Hard Balsters is made up of three guys from the township of Upanga in Dar. We met and talked to one of the members, Terry Msiagi. They started out as a group of five, but one is now studying in the U.S. and another one has to work in his father's business.
When we founded our crew most of us were students. But after one year we finished our secondary educations. Some got work, some are still street fighters like me. People without jobs, staying in town.

Hard Blasters rap both in Swahili and English. Terry considers it easier to rap in Swahili. They perform live and do recordings. Concerning the audience Terry says:
It depends on the concert. Most concerts are arranged by students. Can take place in any place. The audience is mostly children and youth, but also some "older people". Most are secondary students.

They have cut one album called "Mambo Ya Mgini" (Town Shit), 1994 at Mawingu Studio. In 1996 they recorded another album called Blast Nuff. They are looking for promotion and distribution.

Rap is badly developed in this country. Our crew and most of the crews are in solo productions. For example me, I've got my own production, solo things. I've got my own tape here, it says Hard Blasters, but it's my solo things. This is to show how hip hop has developed in our country. People do solo productions. I've heard about K.U. (Kwanza Unit) members doing their own solo shit. This is a recent development. II Proud is a model for this.

Here two samples of Hard Blasters' craft:

• Cheka Nao (.wav format 670 kB).
• Twapendeza (.wav format 570 kB).