DJ Khaled Ft Usher,Young Jeezy,Rick Ross & Drake – Fed Up (Behind The Scenes)

With the album hitting store shelves this week, 50 stopped by The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien Wednesday (Nov 18th) for an interview and to perform his smash hit single “Baby By Me” off his new album “Before I Self Destruct”.I went aghast when he talked about his new fragance ” Power by 50″ best single encapsulated by “The Smell of Success” ! Meanwhile , Conan help him out to sell his 37 Ba Megamansion in Connecticut and do some little branding..

Written by Khaled Sedki for WAW Al Balad
To be released in WAW’s Issue/8.

And wall said: Khaled, love died!

A wall once told me, as I walked by it, that love died; “Khaled, mat al-hob!”
It knew my name, so I guess it was addressing me personally.
Walls usually tell us a lot of stuff; to vote for the wrong people, to buy things we don’t need or to rent apartments. Some walls gossip about who loves who ‘forever’, what sports-club the kids of the neighborhood are fans of, or simply threatens anyone who attempts to ‘piss’ next to them.
But this wall specifically wanted to let me know that “love is dead”, as if it was a sequel to Nietzsche’s old announcement, yet the latter at least bothered to offer an explanation!
I looked around the wall, even the other side of the wall and all the walls of the neighborhood to find any further details on how, when or why love has died. Whether it was murdered, or simply died of cancer or perhaps aids! But that’s all there is! None of the kids around the area have seen the dying love, or heard about its tragic death, but they all believe it is dead, and none of them seemed to be bothered by that ‘fact’.

Walls talk to us; with our words- I prefer graffiti-sprayed walls to neat bourgeoisie-guarding fences.
Words on the walls are like riddles, solving them is decoding a culture through its own spontaneous, irrational and collective means of expression and reproduction of its self, its values and its symbols.
So try reading walls, writing or even commenting on them! True you can’t post links, videos or pictures on city walls like you do on Facebook walls, but these walls are not virtual, they’re not limited to ‘friends’ and at least they don’t feature Google ads!

Walls are urban canvases that bare our traces, whether carved, designed or built; they are a way of urban communication found by cave-men and lost for the polished image of sexy tourism.
Words spoken on a wall are there to stay, even if painted over; they remain in a wall’s memory, layers of brick, concrete, words and paint. Hammurabi’s codes, anarchist propaganda, Pharaoh’s history and Greek wisdom were all written on walls, and if love truly died, then you first read it on a wall in Amman.

Still working. Magic Systeme and Khaled help me stay focused and awake. Franck Ribery gets thrown in for color. (BTW, the relationship between French musicians and French footballers is interesting. See also, for example, Youssoupha connecting with Claude Makalelele (the Congolese connection) and Sami Traore.

Med anledning av att årets Selam african festivals sista konsert – Khaled på Debaser Medis – så plockade jag fram en gammal godbit ur skivsamlingen – Kutché.

1989 jobbade jag i skivbutik, närmare bestämt på då enhetliga varuhuset PUB:s skivavdelning. PUB var på den tiden ännu koperationens flaggskepp och stolthet. Pensionärena åkte in till staden för att de varit koperationen trogna under ett långt liv. 1989 hade cd-skivan ännu inte gått om vinylen som viktigaste mediet för musik. 1989 var också ett starkt år för världsmusiken. Bland annat släpptes Kutché – ett samarbete mellan sångaren Cheb Khaled, han hade då kvar epitetet Cheb som han några år senare tog bort, och musikern Safy Boutella. Då lät det modernt och framåtblickande. Nu tjugo år senare låter speciellt ljudbilden rätt daterad – det är typiskt åttiotal, men inte så överlastat som mycket annan åttiotalsproduktion.

Vid lyssningen kontaterar jag att skivan fortfarande låter fräsch, det är enklare och rakare arrangemang, mindre funkigt och stort. Det är en för mig lite bortglömd pärla. Mycket syntar och även en del synttrummor tillhör det daterade i soundet, som ändå har stor charm. Dessutom får man de typiska raiingredienserna med stråk, darboukas och annat slagverk och oud.

