Tanzania hip hop artist use their languages in different ways, both local languages and American pop culture slang. Artists like Fid Q flow from Swahili to English throughout most of their songs, allowing them to connect with Tanzanians and also hip hop lovers everywhere. In Fid Q’s hit song “Bongo Flava”, Fid mostly speaks in Swahili, but a few lines are in English.
Those lines do feature pretty simple American pop culture slang. For example in the first verse of the song Fid uses American slang “no sweat” as he opens up about his love for music and not the paycheck. Hearing “No sweat” out of a sea of Swahili lyrics triggered my mind to automatically think Fid Q wasn’t as worried as someone thinks he should be. Then, after looking at the translation of the song, I see he is talking specifically on that subject of passion for the art form. For the other percentage of the song Fid Q’s Swahili dialect hones in to the Tanzania audience personally, and he also boldly labeled himself as a Tanzania artist, other than speaking all in English, as in a way of displaying a sense of nationalism. Also, the chorus of this song holds a reference to African American hip hop by the way he chants BONGO HIPHOP. Fid Q use the “preacher” technique to interact with the audience and make them feel like they are part of the song. Many African American Songs used the same technique, like Naughty By Nature’ “ Hip Hop Hooray” and “O.P.P”, and the outcome is what Fid Q is trying to acquire, immortal music and a message. In conclusion, Fid Q is a good example of a language technician in the hip hop world. Through the use of both local languages and American pop culture, Fid Q’s Music could reach everyone who needs to hear his message.