Rap Mallam destroys the young audience gathered in front of Odokor's Atomic Video Theatre, Accra. This guy is totally underground, but huge in this part of town. Having not had the chance to interview Rap Mallam, I don't know much about him. His name may refer to one area nearby which is called Mallam. It also might be a reference to a learned muslim monk, which is referred to as a mallam in Ghana.

His performance was part of a two-day event organized by an awesome kid named Alfred, aka Efrititi. Sheriff Carnival was the name of the event, Sheriff being the name of the young guy who owns Atomic Video Theatre. With a stack of hand-bills listing the names of the artists to perform, along with the parts of town they represent, Alfred publicized and promoted a huge underground event. Despite there being hundreds of people in attendance, this was underground event because none of the artists who played are known city-wide. These are area artists who are well-recognized in their neighborhoods but don't get played on the radio and don't perform at the shows organized by big promoters with mainstream sponsors.

This was one of my favorite performers at Sheriff Carnival. Mallam's big hit song (apparently) is the track featured here. The hook has this catchy, retro-sounding keyboard lick that just doesn't get old to me. The kids are feeling it, jumping up and down. Some dancers on stage fire things up with some hot mid-school hip-hop moves, along with at least one choreographic tribute to the late, great Terry Bonchaka (see the guy the holding one leg horizontally while hopping on the other). I can't describe how sick this track is, just check it out!