Musiken var ny för många och genren som på vissa ställen i världen fått stort publikt genombrott i mitten av åttiotalet utvecklades mycket, Khaled var en av dem som gick i bräschen. Det hörs på Kutché, som har den där speciella energin som är typisk för nyskapande. Rekommenderas!

Roligt också att det står 100% RAI i rött märke på skivan!

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worst for Def Jam…Out comes the HORRIFIC Triple C’s debut album, “Custom Cars & Cycles.” Triple C’s managed to sell a whopping 12,000 copies of their debut album.

Def Jam might be re-thinking the whole idea of making DJ Khaled the President of Def Jam South. To date, DJ Khaled has released 2 Ace Hood albums in ONE year under the Def Jam imprint. Both of Ace Hood’s albums combined didn’t sell more than 30,000 units. This has never been seen in the entire history of Def Jam Recordings.

Not to mention DJ Khaled’s instigating of the 50 Cent/ Rick Ross beef which in the end destroyed and severely hurt Officer Ricky’s credibility. Also after spending $3 Million to promote his album, “Deeper Than Rap,” Rick’s sales did not refelect the $3 Million that was spent in marketing dollars. At what point does Def Jam draw the line and say ,’Enough is Enough?’

-GunPlay After Seeing The Triple c’s First Week Numbers..

I dag går startskuddet for Oslo World Music Festival, men visste du at begrepet “world music” ble unnfanget i 1987? Samlesekken er ubrukelig som sjanger, men ypperlig som PR-triks.

[Oppdatert: Dagsavisen har intervjuet Nick Gold, en av opphavsmennene til world music-begrepet. Artig! - Ja, jeg var der. Og jeg beklager!, sier Gold.]

«Noe man har funnet på for å tjene penger», lyder den algeriske raï-stjernen Khaleds fnysende dom over begrepet «world music», men han er selv vant til å stille opp på slike festivaler. Søndag 8. november spiller han på Oslo World Music Festival, som startet under navnet Verden i Norden i 1994.

Som vanlig viser årets program igjen hvorfor begrepet world music er så problematisk. For hva har Khaled felles med den nigerianske afrofunk-trommisen Tony Allen eller brasilianske Gilberto Gil? Bortsett fra at de ikke er fra «Vesten»?  Og hva med de spanske sjangersurferne Ojos de Brujo?

Samtidig skal vi være takknemlige for at en gjeng engelske bransjefolk en junikveld i 1987 samlet seg på London-puben Empress of Russia for å diskutere hvordan de kunne markedsføre musikk fra andre verdenshjørner. Resultatet av møtet var bruken av begrepet Khaled misliker.

Paul Simons 1985-album Graceland skapte en voldsom interesse for afrikansk popmusikk, men i platebutikkenes hyller forsvant artister som King Sunny Ade og Bhundu Boys mellom ABBA og David Bowie. Etterspørselen var der, men musikken manglet et samlende begrep.

Forslag som «worldbeat», «roots» og «ethnic» ble ifølge The Guardian forkastet, før grupperingen gikk for «world music» – som ble solgt inn til platebutikkene via en kampanje som kostet 3500 pund fordelt på 11 plateselskaper.

Kampanjen ble raskt en gedigen PR-suksess. Bivirkningen var designet world music, påkostede og pretensiøse album skrudd sammen av afrikanske råvarer, franske produsenter og krydder fra Peter Gabriels Real World-studio. «World music» ble en coffee table-sjanger for den europeiske middelklassen, mens popmusikken i Afrika, Asia og Latin-Amerika utviklet seg videre – sterkt påvirket av hiphop, r&b, techno og boyband-pop.

Det er derfor viktig å huske at «world music» sier mer om geografi enn musikalsk innhold, og heldigvis gjenspeiler det varierte programmet på Oslo World Music Festival nettopp dette. God festival!

(Opprinnelig publisert i Aftenposten, men oppdatert til 2009 uten store problemer.)

Bonus: Intervju med den norsk-ivorianske gitaristen César Bolly.

FOTO: WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CESARBOLLY

- “World music” er et utbrukt begrep. Det generaliserer all ikke-vestlig musikk og plasserer det på museum, mener musiker César Bolly.

