HHP, the South African multi award-winning rapper, says he is taking his music a step further and is bringing in US rapper Nas to collaborate with him.

The 29-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jabulani Tsambowho, said he wanted more from his soon-to-be-released album Dumela and that is why he decided to pay over R100000 just to get a chance to sing with Nas, his idol.

The song with Nas, titled Keledimo, will be released in a 25-track double CD. In it HHP raps about "being idolised by people when all he wants is for them to realise he is human".

The 16th Annual MTN South African Music Awards Gears Up For Its Most Explosive Showcase Yet In Recognition of the Best In South African Music. See winners of SAMA 2009

The South African Music Awards (SAMAs) have become the country’s premier annual music awards ceremony, recognising musical excellence across all genres, from traditional, to Afrikaans, to Rock and pop as well as paying tribute to the various facets of musical production including production, engineering and video production.

The SAMAs are without a doubt the Grammys of South African music, and the coveted statuette the highest accolade a musician, band or producer can be awarded with.

And so the countdown to the 16th Annual MTN South African Music Awards, taking place in April 2010, has officially begun! SAMA 16 promises to exceed all expectations from previous years. Bigger and better, the MTN SAMAs in 2010 will expand on the platform based on a philosophy of inclusiveness that recognises, celebrates and rewards excellence in South Africa’s diverse and colourful recording industry. Entries for the 16th Annual MTN South African Music Awards open on Monday 2 November 2009 and participants have one month in which to enter before the closing date on Friday 27 November 2009.

The MTVBase Africa chart is back! Kenya's Jua Cali and Nigeria's Eldee da Don join the countdown for the first time and a certain Nigerian act stays at the top of the countdown. There's even an experience from Nigeria's beloved Ayo. There are some tracks from Museke.com's spanking new African music list as well. These are the African music videos that are the buzz on MTV's Africa Channel. Click the active links to watch the videos.

And so the countdown goes....

10 Shank (Nigeria) - 2 Late

9 Jua Cali (Kenya) - Ngeli Ya Genge

8 El Dee (Nigeria) - Bosi Gbanga

MTV Base Africa and Shell have partnered in another initiative to shoot some excellent music videos for a number of African musicians. They have already shot videos for Ghana's Tinny (Incomplete), South Africa's HHP (Music and Lights) and Kenya's Nikki (Kipofu).

The first MTV Making the Video Challenge with Shell partnered Little X, the Toronto-born music video director behind cutting edge music videos with Sean Paul, Jay Z and Rihanna, with South African video directors, Kwaito artist Bleksem and Mozambique's Dama do Bling on their exciting single collaboration, 'Wena Uthini' (also known as Thula Uzoyiboma). Bleksem has been riding high on the success of his 'How low can you go' track with DJ Cleo. Dama do Bling is one of Africa's best female emcees and she has also released singles from her new album (Chamadas para a Bling), including 'Gimme love'.

Accra, 10 December 2007: Charismatic Ghanaian hip life star Tinny, a.k.a. Tinny Nii Addo Quaynor, is to have a brand new music video shot by sizzling hot US music video director Rachel Watanabe-Batton, with a special cameo appearance by French/Cameroonian turntable ‘royalty’, DJ Prince Charles.

The new video for Tinny’s track, ‘Incomplete’ will be shot on location in Accra by world-class director and producer Watanabe-Batton, as part of the MTV Making the Video with Shell initiative. Watanabe-Batton, who has worked with artists from Nas to Lil Jon, P Diddy, Timbaland, Will Smith, R.E.M and Oasis, will be assisted on the shoot by a group of Ghanaian music video directors participating in the MTV Making the Video with Shell video workshop, which took place in Accra, Ghana w/c 10 December.

As reported 4 months ago, MTVBase introduced a TRL radio show in Kenya by way of Capital FM. It was going to be a weekly 2-hour radio show makes its debut on Capital FM on 3 August 2007. Museke brings you the latest countdown, what music is hot and popular in Kenya these days.

This music includes music from all over the world, and like in many chart shows across Africa, American music dominates. The Kenyan musicians on the countdown are Nonini, Abbas, Jua Cali (who was in the running for the best African musician at the MTV Europe music Awards) and Amani. Here is the countdown of the top 20 songs.

Johannesburg, 5 November 2007: South African hip-hop artist Hip Hop Pantsula (HHP) aka the Hiphop Ninja has been selected to have a brand new music video shot by internationally acclaimed music video director Nick Quested, with a special cameo appearance by US R&B diva and double-Grammy Award nominee, Amerie.

Lyrics for Music and Lights at this link

The video, for HHP’s track, will be shot in Johannesburg this week by Quested as part of the MTV Making the Video with Shell initiative. Quested, who has made nearly 100 music videos for A-list stars such as P. Diddy, Nas, Common, Sting and Brandy, will be assisted on the shoot by South African video directors participating in the MTV Making the Video with Shell video workshop, which takes place in Johannesburg from 5 November.

Ahhhhhh Angola's finest in Kuduru music... Word is that Os Lambas kinda went back to the hood thing of drugs and all that but they're still theee shit

Watch the Comboio II video

UPDATED
D'BANJ WINS

The time is nigh...By now everyone should know that the EMA nominations are out. For the third year running, the MTV Europe Music Awards have a category for the best African Act. The first ever winner of the award was 2Face Idibia (2005), while 2006 saw Freshly Ground walking away with the award. The nominees for the 2007 EMA BEST AFRICAN ACT ARE:

D'BANJ (NIGERIA)
HHP (SOUTH AFRICA)
JOSE CHAMELEONE (UGANDA)
JUA CALI (KENYA)

So the Channel O Awards came and went, leaving a bad taste on EVERYONE'S tongues.

First off, as with most events in S.A, the awards ceremony started late. After having being told that my VIP tickets were at the front desk, I had a bit of an embarrassing situation with people not finding my name or my ticket on their list. Without my tickets, I did the sensible thing and walked right past burly security guards and bouncers, and set about trying to find the person responsible for making sure that I had tickets. In my quest to find what I (much later) found out was the VIP desk, I landed up in the dressing rooms of the artists!! After spending some time with D'banj and his chilled out producer Don Jazzy; Crazy Lu of Jozi; Samini; Nameless; and a host of other artists, I set out to look for the rumoured "VIP DESK". After looking in all sorts of nooks and crannies of the City Hall building in downtown Jozi, I found the desk in the bowels of the building. There was a ridiculously long queue of VIP's trying to get their passes and tags! Not being one to queue, I went straight to the front of the desk and lo and behold my passes were nowhere to be found!! Media and VIP's STILL hadn't got their passes by the time the event started!