Imran Khan - Punjabi Flavor From East to West

With his smooth voice and sexy swagger, Imran Khan joins the movement of Punjabi artists fusing their Eastern roots with the Western styles of Hip Hop, R&B, and Dancehall.

Imran Khan was born in Holland to Pakistani parents, and spent his childhood between the 2 countries. With his life split between East and West, Khan became fluent in 4 languages: Punjabi, Urdu, English and Dutch. A gifted singer, Imran started his career in the music business his late teens, at the age of 19 when he signed his first deal with a record label. However, due to managerial and monetary issues, he decided to leave the label.

Khan returned from Pakistan to the Netherlands, continuously looking for the right deal. He signed with several producers and record labels, but none were the right fit, until 2007. Shahid Mazhar founded Prestige Records which released Khan's UK debut smash hit single Ni Nachleh. The single quickly reached number 1 on various UK Asian radio and television channels, and Khan knew had found the right team to work with.

In July 2009, Khan released a new album with his fellow producers Eren E and Hakan Ozan, entitled Unforgettable. This album proved to be his breakthrough project, with the smash hit singles Amplifier and Bewafa which went on to be hugely successful in Asian communities around the world. Unforgettable gained even more success at the UK Asian Music Awards and Khan won "Best Desi Act".

The singer has already started work on his second studio album, due to be released in 2012. During an interview on the BBC, the Khan confirmed that a single is going to be released with T-Pain.

Here's the video for his first hit single, a collaboration with Dancehall artist Lucky. We love the fusion of Punjabi and Jamaican styles - they flow so well together! Check it out...

Around the World in 6 min! Episode 21

Another week, another episode of Around the World in 6 min! - our web show where we bring you hot music videos from all over the globe! This week we make stops in France, Korea, Argentina, Egypt, and Kenya...LET'S GO!!

(Due to some issues with YouTube, we had to post this episode on our Facebook page. But you can watch the rest of our episodes on our YouTube Channel...)

Muthoni the Drummer Queen - Kenyan Lady Rapper

With her rapid flow, hype beats, and unique style, Muthoni the Drummer Queen is reigning supreme as the premier female emcee of Kenya.

Muthoni blends styles as diverse as salsa, kwaito, afro-rock, taarab, rap, poetry and R&B while spitting in a variety of languages including English, Kikuyu and Kiswahili. And with a name like that, she'll even wail on the drums while she's rhyming on the mic. This chick is FIERCE!

She's released 2 albums thus far, Mambo Bado and The Human Condition, with tunes that made it to the top off the charts in Kenya. Now she's in production for her 2nd album, due later this year. There's something about her style that is remniscent of Missy Elliott - that funky, futuristic, female sound...We can't get enough!

Hossam Habib - Egyptian Heartthrob

Hossam Habib lives up to his name. Habib means "beloved" in Arabic, and this Egyptian hottie is certainly a beloved national figure, with his smooth voice and smoldering eyes.

Hossam grew up in Egypt with a passion for singing and football (soccer), but never thought he could make a career of either. After his family and friends convinced him to go for singing, he started his career in 2002, with single entitled Men Yomak which was released in a compilation album.

2 years later Hossam Habib launched his first album Lessa, and shot his first music video for the title track off the album.

In 2006, Hossam released his second album, Ajmal Kesset Hob with the Melody Music Group - one of the most popular distributors of Arabic music in the world. He worked with big composers Amr Mostapha and Tamer Ali, and the album was very popular.

Here is a music video for the title track off his most recent album, Gowa El Alb, another release with Melody Music. He brings the traditional vocal styles and rhythms of Arabic music into the 21st century with his electronic beats and contemporary sounds.

Banda de Turistas - Argentina Rocks!

Psychedelic rock sang in a made up language that qualifies as some sort of surrealistic Spanish...? Yup - retro meets the future in some sort of musical time warp known as Banda de Turistas.

Hailing from Buenos Aires, the Turistas have been a huge presence in the indie rock scene for years now. They recorded heir first album Magico Corazon Radiofonico in 2008. The project was mixed by legendary producer Mario Caldato Jr., famous for working with big time artists like Beastie Boys, Ween, Beck, and Yoko Ono.

After glowing reviews from the Argentina press, including the country's version of Rolling Stone magazine, they released their second album in 2009, The Return, which was mixed and mastered in the famous Abbey Road studios in London.