Når César Bolly fra Elfenbenskysten forteller at han er musiker, tror ni av ti nordmenn han spiller trommer. Nå er gitaristen lei av nordmenns uvitenhet om musikk fra Afrika, Asia og Latin-Amerika.

Ghetto
– Samlebegrepet “world music” plasserer ikke-vestlig musikk i én ghetto, det signaliserer laber interesse for musikk fra andre verdensdeler.

Bolly er lei av å måtte forkle musikken sin bak merkelapper som “world”, “etnisk” og “latin jazz med afrorytmer” for å selge. Det César Bolly Band spiller er en moderne variant av musikkformen aloukou fra Elfenbenskysten.

– Afrika er akkurat som Europa, det er like meningsløst å snakke om europeisk musikk, som det er å snakke om afrikansk musikk. Afrika rommer alt fra aloukou, raï og reggae til hiphop og pop.

– Blant annet Rikskonsertene ser på den tredje verden som et musikalsk museum, mens utviklingen i virkeligheten går i rasende fart.

Bolly understreker at han ikke er forarget på nordmenn, men skulle nok ønske vi var litt mer nysgjerrige.

– Sjekk ut ting, da jeg kom til Norge ante jeg ingen ting om norsk musikk. Men i dag elsker jeg både Geirr Tveitt, Edvard Grieg og Jan Garbarek.

Ikke gammeldags
Tom Gravli i Rikskonsertene tilbakeviser en del av kritikken fra César Bolly.

– Rikskonsertene prioriterer moderne musikk, og er ikke gammeldags. World music rommer nettopp ny musikk som popbølgen fra Afrika. Jeg er enig i at “afrikansk musikk” er en båssetting som kan virke unyansert, men averterer vi med “aloukou” vet ikke folk hva det er for noe.

Rikskonsertene prioriterer heller ikke gammeldags musikk, ifølge Gravli.

– Av de tiltakene vi støtter er det snarere en overvekt av moderne musikk, men i skolekonsertsystemet er det få afrikanske popmusikere.

(Opprinnelig publisert i Osloposten.)

DJ KHALED – Fed Up (FT. Usher, Drake, Young Jeezy & Rick Ross)

J’aime à me dire que le racisme, c’était mieux avant.

Avant que Michael Jackson ne devienne blanc et que Michael Jordan ne victimise les Croates, le seul référent de mes chers concitoyens de base en matière de négritude, c’était Arnold & Willy.

Un subtil mélange, quota oblige, entre Racine et Oliver Twist, misérabilisme et angélisme.

Outre le pitch improbable de cette fable égalitariste, cette ode à la tolérance, cette vente forcée du métissage, ce sont principalement les dégâts collatéraux engendrés par cette négrophilie soudaine – digne de l’engouement des badauds devant une animalerie à l’approche des fêtes de fin d’année – qui me ramène à cette ambiguïté quasi théologique envers Barack Obama.

La cour des miracles vote aveuglément pour une bête de foire, ce qui lui permet de croire sans essayer de comprendre.

Mais, enfant, ma hantise était plus simple : comment passer inaperçu sans être invisible ?

Inspirer une peur médiatique, en espérant qu’elle soit un jour cinématographique ou accepter toutes les amitiés même celles des fans de Francky Vincent, j’ai le culte entre deux chaise, il faut choisir ou plutôt capitaliser.

Les faits sont là. Dans les années 80, si tu étais noir en province, tu pouvais être Arnold Jackson, mais certainement pas toi même et tout cela en toute bonne foi.

J’aurais voulu courber l’échine, faire preuve d’intégration lorsque les amis du colonialisme sympa me dépossédaient de ma personnalité pour satisfaire leur bon plaisir cathodique. Mais j’aime trop botter des culs à la chaîne – et avec le sourire – pour ça !

Il n’y a rien de plus compliqué que d’admettre la nature presque repentante d’un acte de violence gratuite à la vue d’une sexagénaire boitillante venant vous assener un énième – comme si vous n’étiez pas là – il est bien mignon le petit noir, comme celui de la télévision !

La même vieille dame se vengeant dans les urnes prétextant un foyer d’insécurité galopante dans son écran. Moralité, il y a des euthanasies qui se perdent.

Voilà à quoi servaient les skinheads, faire tampon comme SOS Racisme, afin que j’assouvisse sereinement et en toute légitimité mes pulsions meurtrières prétendues contre un racisme qui s’assumait.

