Category: Academic Article & Book Reviews
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The South Africa Issue of WBL: Global Journal for Hip-Hop Culture
Words Beats & Life: Global Journal for Hip-Hop Culture: The South Africa Issue This special issue of WBLJ explores South Africa, home to one of the largest and oldest hip-hop scenes in the world. This issue considers the historic ties between artists in the US and South Africa, as well as competing perspectives on how
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CFP: Politics of Language in African Hip Hop
The question of language in African literature was debated in the 1960s and 1970s. At the heart of the debate was: who qualifies as being an African writer? and what qualifies as African literature? African authors like Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe weighed in on different sides of the debate. Today a similar debate is occurring in various hip hop communities in Africa. Please see the call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of African Cultural Studies on Language and Hip Hop in Africa. Abstracts due: November 8.
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New Hip-Hop Studies Journal Issues
There are only a few hip-hop studies academic journals. Two have just released issues in time for fall: The Journal of Hip Hop Studies and Global Hip Hop Studies Journal. Both issues are currently available for free download. We suggest getting on the sites and downloading the articles ASAP, and then take your time to
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In Hip Hop Time: Music, Memory, and Social Change in Urban Senegal
Appert, Catherine M. (2018). In Hip Hop Time: Music, Memory, and Social Change in Urban Senegal. Oxford University Press. Book Summary Though Hip Hop has its up’s and downs in the Africa diaspora world, Africans in the continent use Hip Hop to talk about real world issues in their country. According to Appert, Senegalese rappers use
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Hip-Hop Scholarship: Sarkodie – The Brand
We wanted to highlight a recent article by Ghanaian scholar Dr. Nii Kotei Nikoi titled Hiplife Music in Ghana: Postcolonial Performances of the Good Life, that was just published in the International Journal of Communication. Abstract This article examines how common-sense ideas of development are reinforced in Ghanaian popular culture. Specifically, using Sarkodie as a
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HHAP Episode 43: Hip Hop and Activism in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Part 2
This is part 2 of a 2 part conversation with hip hop scholar and University of Cape Town Professor Adam Haupt and hip hop artist Bradley Lodewyk (aka b-boy King Voue) from the group Brasse Vannie Kaap, or BVK. We met up at the University of Cape Town while they were working on their book project, Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism, and Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and EP In the Key of B. The book and EP can be accessed at https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/neva-again. The book was edited by Adam Haupt, Quentin Williams, H Samy Alim & Emile Jansen. The #IntheKeyofB EP was produced by Adam and Bradley and features Cape Flats MCs and vocalists, such as Nadine Matthews-Nunes, Naftali Solomons, Eavesdrop, Shameema Williams (ex Godessa), Natasha C. Tafari, Emile YX? (Black Noise, Heal the Hood), Amy Brown, Imie Vannie Delf, Dirtypro Agape Tadana, Stefan Benting, Razeen Haupt, Nathan Lodewyk, Zama Jimba and Jerome Rex.
In this episode, Bradley talks about his work with BVK and the involvement of the group in politics. BVK members were from the Cape Flats area in Cape Town, and rapped in Kaaps, a Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans. They released their first album in the late-1990s. The conversation in this episode looks at hip hop under apartheid, and the influence of apartheid of the development of hip hop culture in South Africa. We also discuss South Africa’s history of protest and activism. Adam and Bradley discuss the failures of the post-apartheid government to live up to the promises of the movement, and their adoption of a neoliberal economic system, which “reinforced the racialized class divide”. Within this, Adam and Bradley say hip hop became, and still is, a vehicle to expose youth to progressive ideas The topics In the Key of B EP covers include gang violence, toxic masculinity, the failures of the state, and gentrification Adam and Bradley also discuss bringing the various contributors together for this project, and their use of social media, especially WhatsApp, to communicate. In this project WhatsApp was a space for them to engage with social and political issues happening in South Africa, which would in turn, influence their work on the project. According to Adam, “It was also a way of demystifying the academic writing about the issues”.
The opening song is “Persevere” by Monishia Schoeman, Emile Jansen, Adam Haupt with additional vocals by Razeen Haupt, and the closing song is “Trickle Down” by Emile Jansen, Stefan Benting, Agape Dirtypro Tadana, Shameema Williams, and Adam Haupt. Both are on the album In The Key Of B
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HHAP Episode 42: Hip Hop and Activism in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Part 1
This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation with hip hop scholar and University of Cape Town Professor Adam Haupt and hip hop artist Bradley Lodewyk (aka b-boy King Voue) from the group Brasse Vannie Kaap, or BVK. We met up at the University of Cape Town while they were working on their book project, Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism, and Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and EP In the Key of B. The book and EP can be accessed at https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/neva-again. The book was edited by Adam Haupt, Quentin Williams, H Samy Alim & Emile Jansen. The #IntheKeyofB EP was produced by Adam and Bradley and features Cape Flats MCs and vocalists, such as Nadine Matthews-Nunes, Naftali Solomons, Eavesdrop, Shameema Williams (ex Godessa), Natasha C. Tafari, Emile YX? (Black Noise, Heal the Hood), Amy Brown, Imie Vannie Delf, Dirtypro Agape Tadana, Stefan Benting, Razeen Haupt, Nathan Lodewyk, Zama Jimba and Jerome Rex.
