Presenting African Swim
October 21, 2008 11:02 PM   Subscribe

African Swim is the newest free album being offered by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. This time the album features South African hip hop groups.
posted by drezdn (12 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
[all times and music south african]
posted by Rhaomi at 11:10 PM on October 21, 2008 [2 favorites]


Oh, right, there are white people in Africa. I was confused there for a minute, since everybody knows black people don't swim.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:38 PM on October 21, 2008


Here's the previous free album: Ghostly Swim.
posted by drezdn at 11:44 PM on October 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


South African hip hop is awesome - and this is a good time to plug my friend's radio documentary on that very subject.
posted by moxiedoll at 12:20 AM on October 22, 2008


Wow, the standardization and Americanization of African music continues apace. I mean, hell, I basically like hip hop, I'm by no means an anti-rap, anti-hip hip hop person. But after sampling all these tracks, I'm disappointed that they really don't have much at all in the way of a uniquely South African flavor: they all sound like they could've come out of the US or Jamaica, essentially. That last track on the CD, (Muthaland, from Jozi), does indeed use a sampled loop snippet of some mbaqanga-type guitar and a taste of Zulu-style vocal chorus, but it's too little too late, and only points out how generic and not-especially-African pretty much everything else is. Ironically, Jozi sings "we're bringing you a different sound" in that track, and indeed he was, at least he was trying. Now how 'bout everyone else?

But hey, I reckon I'm not the target audience! I'm sure the youth in SA mostly want straight up hip hop beats and rapping, and let's forget about all that old time Mahotella Queens-type business. It's inevitable, I guess.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:45 AM on October 22, 2008


If you like that you might want to check out African Dope.
posted by DelusionsofGrandeur at 1:52 AM on October 22, 2008


they all sound like they could've come out of the US or Jamaica, essentially

And the UK, more surprisingly - lots of grime beats in there.
posted by jack_mo at 9:28 AM on October 22, 2008


Oh, right, there are white people in Africa. I was confused there for a minute, since everybody knows black people don't swim.

i feel like this is a reference to something. i hope this is a reference to something.
posted by shmegegge at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2008


And the UK, more surprisingly - lots of grime beats in there.

You're right, of course: don't know why I left the UK out of that short list, that was definitely an oversight.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:31 PM on October 22, 2008


drezden - thanks for pointing out Ghostly Swim - nice!
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 10:01 PM on October 22, 2008


There are actually four albums currently available for free from Adult Swim:
Definitive Swim
Warm & Scratchy
Ghostly Swim
African Swim

I'd missed Warm & Scratchy and hadn't heard of African Swim yet, but I really can't put into words how great it is that these compilations keep coming.
posted by mikeh at 8:59 AM on October 23, 2008


i feel like this is a reference to something. i hope this is a reference to something.

shmegegge, it's a reference to one of the more hilarious stereotypes out there... it came up in the MeTa about "black people fear dogs," and I also recall a funny This American Life segment where the storyteller was involved in an ad campaign for something simple, like a soft drink, but the ad team was stymied depicting thirsty black kids in summer without using a pool, since, given, black kids don't use pools. I find it easy to say and impossible to believe, and therefore hilarious. I was kind of just wondering if there was a glimmer of that joke in the title of this compilation.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:44 AM on October 23, 2008


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