La bonne époque où l’on avait de vrais ennemis, où l’on ne s’en créait pas à coups d’hémoglobine pour un bout de quartier, en location qui plus est.

J’avais hâte sans le savoir qu’arrive enfin la mode des Rachid Taha, Faudel, Khaled et qu’enfin les divorcés atteintes d’une quarantaine bien passée, les working girls d’écoles de commerce jamais terminées et les filles de coiffeuses nées dans une boîte de nuit puissent se convertir en toute quiétude républicaine.

J’ai connu des gens qui ne voulaient plus être noirs, ici, je leurs rétorquais donc qu’ils pourraient être quelqu’un, plus tard, mais ailleurs.

Pour l’heure, j’étais coincé avec une armée de gens bien sous tout rapport moral, ne pensant jamais à mal, mais pensant tout de même et dont la compassion à mon égard n’avait d’égal que leur passion pour collectionner des bibelots.

J’aillais être à ma place sur une étagère poussiéreuse entre les boat people et un morceau du mur de Berlin. À bientôt Barack…

Dj Khaled Ft. Usher, Drake, Young Jeezy, & Rick Ross – Fed Up INSIDE!

It’s a dope track but with a startin 5 like this, they could have went harder.

Dj Khaled Ft. Usher, Drake, Young Jeezy, & Rick Ross – Fed Up
…::LISTEN::… …::DOWNLOAD::…

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2600/97484721.jpg

Avec Lizzie Brocheré,
Olympe Borval,
Najib Oudghiri,
Simon Abkarian,
Karin AlbouRésumé

16 ans, sont amies depuis l’enfance. Elles partagent la même maison d’un quartier modeste où Juifs et Musulmans vivent en harmonie.

est juive, (Myriam va à l’école tandis que Nour aide à la maison). Chacune rêve secrètement de la vie de l’autre : Myriam envie les fiançailles de son amie avec , Nour aimerait apprendre à lire et regrette de ne pas aller à l’école comme son amie, Myriam qui rêve d’amour. Elle envie les fiançailles de Nour avec son cousin Khaled, sorte de fantasme partagé de prince charmant. Malheureusement, Khaled ne trouve pas de travail.
En 1942, lorsque l’armée allemande pénètre dans Tunis, l’amitié des jeunes filles s’érode petit à petit. Les allemands, à coup de tracts diffamatoires, tentent de monter les communautés l’une contre l’autre et soutiennent les musulmans contre « l’ennemi juif ». Poursuivant la politique de Vichy, les Nazis soumettent la communauté juive à une lourde amende. la mère de Myriam n’a plus le droit de travailler, criblée de dettes, elle décide de marier sa fille à un riche médecin, voit d’un seul coup ses rêves d’amour s’évanouir… contraint de travailler pour avoir le droit de se marier accepte de travailler pour la kommandantur…

Le Chant des Mariées
Deux fillettes jouent dans la cour d’une maison de Tunisie, tour à tour elles se coiffent d’un voile blanc et chantonnent une chanson où il est question d’amour et de prince charmant.
Leur amitié est forte, consolidée au fil des ans, les années de guerre et l’occupation par l’armée allemande de ce protectorat qu’est alors la Tunisie va sérieusement mettre à mal leur affection mutuelle.

Directed by: Karin Albou

Release Date: November 24, 2008

During the Third Reich’s occupation of Tunis in 1942, two teens, Jewish Myriam and Muslim Nour, find that they desire each other’s life. Although far more interested in love than war, the girls find historical circumstances affecting each of their wedding plans.

The occupying Nazis demand reparation payments from the Tunisian Jews, which Myriam’s impoverished seamstress mother cannot pay.

Desperate, she promises Myriam’s hand to wealthy, older doctor Raoul. Meanwhile, Nour is happily betrothed to her handsome cousin Khaled, but her father postpones the wedding until Khaled gets a job. Unfortunately for the girls’ relationship, the Islamist Khaled finds work with the Germans, helping to round up Tunisian Jews.

