Tanzania, 2007

Soggy Doggy (AKA Chief Rumanyka) has to be one of the best MC names out there. The fact that he’s rapping over what clearly sounds like Grime in Tanzania is totally badass.

The intro for this video features Soggy dangling a silver cross chain, behind him a beach full of people wearing white clothes, swaying to a Grimey beat. We then see Soggy, a man of small stature, practically drowning (in a good way) in triple XL basketball gear, walking down the street with his bros, clapping with Josephine–the angelic vocalist on the chorus. Cut to a disheveled man welcoming the viewer to a sign that reads, “Hot Pot Family Utajiju Communications Centre.” I’m gonna go ahead and assume, seeing his other videos, that Hot Pot Family is the name of Soggy’s crew, another ingenius title.The rest of the video contains much of the same, interspersed with small comic moments like the latter scene–reminiscent of some homemade British Grime videos that “take the mickey” out of one subject or another. And although the rapping on this song is not of a high calibre, the beat is unquestionably sick.

All I know is that Bongo Records, the Tanzanian label that’s signed Soggy and several other local acts–like the rapper Flexx, featured on an earlier Global .WAV entry–is on the right tip. Not to mention the fact that Josephine and her girls in white and navy Sean John attire are killing me softly.