Tag: Arab Spring
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HHAP Episode 52: Medusa, Navigating Hip Hop in Tunisia & France
Medusa is a Tunisian artist who emerged as an MC in Tunisia’s hip hop community around the time of the Arab Spring of the 2010s. Her career as an MC has followed an interesting path, as she often found herself in the role of “conscious MC”, being one of the few women in the Tunisian hip hop community and speaking out on important social issues. In this interview she talks about hip hop under the Arab Spring. While many talk about the role of artists in the Arab Spring, Medusa talks about the impacts of the Arab Spring on hip hop culture. She says the Arab Spring encouraged youth engagement, and that post revolution, many youth have moved into more commercial rap sounds. She has since moved to France, where she talks about her experience in the Parisian hip hop scene and her work with a new team of creatives. We met up with Medusa during a 2019 self-funded trip to the U.S. Medusa made to promote her work and establish contacts. During her trip, she visited the class of American University professor and hip hop scholar, Dr. Kendra Salois. Our interview took place after her guest lecture in Dr. Salois’ class.
Medusa is on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, BandCamp, and SoundCloud.
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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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The Story of a Raptivst: Who Can Stop Me?
Although often marginalized and underappreciated, Yukka Shahin demonstrates that female Egyptian Hip-Hop artists are not a dying breed. The 26-year-old began rapping in 2010, around 18 years old, in the rap multicultural center of Alexandria, Egypt. Her early works served as a platform for self-discovery and expression, allowing herself to discuss issues concerning her personal life, but was soon overshadowed by
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L’argot de Sénégal
“Senegal slang” signifies more than its catchy nature would insinuate. It is impossible to watch this “Y’en a marre” (enough is enough) video without recollecting Golden-Age American hip hop artists discuss social progression some 20 to 30 years after the civil rights movement. The video begins with Senegalese rapper Djily Baghdad discussing crumbling social and political institutions
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Hip Hop and Social Change in Africa: Ni Wakati
by Msia Kibona Clark and Mickie Mwanzia Koster Now available in paperback & on Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Hip-Hop-Social-Change-Africa/dp/1498505805 This book examines social change in Africa through the lens of hip hop music and culture. Artists engage their African communities in a variety of ways that confront established social structures, using coded language and symbols to inform, question, and challenge. Through lyrical expression, dance, and graffiti, hip hop is used to challenge social inequality and to push for social change. The study looks across Africa and explores how hip hop is being used in different places, spaces, and moments to foster change. In this edited work, authors from a wide range of fields, including history, sociology, African and African American studies, and political science explore the transformative impact that hip hop has had on African youth, who have in turn emerged to push for social change on the continent. The powerful moment in which those that want change decide to consciously and collectively take a stand is rooted in an awareness that has much to do with time. Therefore, the book centers on African hip hop around the context of “it’s time” for change, Ni Wakati.
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Hip Hop & Diaspora: Connecting the Arab Spring
Hip Hop & Diaspora: Connecting the Arab Spring by Lara Dotson-Renta Every evolution has a certain style of music connected to it. The recent and still on-going pro-democracy movements now popularly known as the “Arab Spring’ has been accompanied by a very strong musical components, and it has been hip-hop that has become the most iconic
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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.