26 Days Left- The Countdown Begins.

I probably haven’t posted in a little while because I don’t want to think about leaving here. Anyway, classes ended last week, and that brings us to the reading days period. I actually missed my final week of courses due to a bad case of the flu that kept me bed-bound for about 3 days. I never thought I’d be keeping my fingers crossed for the flu, but when my symptoms started showing up I figured anything would be better than malaria. Luckily, it ended up being a virus my immune system had fought before, so I recovered after a few days.

Before my bout of the flu, I took my second overnight trip to Cape Coast with Jason, Ashley, and another international student named Monique. Anand, our friend who was here last year, told us about his friend Lolonyo in Cape Coast when I first got here, but I hadn’t given him a call until the day before we planned on going. Characteristic of the incredible hospitality that so many Ghanaians have extended to me here, Lolonyo not only offered to pick us up from the bus, but also hooked us up with cheap reservations at a hotel. As if that wasn’t enough, he also ended up spending the entire two days and evening with us and acted as a tour guide during the whole trip. He’s working on his masters degree at the University of Cape Coast, so we stopped by the school and took a look at the impressive campus before we got dinner. We ate at a restaurant adjacent to Cape Coast Castle, and it was a pretty strange experience enjoying chicken and red-red (beans and plantains) while gazing out on the very shore that my ancestors could have departed from. We took a nice walk on the beach afterwards, and needless to say, it was a very thought-provoking evening. Lolonyo took us to a club later than night and we headed to bed afterwards to prepare for next day.

While the Cape Coast Castle, the first slave castle we visited back in late August, was a major exporter of slaves, the Elmina Castle seems to have very important historical significant as well. Elmina seemed to be a larger hub of slave trafficking, and apparently it is the oldest standing European structure in Sub-Saharan Africa (some of the locals shared that with us like it was something to be proud of… go figure). It’s about 15 minutes away from the first castle, so after we reached town we had no problem getting there. After our first visit to Cape Coast, I’ve had time to digest the whole experience so this time around the tour wasn’t as difficult. While the first walkthrough on our last trip was an intensely emotional experience, this one was more thought provoking and a bit less painful. The beginning of our tour took us to the male and female quarters in addition to a church where (ironically enough) the Portuguese traders worshipped on the premises. After these first few stops, our party was joined by a group of Nigerian tourists. They appeared comfortably middle class, and the attire worn by the women in the party indicated that they were Muslim. Anyway, as they walked with us into one of the holding cells, one of the men commented to his wife, “Why are you sad? Don’t be upset- this is history.” umm?! I guess, from his perspective as an African whose lives in the land of his ancestors, it’s possible to dissociate yourself from the legacy of the slave trade. But I definitely found his remarks troubling, and they got me thinking…

…To some people, history is a grainy black and white photograph, sped-up footage from a silent film, an obsolete artifact covered in dust- an inanimate representation of a specific time period that exists in a vacuum. Even for me, it wasn’t until I reached college that I was able to fully internalize and understand the fact that millions of individuals (ACTUAL people) were subjected these atrocities. That means that the rooms we walked in were actually filled beyond capacity with sweaty, frightened, huddled bodies of people as real as you and me who were destined for slavery or death. When you’re in the moment, it’s a little more difficult to ignore the cold, hard facts. If you’re in a high school classroom, you can tune out your teacher and close your textbook. Even if you’re watching the History Channel, you can change the channel or run to the kitchen to grab a soda. Somehow, even though most people don’t deny the painful aspects of history, it’s difficult for them to fully realize them as reality. With that in mind, I understand what the man in my tour group was expressing. Not only did the events occur in another time and place from his current home, but he personally felt unaffected by the specific events of centuries ago. Maybe he’s right. Maybe it wasn’t until colonialism that his ancestors were subjugated and dominated by Western oppressors. Then again, maybe he hasn’t thought through any of this at all. (Like most parents today, maybe he’s just the cliché apathetic adult and simply “has a mortgage to pay…” By the way, is the process of paying off loans, bills, and taxes really a valid excuse for not thinking?? But I digress…)

