MIMI Version 3.0

Fresh off the heals of completing our 2008 publishing year with three back-to-back issues (October, November, December), MIMI is in the making some improvements to the site. Last year we changed our layout, and this year we're taking it to the next level to mark our 4 year publishing anniversary. If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you! Please leave your comments below.

December 2008: Moving Forward By Giving Back

MIMI moves forward by giving back in the December 2008 issue of MIMI. Fittingly, Benin-born superstar Angelique Kidjo (who really needs no introduction to any fan of African fusion music), is on the cover of this monumental issue where MIMI explores serious issues affecting women such as access to education and HIV/AIDS. Read about Angelique Kidjo's advocacy on behalf of African women in: Angelique Kidjo: Africa's Bold Crusader. Because December 1 is world AIDS Day, learn about the efforts to educate Africa's youths about sex in Better Sex Education Needed For African Adolescents, and remember those living with HIV in Healthy Sexual Lives For People Living With HIV.

.

All About MIMI Link: Volume 4, Issue 9: Moving Forward By Giving Back www.mimimagazine.com/2008/december

November 2008: Fashion Forward

Africa reigns in style in the November 2008 issue of MIMI. 2008's Face of Africa, Ghanaian model Kate Menson shines on the special issue of MIMI that is all about style. Read all about the unlikely model in Kate Menson, The New Face of Africa. In this issue, read about African designers who are redifining what "African fashion" means in Fashion's New Guard: Designers Pushing The Envelope. Finally, live your life in style with the items on the MIMI's Life & Style List: Avant Garde.

.

All About MIMI Link: Volume 4, Issue 8: Fashion Forward www.mimimagazine.com/2008/november

October 2008: Shine

Statuesque Nigerian fashion designer Adefunke Adegbola of Ella Brown Couture graces the October 2008 issue of MIMI. Read all about Adefunke's meteoric rise in the fashion industry in the article Designer Spotlight: Ella Brown Couture. Also in this issue, find out

which designers' fashion risks paid off, and which ones didn't in The Best Runway Moments of 2008 and The Worst Runway Moments of 2008. Which up and coming designers will everyone be talking about next year? Read, South Africa's Emerging Designers to find out. Finally, go backstage at the hottest African fashion shows of the year in Behind The Seams Of The Biggest Fashion Shows, and find out which celebrities were there in Celebrity Spotting: Front Row And VIP At The Fashion Shows.

.

All About MIMI Link: Volume 4, Issue 7: Shine www.mimimagazine.com/2008/october

The Livingstone 2009 Calendar

The Livingstone 2009 Calendar started with a phone call from producer Chitambala Chiti Mwewa to photographer Charlantoine Marais back in June 2008 for a commitment to the project. As soon as Mwewa got a commitment from Marais, a team was put together to create the stunning calendar. Talented Namibian Model, Venantia Otto (winner of 2006 Nokia Face Of Africa) was photographed over four days in Livingstone, Zambia in various locations in and around the city. Above, is a photograph of Otto styled in Zambia's national colors at the Rhodes Livingstone museum. To see the rest of the gorgeous photo shoot from the calendar, visit:

www.livingstone2009calendar.com

K'Naan To Release New Album On February 24th

Troubadour, the second studio album by Somali-Canadian musician/emcee K'naan Warsame, is set to be released on February 24, 2009. It is the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2005 release, The Dusty Foot Philosopher.

Recorded primarily in Kingston, Jamaica, at the legendary Tuff Gong studios and Bob Marley's home studio, Troubadour is a hip-hop album like no other. With contributions by Damian Marley, Mos Def, Chubb Rock, Vernon Reid, and Adam Levine (Maroon 5), K'naan successfully blends samples and live instrumentation for a sound that's rooted in both traditional African melodies and the classic hip-hop tradition.

It would be easy to brand K'naan with the "political rapper" tag. But that would be both easy and disingenuous. K'naan's lyrics lie in stark contrast to emcees that use their medium as a pulpit to promote their beliefs. "My job is to write just what I see / So a visual stenographer is who I be," he rhymes in "I Come Prepared." Doubtless, K'naan is not without his opinions, but songwriting always comes before sermons. "I think there are some people that are struggling in 'hoods [in Canada and America], but it is so much harder and so much more violent [in Somalia]," says K'naan. "If you want to be like, 'I'm from the hood. We got it rough. We got gats,' I think you should know the alternative exists. I'm speaking in the same language of hip-hop which decidedly speaks about rough neighborhoods. So if there is a place for rough neighborhoods, then here comes the Mother of Rough Neighborhoods."

Troubadour represents the sum of these experiences and more. Having spent the better part of the last two years on the road, soaking in everything from Bob Dylan to Fela Kuti to Talib Kweli, K'naan here releases the sonic document of an artist who has a lot to share now, but clearly a lot more to come. For anyone who's said that hip-hop has nothing left to say, Troubadour proves that it all depends on where you look.

MIMI Mambo Link: Generation Next: K'Naan