Senegalese rapper Omar Toure AKA Thiat was arrested on Monday and questioned about a speech he gave criticizing president Abdoulaye Wade’s plan to run for a third term. Dozens of his fans protested. He was released today without being charged.

In the world of music, the word “cover” invokes thoughts of bad singing and a fuzzy webcam. Yuna, a folk popper from Malaysia, changed our minds with her smooth,...

In the world of music, the word “cover” invokes thoughts of bad singing and a fuzzy webcam. Yuna, a folk popper from Malaysia, changed our minds with her smooth,...

2011 was a year of momentous musical debuts. Some of them (Hack, cough, Odd Future) we're all a little sick of hearing about. But there were even more that flew under the radar yet while still making an impact. We made this list of the most exciting first albums we heard this year to...

We’d love to hop in Zakee’s suitcase one day. The Senegal-rooted, Philly-based avant pop artist travels to Brazil in “Glory” with a sound as diverse as his passport – dizzying drum patterns plus worldly hip hop and a little dubstep. Throw in a Brazilian movie star, André Ramiro, in the mix and

In the spring of 2009, Eye-Witness and Waterflow- the duo that make up the infamous Senegalese hip hop crew WaGeble- joined forces again for their first US tour, co-sponsored by Brooklyn-based International Hip Hop label Nomadic Wax (www.nomadicwax.com). The crew performed across the east coast,

West Africa has become home to some of Hip Hop's most cutting edge musical styles, especially those that blur the line between artist and activist. Some might attribute it to political instability, others might say that its a natural response to abject urban poverty. Most West Africans, especially

So you think you know underground music, underground hip-hop? So you think you're hard? If you think it's tough now, go to Africa. And you'd better hope Ben Herson's there to help you. In 1999, Ben found a thriving hip-hop scene in Senegal, West Africa. Blown away by the passionate, socially

Senegalese hip-hop legends - 'Sen Kumpa' - are scheduled to play at the 'Matinee Hip-Hop' event in Dakar Senegal this June 3rd. Guest starts at the event are: 5kiem, Simon and Nitdof among others. Sen Kumpa have been leaders in the Senegalese Hip-Hop scene for nearly a decade and are also stars in

This is one ironic situation. A pop music fable. A tale of what goes wrong when you cross borders. Senegal's Akon, who's touring Asia, was set to hop into Sri Lanka and throw a dance party on April 20th. But last week, protestors mobbed the head offices of the concert's promoter -- throwing stones,

Artist from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, and the Republic of Congo will descend on Miami on April 16 for an all-night roots music blowout. Dub, soul, R&B, rock, and traditional sounds from the Caribbean and Haiti will make their way to the stage at 7 Circuit Studio for the Afro Roots

After including Pentaport in our list of fifteen end of summer festivals, we had to see the festival in all its head-banging glory. From August 5-7, music fans braved their way through the torrential rain and wind to make it out to the 2011 Pentaport Rock Festival at Incheon Dream Park in Korea.

Straight out of the frosty multi-culti metropolis of Montreal, Nomadic Massive have set a new standard for polyglot hip-hop. The group’s nine members come from seven different countries - Haiti, St. Vincent, Barbados, Chile, Argentina, Algeria, and Cuba - and rap in just about as many languages.

We've already mentioned that we'd like to step into the shoes of the world-traveling Zakee, who glides from Rio to Philly and back again like it's no thing at all. That's how his album Assimilations goes too, effortlessly working that sweet spot between hip hop, lo-fi, and global bass. In the cut

“Fiction” speaks of the lengths that a guy will go to preserve the memories of his past relationship. The MV stars BEAST rapper Junhyung, who, unable to face a reality without his love, writes a fictional story about never letting her go. Actress Park Bo Young (Speedy Scandal) beautifully plays the

Eskmo travels through levels of nature in his video for "Cloudlight," the opening track from his self-titled 2010 release on Ninja Tune. Over the slow, grinding beat, the San Francisco producer carries a box of ashes to its final resting place atop a cliff. It's a break from the abstract imagery

It could be called reggae time -- a slow unfurling of temporal reality as time as a metronomic concept loses meaning and becomes something more elastic and less measurable. We could bring relativity in this (and what the hell, why not), so spatial shifts would come into play as well, sort of like

We love to love tecnobrega, the cheesy, intellectual property-thieving mashup beats out of Brazil's northeast, and so we also love Daniel Peixoto, the former...

The Brooklyn quintet Yeasayer definitely live up to the hype. Their electro-psychedelic-practically uncategorizable music makes for some of the best live shows we’ve seen. At the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year, Yeasayer showed off their enormous vocal talents and got the crowd on their

The Denmark divas of the dark bring you into their world of mystery and melancholy with a live performance straight from the depths of their soul. Watch as Giana Factory embraces the "Darkness." Special thanks to Cacophony Recorders for the space and Roerstroem Studio for the mix and mastering of

Watch free trailers, read the latest news and plot synopsis, and see photos of the cast and crew of Little Senegal on MTV.com.

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©2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.