The BET Hip-hop Awards celebrates mainstream Hip-hop’s biggest names at their annual ceremony broadcast in the US on Tuesday 27 October and in the UK on October 31.

But there’s also a treat for the backpackers by way of The Cypher – pre-recorded segments played during the awards show featuring revered veteran lyricists going toe-to-toe over DJ?producer Premier cuts. Lined up are Mos Def, Eminem, Black Thought, KRS One, new comers Wale and Nipsey Hussle and Swahili rhyming Gsan from the Tanzanian Maasai Hip-hop crew Xplastaz.

Cyphering, more a forgotten, underground Hip-hop practice in the West, is routine for the East African MC, as he tells AfriPOP! “It’s something that I haven’t really done regularly since I have moved here to the US.  When I was at home we spent most of the time with different artists in the studio and that’s what we always did.”

GSan was approached by BET to take part in The Cypher after they caught wind of their 2006 youtube video hit Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki (400 000 viewers).

The rapper, whose real name is Godson Chrizostom Rutta, has lived in Chicago for 3 years and works there as a chef. His 3 siblings Yamat, Diney and Kamaa, also part of X-Plastaz, are based in Arusha, Tanzania, and another member Ziggy lives in Sweden.

XPlastaz DJ/Producer ThreeSixty is from the Netherlands and has recently caught buzz for his production of Redman’s Coc Back the lead single for his forthcoming album Reggie Noble 9.5.

While XPlastaz influence spreads across the globe, Gsan’s focus is still very Afrocentric: “I didn’t move here to live here forever. Not because I don’t like it here, I mean I believe that the world was created for us and there are no boundaries for us. It was just to experience something new and so far so good I have things to do with my community. Right now we’re working on trying to set up a school of music at home where you can learn how write and produce and to play instruments from Africa.”