every time people vote it's because they hope for change. Here, despite the fact that we vote and vote and vote again, there's still no change and I see upheaval everywhere..." -Positive Black Soul
Positive Black Soul (http://museke.com/en/node/875)
Positive Black Soul (http://museke.com/en/node/875)

Awadi is a Senegalese rapper from the band Positive Black Soul. He is one of the top rappers in Senegal, and his music represents his activism and commitment to social issues. Awadi tries to play revolutionary music with a conscience that speaks to rest of the world about the problems of the Third World. Awadi is part of a network called United African Rap Artist, a project with 17 artists from 10 countries, who to get together to work together. "Rap is the means to unite us," Awadi says. "We get together to defend causes. We fight for causes like at-risk children, child soldiers, child prostitution, talibe, children forced into begging, we account for the rights of all these children, and we try to tell the authorities that there is a problem."

Positive Black Soul music video (www.myhero.com)
Positive Black Soul music video (www.myhero.com)

For Positive Black Soul, it was important that they did not go to France, or the U.S., or England to make their music. "You have to be home, in the right environment, for inspiration," Awadi explains. Their office and studio have pictures of important people who inspire them: Malcolm X, a symbol of revolution; Martin Luther King, who dreamed about the end of segregation; Nelson Mandela, who achieved victory after so many years in jail and managed to forgive and move on; and Kwame Nkrumah, the father of Pan-Africanism.

To Awadi, Sankara Studio is a project. "The project is to stay here and develop jobs, to develop our activity, and to be independent. Though a lot of young people have left the country, [Positive Black Soul] have been trying to help them take a stand," he says. "It's our duty, because we have been supported by so many. So today it's our duty to support others."

"I was with Wari Wari Likin, and she told me, 'Today everyone fears talking, but has the courage to kill.' We're going to try to reverse it. We will fear killing, but we will have the courage to talk. We cannot see what's happening without saying anything. We cannot let the president pass the power to his children without saying anything. We cannot let our population go hungry, our brothers and sisters, without saying anything."

Awadi (www.myhero.com)
Awadi (www.myhero.com)

"My slogan is 'dare to invent the future.' For me, the future, I can't exactly say how it will turn out. But I have the right to aspire to something better. To see more unity, to see more solidarity, to see less foreign military bases in our countries, because no one has military bases in the west or in America. To have less foreigners imposing their policies on us. To see more Africans holding hands, working together, having a unified voice at the UN, a unified voice at the WTO, a unified voice at the IMF, at the World Bank to control our natural resources. That's the future I want to see."

Page created on 12/12/2008 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 12/12/2008 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links