Blitz the Ambassador [brand new website!] has been amazing people with his new album, “Native Sun” (Embassy MVMT). So much truth to self and miraculous love was put into the project, I’m not surprised to watch people hear so much in the album, reflecting on themselves and the world at large. Isn’t that what music’s supposed to do anyway? Lots in store for 2011 and beyond, as Blitz just signed on with Monterey International: meaning, Blitz and The Embassy Ensemble will be coming to your town soon!!!! Here come the horns!
[Blitz on Afropop Worldwide’s excellent piece called ‘The Trans-National Hip-Hop Train’ ft Baloji, Nneka, Spoek Mathambo, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez and more!]
[Extensive Interview in Complex Magazine]
Oh, and have you seen Blitz’s short film ‘Native Sun’?
“But in the category of “Short Films Produced By Rappers” I’m not sure all of your lights can compete with this African boy saga. All other rap video directors: you are so fired.” – Okayplayer
Listen to the ‘Native Sun’ album on youtube, and if you dig it, get it on iTunes or Amazon.
…And if you’re in Brooklyn or NYC this weekend, check out Blitz the Ambassador and The Embassy Ensemble rock a FREE show at The Brooklyn Museum on Saturday, June 4th at 5 PM for Target Free Saturdays! Get more info by clicking below:
“There’s African hip-hop, there are African grooves with rapping on top and then there’s Blitz.” – Exclaim (Canada’s #1 Music Publication)
“Native Sun” is one of the most organic marriages of African music and hip-hop we’ve heard — an effortless release that incorporates Afrobeat, highlife and kora music into old-school hip-hop. It’s a warm and danceable record with a social conscience, and it speaks to anybody who’s lived between two cultures — as more and more of us do.” – Youtube
“It makes sense though, cause this song seems like kind of a mission statement for the ambitious goals Blitz set for himself with Native Sun–doing the whole damn diaspora proud–and it does not disappoint. Musically speaking, it sounds like he heard all these “Sabali”-based tracks that Theophilus, Damian & Nas and everybody have been jumping on and said, Maaaaan, I don’t need to sample no Afropop. I am Afropop!” – Okayplayer
“Blitz – and his band, the Embassy Ensemble – pack a brilliant fusion of styles.” – Guardian UK
“The fluidity of styles and ideas is masterful. There’s a real community feeling to his vision of hip hop. What is most beautiful about Native Sun is the way it makes you feel that hip hop, afrobeat, R&B, and traditional African sonorities and rhythms truly belong together—as if they were never really separate in the first place.” – Afropop Worldwide