guests including Rokia Traoré. The album's title is based on the idea that hip hop music was born in Africa, spread around the world, then returned to the continent. Daara J note similarities between rap and tassou—a traditional African verbal performance technique used to discuss the social and political environment, daily life, and future aspirations. They believe it traveled from Africa by way of the United States slave trade. A year after the release of the album, Daara J won the Best African Act award from BBC Radio 3. The album itself was described as "one of the hip hop albums of the century" by the British newspaper The Observer and was successful on European music charts. Other reviews have been positive; Matthew Pollesel of Splendid Magazine praised the album for its lyrical content: "...as Daara J show throughout Boomerang, it's possible to get the meaning of those words just by listening to the things that surround them—the intensity of the rappers' delivery, the quality of the beats, and how well all those other factors coalesce around the words. And on that score, Daara J's message comes through loud and clear." However, Katharina Lobeck of BBC Music noted that one of the tracks, the R&B-influenced "Hip Hop Civilization", is "too generically soppy for even the most hardened R&B fans", but went on to say that the album is "a successful sonic adventure which thrives on its defiance of the margins of established sales categories". The group has made appearances at various WOMAD festivals around the world, the Live 8 concert in Eden Project, and Africa Calling. In 2017 they were on stage at the Abi Reggae festival in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Daara J has also performed with other hip hop artists and groups including Public Enemy, Wyclef Jean, and Mos Def. Activism Like many other African hip hop groups including Positive Black Soul, Daara J takes an activist stance. Faada Freddy states: "We tell of peace and how we can live together because there are lots of conflicts going on nowadays. We're here on behalf of the Africans to remind everybody that it shouldn't be like that. There's always a solution. Rather than fussing and fighting we'd better learn to live in peace and live together, because that's the only way to survive." The group is especially focused on educating the world about Africa. Faada Freddy has also stressed the