Rai2ban's story:

Mammas don't cry for me but I miss you dearly!
I roamed Uganda and Kenya during my childhood, I am a survivor of an earth quake, of famine, civil war, disease, and poverty. During the ages of 6-10, I was involved in the biggest struggle I have faced, (civil war) in the form of preserving my life by any means necessary.

The tribalism and the continual degradation of my living standards combined with interference from "alien" pressures finally delivered me to U.K. as a political asylum seeking refugee at the age of 10.
I am a son of a father who won't bend, culture and reality Rai will defend and so the saga unfolds.. From deep in the bosom of the earth a child was born to champion and give new definition to indigenous.

The objective of this exercise is to enlighten you and to enrich you by giving you the answers whilst you define your individual roles with in these answers. All there is to know will be revealed. with every album comes a lyric

                        Oldogg, Rai2Ban, Robiati

album too, this offers the opportunity to actually read what I'm saying and inevitably what I am saying is my life, the thing that you are all wanting to find out about.

For those that are of poetic and intellectual disposition all my poetry is available in book form also titled MY REIGN OF WISDOM all that I have achieved and experienced are exclusive attributes of human beings. My particular role in this is that I am ancient of the lineage of man and seeing as we all are trying to "as it were" be human beings then the appreciation for my indigenous disposition is evident.
So follow me as I lead the civilized back into the ways of the wild!!

Here is a review by Low-Life: UK Hip-Hop - 15/07/03

2 Ban is an individual with a lot of drive and ambition. So much so that this is manifested in quite a unique approach to getting his material out there. He understands that if he continues to put out dope tunes recognition will eventually come his way. To facilitate this he his putting out many of his tracks in the public domain. The reason for this is that small scale record production is not really going to make anyone any money and should probably be counted largely as a promotional activity, with the artist taking opportunities to make money more from live performances, where if you put in the work the rewards can be quite substantial. So back to the public domain nature of the music. What this means in reality is that 2 Ban will actively encourage people to bootleg his material, heck, he'll even supply the cover artwork if you want. What this means is that any head who wants to make a few beans can get up and sell 2 Ban's stuff - keeping the revenue for themselves. 2 Ban feels that this can only be beneficial to him, especially in the early stages of his career.

Before we get into looking at the music, I have to apologise to 2 Ban for dragging my heels over getting this written and up on the site. This is going to become a more common apology I think as everything is just getting too busy. So what we have here is a full 13 track LP created by Ugandan born 2 Ban and finished as far back as 2002. With all the experiences he has endured during his life so far he has a great deal of subject matter to explore and is most definitely concentrating on deep meaningful lyrics and is not

Rai2nab

 interested in superficial blinging. There are some very serious messages on here, a real education if you choose it to be, however it is presented in an accessible way.

The opening track is hard hitting and opens the LP as it is set to continue. Refugee Child breaks down the story of his child hood and how he had to leave as a refugee as a child to escape the fighting and bloodshed. Throughout the LP the production is very much synthesiser and drum machine based, rather than breakbeat and sample based. In a way I feel this type of production requires more musical skill, mostly because individual notes and riffs need to be played, or at least composed and arranged in the sequencer. Track two, Selah Akbah follows and draws the listener further into what 2 Ban is offering. Selah Akbah opens up with some steel pan sounds that are heavily effected. The buzzing bass fades in and out of the melody on this slow tempo track which has a distinctly original sound and feel. The lyrics are just as deep on here, exploring African history and the the struggles people can endure there, especially oppression and unjustified imprisonment. As if to emphasise the nature of the lyrics 2 Ban occasionally adds a gruff element to his delivery.

The only chance the world has to rid itself of overwhelming American Hip Hop is in this man. Don't take word for it. Look up his website download the free evidence of him; What this means in reality is that 2 Ban will actively encourage people to bootleg his material, heck, he'll even supply the cover artwork if you want. Any head who wants to make a few beans can get up and sell 2 Ban's stuff - keeping the revenue for themselves.

He has produced a thought-provoking offering, and he has a lot to say. It is refreshing to hear from someone who is taking their responsibilities as a role model and educator as well as entertainer seriously. There are some very serious messages on here, the real education if you choose it to be, however it is presented in an accessible way (lowlife.fsnet.

2Ban also does video art and we received a DVD with image and video collages to their tracks, and the result is unlike anything we saw from a hip hop artist yet - 2Ban touches on a lot of topics that would make other conscious emcees feel like going back to the library. This is the Open Source version of releases. You can copy, sell and redistribute the albums as many times as you wish as long as you mention the original author 2BAN.

These albums are richly packed with African historical jewels for your mind. I can't help but think that these are the kinds of albums that everybody needs to give a listen to, if only for the history lesson. (africanhiphop.com)

2Ban deserves props and respect alone for the amount of tracks they've recorded showcasing their Genre of music "Roots Hip-hop" recorded from 2002 to 2004.The mc spits some serious deep lyrics dealing with a whole load of issues that people face in life. If you want to listen to some deep positive hip-hop about real issues then these albums are really worth checking out. If you want to check out hip-hop that's different from anything out there at the moment then you need to pick up "Roots Hip-hop" from a very talented Mc/songwriter named 2ban.

2ban is a real mc who speaks upon real issues and isn't influenced by the commercial money hungry blinged-out sound that's been polluting hip-hop recently. Not only is 2ban an excellent lyricist, who puts across a lot of positive messages, he's also a talented producer. Basically a one man band who definitely needs to be heard.

For more info on 2ban or if you want to get a copy of his excellent albums email me at mrcrf@cbmag.co.uk

Click here for more about 2ban and visit his official website at

http://www.2ban.co.uk/