During his coming of age years, and due to him being surrounded by and immersed in a world of philosophy, spirituality and consciousness, it wouldn’t take long before Barz would start gravitating towards ‘Conscious rap’ to add to his boom bap 90’s HipHop influences, An element in which he would be able to relate to more through artists such as Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli and Hi Tek) The Roots, J Dilla, and Neo Soul artists as well as underground acts such as MF DOOM and Little Brother.
Gambia suffered from a lack of regular electricity, it was a normal part of life to have to live with candle lights around the house, this was the prerequisite to Barz spurring his creativity, with no distractions and as an only child, it was easier to find those moments of solitude to master his craft. To add to that, The Gambia has a rich musical background with talents all over, so Kanasu Barz was
In the studio rapping as young as 14 years old making demos Born in Jordan and Raised in Gambia, with parents of European origins, Kanasu Barz epitomizes the culture of the free spirit, multi cultured, world citizens not bound by borders. After independently releasing his first solo LP Extreme Depths, and making a name for himself locally, Barz eventually built a network of emcees that shared his passion for rap.
Suunu Allel, Wolof for ’This thing of Ours’ quickly became a collective that appealed to the local HipHop heads from the middle class suburbs to the poverty stricken ghettos, They would be among the first of their generation to bring Raw and introspective HipHop, bringing substance to the game in an era when commercial raps invaded the airwaves.
They would continue to Independently Produce and release mixtapes and albums that would circulate the streets and get regular rotation on various HipHop radio shows.
And even performing regularly at events and monthly open mic’s becoming a staple in local HipHop.
Kanasu Barz joined with his ‘partner in rhyme’ Killa Ace who had moved back to his motherland after being raised in NY to make what is considered today to be a Gambian Hiphop classic LP entitled 'Nod Ya Brainboxxx', which was particularly appealing to the Gambian youth as it reflected not only their love and influences of east coast lyricism but explored their journey of attainment of knowledge of self via their initiation in the Sufi path (an esoteric side of Islam with an emphasize on spirituality and Gnostic wisdom)This became a corner stone of Barz’ artistic and personal growth as he continued to master his craft.
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