[article written for and published on 7iber.com]
Interruptions, Khaled Sedki

Interruptions Catatonia Workshop

A pack of tuna was all that’s needed to trigger all the neighborhood’s cats! Though that was supposed to be my own dinner, but at times one prefers nice company to a full stomach! My little room in Lwaibdeh is quite small, but looks and feels more like a storey, just like all the houses in Lwaibdeh and Al-Balad; the case with any human built ‘accommodation’ in places with rough, dominant and phenomenal topography, ‘building’ is just a sequence of diplomatic get-arounds negotiating back-and-forth with the land’s voids, pediments and carves.

Apparently that was the case with these cats around my room! The sofa, the chairs, the empty suitcases, the table and other ‘topography’ created so many possibilities for them to play with and discover!

I curiously started observing while all objects and furniture in my room were brought to life again by hosting varieties of experiences, all items that we have made into rigid types that served standard functions turned out to be much more flexible and adaptable.

This creative diplomacy in re-accommodating objects, spaces, buildings, cities, topography…etc is a skill we lost at one point when humans possessed the tools and the technology allowing them not to bargain for their accommodations but rather enforce them. It’s a point where we lost the creative communication with our surrounding context; not only between built and natural environments, but on all scales; design, politics, economy, development, society… etc

It’s a point where we started seeing wars over oil, state terrorism instead of political and economic imperialism and Jordan Gates towers at the 6th circle replacing a public park!

The image of fully carved hills and bulk inserted buildings became so familiar, washing out neighborhoods to shove in ‘development’ projects and replacing already fitted built areas of well-balanced and well-connected social and economic strata with touristic appealing structures all became the norm of the-so-called regeneration and development of city’s built-urban-environment!

While these acquired powerful tools should’ve increased our creative diplomatic ‘design’ of our cities, buildings, society, politics and economy we find ourselves producing in the last few decades some of the least intelligent and most crude methods of human accommodations!

Design, is a creative diplomatic organizational process responsive to human needs and aware of the politics of its existing context, and is now leveled down to a matter of fulfilling needs in a way that is most similar to paid prostitutes to avoid building complicated relationships!

So cats, have preserved and developed the craft we’ve lost, re-accommodating our city in endless creative ways worthy of observing and reflecting upon our arrogant design language!

TYO is excited about a big party this fall: Sahra, which translates roughly as “an evening out with friends,” in Las Vegas on November 21! Not only is it great news to hear of such a high-profile event profiling the beauty of Arab culture in Las Vegas, but also, that it will commemorate Universal Children’s Day! (By the way, we’re working on our own celebration for Children’s Day on November 20 here in Nablus – keep your eyes open for more details as the day approaches!) Plus, Sahra will create a real benefit for kids on the ground, by donating all profits to a grant program to be administered by event partners ACCESS and NAAMA.

Sahra is an unprecedented multi-media event celebrating Arabic culture in the Middle East and North Africa, presented by the MGM Grand and Dawn Elder World Entertainment. Performances and presentations bring together international music and film celebrities, Arab film stars and others with the Hollywood’s elite, and scores of master musicians and dancers from 23 countries.  In recognition of Universal Children’s Day, all profits from Sahra will benefit leading children’s charities focused on the Middle East and North Africa…

International recording stars Khaled, Assala, and Rida Al Abdulla headline the Sahra concert, the crown jewel in a weekend of multi-media events that includes video montages of beloved works by Middle Eastern film celebrities, late-night dancing with the latest hits in Arabic popular dance music, and much more.  The MGM Grand will undergo an Arabian makeover for this historic weekend, beginning with spectacularly designed concert staging celebrating a stunningly diverse heritage.

Thanks to Sahra producers, Dawn Elder and the MGM Grand for their awesome work on this important event! And of course for including TYO in the fun Learn more us and the event on Facebook.

Come one, come all – hope to see you in Las Vegas next month!

Amman Centennial Parade, the people’s celebration of the city took place Friday October 9th in downtown Amman from the Roman amphitheater to the Municipality’s City Hall in Ras Al-Ein.
A happy event, with happy people celebrating Amman in an urban festival that the city has been thirsty for.

Nothing “booombastic” about the organized event, not even fireworks! But people exchanged ‘vibes’ with their city. I tried to capture faces which TV cameras usually skip, so here’s some pictures- no rights reserved!