DPlanet, a hiphop artist in Cape Town, South Africa, has a style of his own, which caught the attention of the defhiphop staff for its innovation. Dp describes his style: “We’re also at the forefront of a style of Hip Hop we call ‘Spaza’. A spaza shop is a small informal shop usually found in the hood, often made out of corrugated iron container. It’s a place where you can buy bits and pieces of everything. Likewise, Spaza Hip Hop is music where artists rap in bits and pieces of different languages. However, the style goes beyond simple linguistics, Spaza artists strive to represents ‘kasi’ (hood) life in South Africa through the content of their lyrics, slang and fashion. Spaza isn’t a style of music, it’s an expression of a way of life.” You can read an interview with Dp and download one of his tracks for free here. DPlanet also runs an independent record label called Pioneer Unit which also has a wordpress blog here.

A trio of law school students at Boston University have been working together to create some independent hip hop with the theme “hip hop on the loose.” The group goes by the name J[ust] D[ope] and their first track “Do ya really want it?” sounds great with member Demokrasee, formerly MC Sharp. Check out the track here [file is in .wma format - 9.29 mb].

The Hard Road, released in April, 2006, is the most recent album from the Australian Hip Hop group on Obese Records. You may listen to several songs from the album on their myspace page here. You may also download several of their older albums and unreleased tracks on their website here.