Jonah Weiner, in online magazine Slate, profiles the hipster performance-artist Prince Zimboo Abakunamabooba, who sends up African stereotypes. Produced by Diplo and based in Jamaica, Prince Zimboo “… has 999 wives. He hails from an unnamed region of central Africa (“a thin layer of impenetrable rainforest”) known only as d’bush … raps about zebras …”
Then, according to Weiner, there’s something else:
“… Zimboo’s U.S. booster, Diplo, is a Cousteau-like figure, scouring the nonwhite world in search of thumping, exotic sounds (he’s released several mixes of Brazilian baile funk, a slum-born hybrid of booty bass and ’80s pop, and has also praised Angolan-Portuguese kuduro and South African kwaito), and then hauling back his findings for stateside cognoscenti to enjoy. The end-user encounter doesn’t have to take on a condescending dimension, but it often does, as the social and cultural specificities behind a certain music are flattened into a general aura of impoverished authenticity, or ignored altogether—who cares what they’re talking about, the beat is hot! With Zimboo, the alien object of scrutiny gazes back at us; he knows something we don’t, and he’s grinning widely about it.”
Diplo has been running this project called Mad Decent Radio (also known as “NPR for the Streets”) for a few years now (including one in New Orleans after Katrina): http://www.maddecent.libsyn.com/