The Hip Hop African

In many forms, Hip Hop and rap in Africa has been used over the years to convey and bring awareness to social and political issues. In South Africa, there are many artists who use political rap as a gateway to the public in order to reach a broader audience. One of those artists being Shane Eagle.

Born in Midrand, South Africa, Shane Patrick Hughes, known professionally as Shane Eagle, is a South African rapper and songwriter. He rose to fame in 2015, after finishing fourth place on the first season of the Vuzu rapping reality competition, The Hustle. He is currently an independent artist signed under his own label, Eagle entertainment.

In Shane Eagle’s song “Julia” he raps about the social issues that are going on within his country of South Africa and the government’s incompetence, in overlooking social issues. One of his lyrics says “They rap about the diamonds and never about the violence. And always about the jewels and never about the pools. That my people still drowning in. Yeah, money flowing out it’s never coming in. Yeah, I see ’em hand picking all these niggas for the hit”. He also speaks about the imbalance of power, and how African/Black people have had a disadvantage in society for years and how the rich keep getting richer while people on the streets are barely struggling to stay alive. “I’ve seen how my people’s held back in the trap. Don’t tell ‘em move forward, don’t you do it it’s a trap. Praying for some strength of the things that I lack. That I lack, that I lack Yo, something’s in the closet. Never had the doctorate Mr President got the money in his pockets. My people are starving. I’m my people’s calling”. Shane Eagle has always been an advocate for bringing awareness to the social and political issues in his country and continues to do so in his music, as well as help out his community.

https://youtu.be/qClgtgyd90Q