In this episode, Bradley talks about his work with BVK and the involvement of the group in politics. BVK members were from the Cape Flats area in Cape Town, and rapped in Kaaps, a Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans. They released their first album in the late-1990s. The conversation in this episode looks at hip hop under apartheid, and the influence of apartheid of the development of hip hop culture in South Africa. We also discuss South Africa’s history of protest and activism. Adam and Bradley discuss the failures of the post-apartheid government to live up to the promises of the movement, and their adoption of a neoliberal economic system, which “reinforced the racialized class divide”. Within this, Adam and Bradley say hip hop became, and still is, a vehicle to expose youth to progressive ideas The topics In the Key of B EP covers include gang violence, toxic masculinity, the failures of the state, and gentrification Adam and Bradley also discuss bringing the various contributors together for this project, and their use of social media, especially WhatsApp, to communicate. In this project WhatsApp was a space for them to engage with social and political issues happening in South Africa, which would in turn, influence their work on the project. According to Adam, “It was also a way of demystifying the academic writing about the issues”.
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Hip-Hop and Human Rights in Africa
Hip-Hop and Human Rights in Africa By Msia Kibona Clark February 2019 | Georgetown Journal of International Affairs “The presence of social commentary on human rights in music is not new, it is not unique to Africa, and it is not limited to hip hop. Musicians have often engaged in social commentary around human rights, which has
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HHAP Episode 29: Ghanaian Hip Hop Scholar Joseph Ewoodzie on Hip Hop in the South Bronx
Ghana born, Bronx raised hip hop scholar Joseph Ewoodzie has published the book Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’s Early Years, a book that uncovers details of hip hop’s early years in the South Bronx. Ewoodzie’s book provides rich details of hip hop’s history in the South Bronx. In this interview he discusses his decision to write the book and touches on some of the major themes the book addresses. For example, Ewoodzie talks about the social economic environment in the South Bronx that gave rise to hip hop, environments that mirrored the environments that gave rise to hip hop in Africa. In the interview we also cover the book’s Discussion of the link between gang culture and hip hop The controversies around Afrika Bambaataa The rise and decline of the visibility of the DJ in mainstream hip hop The connection between hip hop culture and Africa’s oral tradition The connections between music in Africa and the Diaspora South Bronx Ghanaian immigrants in the development of hip hop The origins of the masculinization of hip hop The book can be purchased at: uncpress.org/book/9781469632759/break-beats-in-the-bronx Joseph Ewoodzie can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/piko_e
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HHAP Episode 19: Quentin Williams on Multilingualism & Hip Hop in South Africa
This episode, South African hip hop scholar and sociolinguist Dr. Quentin Williams discusses his new book Remix Multilingualism: Hip Hop, Ethnography and Performing Marginalized Voice (Bloomsbury Press). Dr. Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the Linguistics Department at the University of Western Cape. He has published papers and book chapters on the performance of multilingualism, popular cultural practices (specifically Hip Hop), agency and voice in urban multilingual spaces. In addition to the book we’ll be discussing today, he is also currently editing the book Kaapse Styles: Hip Hop Art & Activism in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Williams has been writing on language and hip hop in South Africa for several years, and has extensive credibility within South Africa’s well established hip hop community. Dr. Williams’ research and work has also made valuable contributions to the field of linguistics. In this interview we discuss the book, Dr. Williams research on South African hip hop, and ultimately his place as a Coloured man from the Cape Flats in one of the oldest and largest hip hop scenes in Africa. Episode Breakdown 6:24 – Being a hip hop sociolinguist & self reflection in the book. 7:50 – The arena of freestyle rap battles 11:35 – His work with the group Suburban Menace 16:05 – Hip hop research and scholarship, & the responsibility to the subjects of the research 22:43 – His experiences in the Cape Flats township of Bishop Lavis during hip hop’s days of hip hop, during the last years of the anti-apartheid struggle 29:10 – Relationships between Black & Coloured hip hop heads 38:05 – Different hip hop language varieties in South Africa 39:40 – Braggadocio, and its place and purpose in hip hop 45:00 – Masculinity & toughness in hip hop 49:24 – Dr. Williams concept of “Body Rap”, respectability politics, the pornification of hip hop culture, & rape culture within hip hop culture* 58:12 – Women navigating masculine hip hop spaces 1:07:44 – The diverse audiences that this book speaks to *Dr. Williams defines Body Rap as “a sub-genre of local rap, where the overarching theme in the lyrics is the sexualization and often the denigration of women’s bodies, performed for the pleasure of men”.