The Hip Hop African

Dominique Preira, better known by his stage name Dip Doundou Guiss, or DIP, is a Senegalese hip-hop artist born in Dakar, Senegal. Many of DIP’s songs, including Musiba, are performed in a mix of French, the official language of Senegal, as well as Wolof, one of the many African languages spoken throughout the country, with the occasional English phrase. As I am not a speaker of either language, rather than discussing the song Musiba in terms of its rhyme scheme and flow, I will focus on the content of the song, as I understood it from the translation of French to English.

All hip hop, regardless of the country of origin, has a certain level of grandstanding. All rap artists, including DIP in Musiba, which was released in 2021, make a claim to being the best rapper in the game where they are from, or even in the world. Since I have not taken a deep dive into the world of the Wolof or Senegalese rap scenes and thus cannot speak with any sort of true authority, DIP does appear to have at least some support for his claims of bodying any other artists in his arena; In 2021 he was nominated for an MTV Africa Music Award in the category of Best Francophone.

In addition to his claims to the title of best rapper, Musiba also includes many references to American popular culture and politics, not all of them in the most flattering of ways. DIP’s musical references include 50 Cent being shot, Michael Jackson and his skin condition, as well as allusions to the infamous beef between artists 2Pac and Biggie. The TV show Prison Break and its main protagonist Michael Scofield as well as his brother were also referenced. In the realm of politics, DIP refers to America as both the place where Trump was in office and where “ the descendants of slaves shoot you for a chain”. 

All in all, even someone like me who does not speak the language can appreciate the flow and beat of Musiba and while I am unsure he would take it as a compliment I do not mean as an insult when I say that DIP would fit right into the American Hip Hop scene as well.