Maga Bo Archipelagoes

• Words: Matt Earp
• Label: Soot
• XLR8R Rating: 8/10

A Tribe Called Quest’s lyrics for “Award Tour” seem particularly suited for Maga Bo–“He’s on a world tour, with Mohammed his man, going each and every place with the mic in his hand, Cape Town, Zanzibar, Dakkar, Morocco…” Rio’s globetrotting sound recordist has used his day job to hip-hop and dance music’s benefit for a while now, collaborating with vocal artists completely off most westerners’ radars. When fiery delivery from MCs like Bigg, K-Libre, Xuman, Teba, and others get laced together with Bo’s deep understanding of global musical timbres and a keen appreciation for booty-shaking beat science, the result is the favela on blast Diplo strives for but doesn’t always achieve. Outta-national? Globalista? Sure, but Bo is speaker-bangin’ before all else.