African Dope is parting ways. Roach is heading off to MIDEM, which is the annual meeting of anyone who’s anyone in the business of music. An international show and tell of the musically inclined. A bullring of music men in business suits. A celebration of name-dropping. Roach, of course, will not be wearing a suit. Instead he’ll be sporting some of African Dope’s new t-shirts (available in the Dope shop from the end of Feb) while he goes about representing our land South Africa to the whole wide world.
At the same time, Honey B is going to strengthen family ties, while I am going up to Grahamstown to fix houses. So, if you must call, call in Feb:) We’ll be back in action from 1 Feb, and you can get in touch with Honey B via email till then (honeyb@africandope.co.za). When we resurface, we’ll be gathering strength, moving office, and continuing to deliver that unmistakable flavour which is Dopeness.
Phatter than your pet elephant, bigger than your baby mammoth, thicker than your bottom lip dangling in your empty wallet and taller than any story you’ll hear about it. The African Dope TechnoDubFest Arena at the Rezonance New Year’s Festival was all that it was touted to be and more.
Starting on the December 31st of that crusty memory that we used to call this year (2009), some of the finest acts in the land, electronic and otherwise, marched on and off of the Dope stage in a tireless and fascinating display of musical hopscotch. A nightmare for a sound guy. A dream for all in attendance. Thanks a ton to Spekta who shed blood to see it all go down smoothly, as well as everyone else who knows how much they contributed.
Day one was the build up to New Year’s which featured plenty of live MC’s, glitch-hop, dubstep, breakbeat and tech of all sorts taking the ladies and the lads into a head-throbbing, arm-flapping 2010.
As the first sunlight of the new decade began to alight the fragile faces of the no-sleep, the barely-slept and the just came through for New Year’s Day alike, the original African Dope legend Roach played a set as unique as it was rare. Changing the tempo up and setting the tone for a day of a quality of music that was nothing short of mind-blowing.
To be fully and 100% subjective, I will mention only two names. Lonesome Dave Ferguson and Krushed & Sorted. World class, full stop.
The final day was piping hot, almost puke-inducingly hot and as the sweat plopped off of the foreheads, the TechnoDubFest Arena head-nodded the crowds back to a fraction of reality with class never-ending. Who would expect anything less from African Dope, and if so, then why so? What a pleasure, and thanks for making it a Dope New Year.
If you want a totally objective review of Mix n Blend’s debut album ‘Look Mom No Hands’, I am saddened to remark that I cannot provide anything of the sort. Objective reviews can be scathing at the best of times, and at the worst of times they can leave an artist weeping like a newborn baby underneath a cold shower, eating locks of their own hair… or so I’ve heard. No-holds-barred local youth culture website Mahala has a reputation for shooting from the hip, and right now they are featuring their review of the Mix n Blend album on their landing page… I’m gonna go run me a shower, let me know what they wrote.
Laugh It Off and African Dope get under the Covers
The Laugh It Off Annual is in it’s fourth year of bringing our nation to trembling fits of guffawing laughter, head-twitching chuckles, shoulder shrugs and outright disgust. Love them or hate them, they’re gonna be in your face whatever the case. Just ask Black Label.
For this, the fourth edition of this comic crusade, African Dope Publishing, under the guidance of the one and only Honey B, have included a Musical Interlude for your listening pleasure. If you buy the book, you’ll find the link murkily printed on the 74th bladsy of the book.
Mix n Blend were recently interviewed by onesmallseed.tv about the launch of their debut album ‘Look Mom No Hands’ and the skullduggery that they got up to on the African Dope Records ‘Wild West on the East Coast Tour’.
Mix n Blend - Look Mom No Hands Released on African Dope
Mix n Blend put their genre-busting minds to work on their debut album ‘Look Mom No Hands’, producing a sound that tap-dances through damaging dubstep, funk, swing, airy ambient electronica, drum&bass, hip-hop and breakbeat, combining with vicious, various vocal performances in this synthesized sound adventure from African Dope Records.
Old Site
There seems to have been some confusion about what we’ve done with the old site. Why did you delete it, some of you have wailed. Well the good news is that we haven’t.
It, along with all the pages and downloads (including disc 2 of Contructus - The Ziggurat) are still lurking around HERE. Or you can click the old site link in the menu bar above.
Here we are..
To those who know us, howzit - it’s been a while.
To those who don’t - greetings from the Cape of Good Dope.
Welcome to our new site, chock full of video, tracks, imagery, news and recent social network ramblings. Grab a few choice slabs of audio from our player on the right, check out what video is currently tickling our fancy, see what our crew is up to on twitter or just head on over to our shop and grab yourself some mp3’s (for starters Cape of Good Dope 2) which you can find in CD and Mp3 formats HERE.
If you’re a producer, and you’re into all things dope, there’s a drop box on the right with your name on it. We’d love to hear your demo.
Check back here for exclusive videos, free tracks, fresh music available for sale sometimes way ahead of any other outlet for our stuff, sometimes exclusively sold here, and a bunch of other lovely little plans that we are cooking up.
Check out the hotness that is the Dank & Baka at Oppikoppi 2009. Hands down one of the best shows on the stage that night. With added deep thought interviews from the Baka, courtesy of GiGTv
