J.Period & Nneka - The Madness (Onye-Ala) Mixtape

Over the past few years, Americans have been bombarded with media attention focusing on Africa, whether it's the diamond industry's bloody and earth-trenching history, Bono's working with the Bushes and Clintons, and of course, Barack Obama being of Kenyan descent. But apart from the globalization program trying to increase its ratings and trying to convince kids all over the nation that math and science are the subjects they ought to be concerned with, the rebellious strike with dreams, emotion, intellect, passion and art.

Nneka represents that simple core reality we all share, as she states on "Show Love." "It's about loving love, showing love, doing love, living love, making love, this is a major issue." J.Period artistically blends samples of reggae, rock (Portishead), rap (Mobb Deep, Nas and 2Pac), and even adds heavier bass lines that beautifully blend grit with Nneka's optimism about the international struggle for freedom. The echoing of legendary statements that have been etched onto the walls of our memory like Biggie's "Show love, it's the Brooklyn way" or Prodigy's "Take these words home and think it through," help push her message into a great audience by showing the oneness of all genres that are considered "different."

Africa's not being pushed as the one and only important issue here, but rather to be understood that if you care about the Earth, then why would we treat the mother continent so terribly? Africa being the source makes it of interest to all, and hip-hop is the common denominator that holds all relative beings in the world together. Especially the greatest population on the planet, which is the youth. Assistance is lent by M-1, Jay Electronica, Talib Kweli and others, and don't outshine, but blend rather nicely with the various analyses of Nneka's Madness.

- Divino DeNegro