I guess my point is that too many Americans (white and black) view pro-colonial Africa, slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, and even the Civil Rights Era as freeze frames of the past with no bearing on our collective destiny. In way too many instances, I’ve had peers in high school and college tell me racism doesn’t exist, black people should stop digging in old wounds of the past, or that slavery occurred too long ago to affect anyone today (read Dr. Joy Leary’s writings on “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” and try having that conversation with me again). How can anyone walk through a slave castle where human beings were raped, beaten, starved, killed, and shipped off like cattle and not be moved, regardless of your heritage? Perhaps I’m too much of a sentimentalist, or overly ethnocentric. Personally, I’d just like to think that I have a brain, and I use it.

Without any full appreciation of the importance of the past, how can anyone expect to have the foggiest idea of where they’re going? And this leads me to the underlying theme of my entire trip: Sankofa. It’s important, people. Think about it.

November. The Saga Continues...

Click on the pic to zoom in. Can you find me? Haha, as is the case in most Ghanaian gatherings I've attended, it's not that hard.

If I had more time and discipline, I’d post on here every day. There’s been so much going on lately, and since no two days are the same I guess I’ll just add some highlights from the past week or so.

Last Thursday Ashley and I got the opportunity to speak to some local secondary school graduates applying to school in the U.S. International admissions representatives from Harvard and Penn were presenting at the American Embassy not far from campus, and I was invited through a connection I have to the office. It was a lot of fun, but I have to admit that watching the visual presentation on Penn made me a lil’ bit nostalgic. The 50 or so kids in attendance were a really sharp group, and given the amount of Ghanaians we have at Penn, I’m sure I’ll see at least a few of them my senior year. At the event, Ashley and I also met two recent Penn graduates who are currently based in Accra. After the session, we ate at a local Caribbean restaurant owned by one of the alumnae’s mothers. Over curry chicken, plantains, rice and beans, we shared a few laughs about black student life on Penn’s campus and shared the conclusion that some things really never do change.

That night, I did my second radio show here in Ghana on Radio Universe, Legon’s campus radio station that actually has a large audience outside of the school. It was a great experience because I got to go one-on-one with the host/DJ Dr. Carl. Beginning at 9:30, we played some tracks from the last album and took a phone call from with my bandmate and homeboy Nana. Even though he’s back at Penn, he’s on the album and also spent some time here last year (his family’s from Ghana), so we had a little chat during the first hour of the show. After playing a few more of my newer tracks, we took a few calls. To my surprise, the phone lines were really busy, and about a dozen people called in to say how much they were feeling the music. After that, Dr. Carl played a bunch of GH (Ghanaian Hip-Hop) tracks and then I got back on the mic. I pretty much blacked out for the next 30 minutes or so, freestying about Ghana and incorporating words that were given to me on the fly. One of our last callers was none other than Jason (my other bandmate who’s here this semester), and after he kicked a little flow on the radio, we invited him to the studio. Since we were broadcasting from on campus, he had no trouble getting there soon, and we closed the show with some more freestyling and ended at midnight. I think I could get used to this radio thing.

Last Sunday morning, I was lucky enough to attend an outdooring, or naming ceremony, for my friend’s newborn baby girl. It was a held at the home of an American expatriate who has a home close to campus, and it was well attended by many of my recent acquaintances from the area (that's us in the picture.) It was a very moving ceremony, and my boy Jawhi (the cat with the 'fro on the far left) was beaming with pride all morning. It was an honor to be invited to the event, and besides getting to experience a traditional ceremony I got to interact with a lot of members of the Diaspora who have recently relocated to Ghana.

