On this installment of Immigrant Songs, I had the great pleasure of interviewing the Ghanaian-American Hip Hop artist Blitz the Ambassador. Blitz (a.k.a. Samuel Bazawule) represents a modern perspective on the immigrant experience: deeply colored by the internet and mobile technology, and a with a nuanced awareness of the current African scene.
In past generations, the immigrant artists typically made a one-way journey to their new home with possible trips back only after a decent period of time as an expatriate. Blitz travels to Africa regularly and incorporates the continental scene into his music and visual art. He expresses the immigrant experience as an artist not tied to nostalgia, but one free to explore all that is available in both the North American and African Continent today.