Hip hop in Africa

And much like rock, which gave the youth of the ’50s and ’60s a creative medium to rebel against their conservative parents and warmongering governments, hip hop has been instrumental in laying bare the concerns of today’s young people. Unemployment, disenfranchisement, substance abuse, dysfunctional family dynamics, racial tensions and a world harping on right-wing politics and isolationism are just some of the themes found in hip hop today.

Even our obsession with money, social status, buttocks, fancy cars and kitsch apartments is well reflected in hip hop. One could even say that the genre has become a way of recording modern history and providing future generations with a window into our collective psyche.   

In Africa, hip hop has also followed a similar trend to become one of the biggest genres in terms of releases and fan engagement. Perhaps what’s most fascinating are the many African languages employed in the genre, giving hip hop thousands of sub-genres as one goes from one region to the next.  Southern African motswako hip hop, for example, employs the Tswana language and is arguably the biggest music genre in the region. Then there’s Swahili hip hop and bongo flava, Arabic hip hop, hip hop delivered in Nigerian Pidgin and Senegalese hip hop, which mixes mbalax in its sound. Wherever one goes in Africa, there is an original derivative of hip hop to be heard, and to be learnt from.   

Music In Africa has commissioned and published original Overview Texts that cover the historical development of the genre in various African countries, with more still to come.

Overview Texts

• Hip hop in Lesotho
• Hip hop in Botswana
• Hip hop in Northern Nigeria
• How French hip hop found its own voice by going back to Africa
• Hip hop in Gabon
• Hip hop in Benin
• Hip hop in Togo 
• Hip hop in Chad
• Hip hop in Zambia
• Hip hop in Mali
• Hip hop in South Africa 
• Hip hop in Cameroon
• Hip hop in Tanzania 
• Hip hop in Senegal 
• History of Nigerian hip hop 
• Hiplife in Ghana 
• History of hip hop in Kenya
• Hip hop in Central African Republic 

Also check out the Music In Africa directory.