Later that day, Ashley, Jason, and our homie Monique went to see proud Penn graduate John Legend (or John Stephens, for those Quakers who graduated around 2000) perform in Accra’s Independence Square. Recent flooding in Ghana’s northern region has resulted in extensive damage and displacement up there, and there seems to be a concerted government and grassroots effort to help out those affected by the disaster. (Funny, you’d think the same thing would happen in the mighty U.S.… right?) Anyway, it was an amazing show, and his 10-piece band was a lot more impressive than I expected it to be. My only issue was that as an American performer, he was given treatment far different than that of the legendary artists hailing from Ghana. The woman who introduced him warmed up the crowd by exclaiming “We have John Legend all the way from the United States here in Ghana for the first time! I saw him back stage with my very own eyes, and he’s right here in Independence Square as I speak! Let’s make sure we receive him well so he can return to America and tell everyone how wonderful his audience in Ghana was!” Umm… I understand that you may want to give a star a warm welcome to your city for the first time, but do you really have to belittle your whole nation in the process?

Anyway, as nice as it was to hear “Ordinary People” and the other hits live, the highlight of the show was definitely the closer. The concert ended with international reggae superstar Luciano putting down an amazing set. There’s a sizable fringe population of Rastafarians in Ghana, and although you rarely see more than a few together at once, they all seemed to know that their brother was going to be in town. As soon as he hit the stage, the Square turned into a sea of dreadlocks, and somehow a mysterious sort of haze seemed to settle in overhead shortly afterwards. I guess it was just the steam created from all of that body heat, right...? haha, all interesting spectators aside, the show was absolutely incredible. These days, most people in the States seem to think of dancehall artists like Sean Paul, Beenie Man and Shaggy as reggae artists. Well, I’m happy to report that reggae as Robert Nesta, Peter Tosh, and Gregory Isaacs created is alive and well. Luciano is pretty popular in the West Indian and African community in the States, but I never had the opportunity to hear his music. Dude was amazing! Rumor has it the guy’s at least in his 40’s, but that didn’t stop him from doing a front handspring right before the opening to a song. With all of the acrobatics on stage, he never missed a beat or lost control of his breath. His band, with a traditional instrumental setup, was equally as impressive. I know I’m late to the game with this artist, but even being the music snob that I am I’ll admit that I was missing out until this point.

After classes this week, we headed back over the Hypnotiq lounge on Thursday night. The place was a bit more jumping than usual, as my boys PY and DK who host the spot have been going extra hard with promoting the past few weeks. They’ve added live instruments to the mix, so this time around we got to get a little more funky with it. Unfortunately, the keyboard won’t be in until next week, but I still got to perform a bit vocally. I’ve become a regular at the spot now, so it’s nice being able to walk straight in without paying a cover. (DK to the doorman: “C’mon man, this is VOCAB! He’s a performer! You should know this guy by now. Just let him pass through.”) As usual, we warmed up the set with a little freestyling on the microphones, then proceeded to do our own things. Jason hopped on the drums, and after he hit a steady tempo I decided to just start flowing to the breakbeat. Things went pretty well, and the crowd received the performance as warmly as they ever have. A local reggae band did their thing too, and the vibes in the house were off the charts as the chemistry between artists flowed. I’ve passed my CD’s around to a few people and have been heard here and there, so it’s cool to get a little bit of recognition for the music. Incidentally, someone stopped me in one of the dorms the other night to ask if I was the same rapper from the infamous “On the Run” battle a few weeks back. When I replied yes, he explained to his friend in pigeon how I had done in my opponent. It pretty funny, since I had almost forgotten about the whole thing until this guy recounted the event in the most hilarious manner possible.

As much as it saddens me to say this, the semester’s soon coming to a close, and there are a staggering TWO weeks of classes remaining. Finals begin at the end of November, and I’m already beginning to brace myself for the culture shock I’ll probably experience upon returning to Babylon… err… I mean, the States. I’ve still got about 6 weeks left, so I suppose it’s still too early to start getting all dramatic. Knowing how I am, I’m sure I will soon though.