They've toured extensively in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, and the USA. They're playing a lot of the major festivals too, including SXSW and LAMC, bringing their signature style of rock that manages to recall the past while still sounding futuristic and unique. This video for their song El Rogadero displays that mix perfectly - the footage seems vintage, yet with digitally advanced effects and a psychedelic style that perfectly suits the music of Banda de Turistas.

Girl's Day - KPop's Plastic Dolls

Is it cute or creepy to watch 5 Korean teenage girls romp around with plastic hair, pretending to be dolls, until tucked away in their glossy cardboard box packaging...?

Well, it's both. And it's a pretty accurate portrayal of KPop culture, for that matter.

Girl's Day is one of the latest pre-packaged girl groups to gain fame in Korea's ever emerging KPop music scene. There are definitely some major bonuses to KPop that explain its rise as a worldwide phenomenon:

1. The fashion and art direction is amazing. They take the whole Asian technicolor pop fantasy to new heights with super trendy wardrobe and highly artistic set design that is super fun to watch and gives new meaning to the term eye candy.

2. They come in numbers. KPop consists mostly of girl groups and boy bands, with anywhere from 5 to 13 (yes, 13!) members singing and dancing in unison. And they are all adorable. Who doesn't love group choreography? (thank you Michael Jackson)

3. The music is well-produced. And catchy. And fun to dance to and sing along with (very important to the karaoke-obsessed Asian peeps)

However, there are some major down sides as well...

1. It all starts to sound the same after a while. Think autotune and synthesizers to a danceable pop beat - over and over and over again - with a brief pause for a super sentimental over-the-top tween love ballad.

2. These groups are what I like to call, "test-tube artists". They are plucked at a young age and literally trained for years to sing, dance, wink, giggle, and flirt perfectly before introduced to the public and paraded around like show dogs. Everything is so manufactured that the sweetness of it all becomes a bit nauseating.

3. But the biggest downfall of KPop is the incredible stress and strain that is put on these poor little Korean girls and boys to be the perfect pop star. So much so, that there have been a number of celebrity suicides, which many attribute to be one of the reasons why Korea is reportedly the suicide capital of the world. (Kpop Live)

And so, when watching this very fashionable and pop art cute music video for Girl's Day's song Tilt My Head, which opens with this refrain - "Tilt Head. Blankly. Tilt Head. Blankly. Tilt Head. Blankly. Tilt Head. Blankly. Tilt Head. Tilt Head." (English translation) - it starts to feel a little creepy...You be the judge.

Colonel Reyel - Guadeloupe's Ragga Zouk flavor in Paris

From the islands, to the street cyphers, to the mainstream, Colonel Reyel is set to bring his dancehall sound to the masses.

Colonel Reyel is a native of the Caribbean island, Guadeloupe. But being that Guadeloupe is also one of the 27 regions of France, Colonel Reyel grew up in Paris. He began his music career with a passion for rap, and in the early 2000s, he was a vocalist with a group of emcees and DJs known as the Septentorial Crew.

In 2004, the singer's passion for rap was re-routed to include reggae-dancehall after a stay in the Caribbean. Once he was back in France, Reyel Colonel peppered his flows with a lively dancehall riddim, and quickly became known to the general public through videos of his freestyles of ragga infused rap. These videos are raw - straight street cypher energy - and the Colonel is a BEAST - check it out!

Two years later, Colonel Reyel released an album entitled Boomaz Mixtape Vol 1 with the popluar song The Employment Crisis. Following that, the Septentorial Crew released a compilation entitled Sound Storm in 2010. This album contains nearly 28 tracks mixing hip hop and dancehall, with four songs from Colonel Reyel: We Must Fight, Chanjé a Tan, Lyrikal Tsunami and Text Message.

Colonel Reyel became the breakout star from the Septemorial Crew, and during the same year, he prepared a solo project - a new album called 100% Ragga Zouk. The album was released under the label Step Out, and was supported by Krys, a famous reggae-dancehall artist originally from Guadeloupe, also known by his real name, Pedro Pirbakas.

Now Colonel Reyel is breaking more into the mainstream with some high-quality glossy tunes and this sharp new video shot back in the Caribbean. While most dancehall-reggae artists have been associated with Jamaica, Colonel Reyel is defintiely doing his party to put Guadeloupe on the map! Check out the island flavor...