Category: Political Rap
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Ukoo Flani Mau Mau
Hailing primarily out of the streets of Nairobi, Kenya but also Mombasa, Keny and even Tanzania are Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. They are a well molded collective, with a power and uniqueness and flavor that could only come from so many unique backgrounds uniting with a message under the banner of hip hop. 24
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Kalamashaka
Kalamashaka a.k.a. K-Shaka consist of three members and are credited with starting the Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. They are Oteraw, Kama and Johny and they started in the 1990s and have generated a wide base in Kenya and even other countries around Africa and the world despite getting little to no radio play or popular
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Libya’s artists: We are the ‘true’ Libya
Libya’s artists: We are the ‘true’ Libya by Reza Sayah It is probably next to impossible to find a city anywhere in the world that is closer to war than Benghazi, Libya. But here, in his cramped, cigarette smoke-filled studio in a former government building in Benghazi, MC Swat, 23, has been writing scathing lyrics about the
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Tunisia’s rappers provide soundtrack to a revolution
Tunisia’s rappers provide soundtrack to a revolution by Neil Curry Tunisia’s rappers have long made a point of speaking their minds, their lyrics often bringing them into conflict with the old regime. But more than simply upsetting the status quo, according to one of the country’s leading rappers, their music was the “fuel” for Tunisia’s revolution.
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North Africa’s Hip Hop Protest Music
This is an article from OntheMedia.org with an interview between the hosts Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield and Abdulla Darrat who is one the founders of the website Khalas which is run by exiled Libyans. The Khalas team was surprised to find that one of the most common mediums people were using to voice their
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Conscious Senegalese rap is not dead
Under President Wade, the political and economical situation has continued to deteriorate in Senegal for the past ten years. While many have suffered under the rule, rappers, Thiat and Kilifeu from the central Senegalese town of Kaolack stood up and denounced acts of corruption and served jail time as a result. Now they are back
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Hip-hop for peace
In the midst of the chaos following the election of 2007 in Kenya in which over 1,000 people have been killed, a group of hip hop artists took action to denounce the violence engulfing their communities. They formed the Hip Hop Parliament. At the centre of this is what they call “conscious hip-hop”. “Our hip-hop
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Hip Hop in Bongo
In the article titled Hooligans and Heroes: Youth Identity and Hip-Hop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Alex Perullo explores the many ways that hip hop has affected the the lives of Tanzanian youth. Although many older Tanzanians regard hip hop with contempt and label its followers as “wahuni” (hooligans), there is no mistaking the fact
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Bongo Flava and Hip Hop
By Msia Kibona Clark | 25 APRIL 2011 Tanzanian hip hop emerged in the late 80s, and by the late 90s was being labeled: Bongo Flava. As this new genre went in the direction of pop and incorporated rap and R&B there continued to be confusion between the two. By the early 2000s Bongo Flava began
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Documentary ‘Ni Wakati’ Brings American, East African Artists Together
By Msia Kibona Clark | 15 MARCH 2011 Los Angeles — The new documentary by Kenyan filmmakers Michael Wanguhu and Russell Kenya premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles this year. It proved to be a good year for Kenyan film, with eight films set in the country. Ni Wakati is a documentary that