Blitz the Ambassador

Thursday, February 11, 2016 | 8:00 pm

Motorco Music Hall

Ghanaian-American rapper Blitz the Ambassador makes no bones about his mission. He blends elements of Ghanaian highlife with the fiercest and most socially engaged ’90s hip-hop, drawing inspiration from the super-charged rhythms of Fela Kuti and the thunderous delivery of his hero Chuck D. The result is a pointed commentary about Africa and America that is at once smart and outrageously danceable. “Blitz is one of the leading voices in the growing movement connecting the classic sound of American hip-hop with stories and musical traditions of Africa and the African diaspora” (Afropop Worldwide).

Blitz is backed here by a seven-piece band in the intimate nightclub setting of Motorco Music Hall, a venue perfectly suited to his “sonic fireworks, horn stabs, and percussive rumbles” (NPR). Blitz’s latest release, Afropolitan Dreams, chronicles life as an African artist in America, faced with the constant hustle between two different worlds. Blitz, with his rapper’s winning bravado, describes how he’s going to make it big: by dreaming large, working hard, and flowing indefatigably.