Tag: Feminism
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Confronting The Representation of African women- 3 Artists Changing the Narrative through song
African women are often grossly misrepresented by the media and pop culture, the narratives established since colonialism often find their way into the way African women are portrayed to the world. This is why it is so important for artists like Enny, Dope Saint Jude, and Sampa the Great to be recognized and celebrated for
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“Girl Power” by Mina la voilée
“Girl Power”, by Mina la Voilée, preaches tough feminism, women’s empowerment, and just an overall sense of badass rhymes and flow in a short but sweet song dedicated to women in Senegal. Being a female rapper in Senegal is unfortunately not as common or accepted as in other parts of Africa. Rap in general has
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HHAP EP. 63: Gigi Lamayne on Representation & Dismantling Respectability Politics
This is the first in a special series of episodes being recorded lives with African Studies students at Howard University and George Washington University. The series is co-hosted with Words Beas & Life, who is also live-streaming the episodes on their Facebook page (facebok.com/wordsbeatslife) on Wednesday nights at 5pm EST. The schedule is on our website at hiphopafrican.com. A part of the “born free” generation, Gigi Lamayne grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa after the fall of apartheid. She graduated from Wits University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Anthropology in the midst of the #FeesMustFall movement. Rapping since high school, she released the powerful track “Fees Will Fall” just months after graduation. Considered one of South Africa’s best lyricists, her music addresses topics like Black pride, gender-based violence, feminism, sexism, and the shadiness within the music industry. We first interviewed Gigi Lamayne in 2017. She has continued to find mainstream success while addressing serious topics in some of her songs. In the conversation, she talks about her career, her views on the resilience and activism of South African women, race in South Africa, the relationships between women in the industry, and the stigmas and views around mental health in Africa. The video version of this and other episodes are on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC43HnRR6MNq5DePBVKZZ7LQ Links https://www.gigilamayne.co.za/ https://www.facebook.com/Queen.Gigi.LaMayne https://www.instagram.com/gigi_lamayne https://www.twitter.com/gigi_lamayne https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvC54bgRUtn48RbCvuZJZA https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/gigi-lamayne/1455356528?ign-gact=3&ls=1 https://open.spotify.com/artist/3405LTbL2jP8J0gVQK3087?autoplay=true
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HHAP Episode 60: The Dope Saint Jude Episode
Dope Saint Jude is a South African hip hop artist who was born and raised Cape Town. A former Political Science student at the University of Cape Town, she started her hip hop career in 2011 as a drag king. Her drag king persona was Saint Dude, and resembled rapper Lil Wayne. After releasing several singles, Dope Saint Jude’s first EP, Reimagine, was released in 2016, Her second project, Resilient, was released in 2018. It included the song “Grrrl Like”, which opens this episode and has been one of her biggest hits. The song was also featured in the teaser for the Netflix original series Blood & Water https://youtu.be/OV9Ma4F_xyA. Dope Saint Jude has also performed at Afropunk, been featured in Vogue & Marie Claire, and been part of major advertising campaigns. In this conversation we discuss the social relevance of her music. Well versed in the politics of intersectionality, Dope Saint Jude is very intentional in what she does. In her music she weaves intersecting identities into lyrics that challenge listeners to reconsider their ideas about who they think Black, Coloured, queer South African hip hop women should be. You can find Dope Saint Jude’s music on streaming platforms. She is also online at dopesaintjude.com, twitter.com/DopeSaintJude, instagram.com/dopesaintjude, and youtube.com/channel/UCdGiyFXiSgtTCXu1AGUeK3A. For more scholarship on Dope Saint Jude’s work: Chapters 24 “Queering Hip Hop, queering the city: Dope Saint Jude’s transformative politics” by Adam Haupt and 29 “Building an international profile as an artist” by Dope Saint Jude, Blaq Pearl, Black Athena, Jean-Pierre, Lyrical Deezy with Emile YX? in Haupt, Adam, Williams, Quentin, Alim, Samy H., Jansen, Emile. (2019). Clark, Msia Kibona. (2018). Feminisms in African hip hop. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 17 (2), 383-400.
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Feminine ideals in Toussa Senerap’s work
Toussa Senerap—who’s name is a play on the French “Tous ça,” or “everything,” and an agglomeration of Senegal and Rap—plays an interesting consciousness in her work surrounding the idea of femininity. Senerap both embraces womanhood and shies away from traditional conceptualizations of femininity from both hip-hop and Senegalese contexts. For this piece, I’m primarily analyzing
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Lola Monroe’s “Grime”
Lola Monroe, or “Queen Roe”, is an artist who has been steeped in hip hop culture long before she first picked up a mic. The Addis Ababa born, DC raised emcee first got her start in hip hop as a “video vixen” in the early and mid 2000s, when she appeared in music videos for
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Here’s To US
Wangechi Waweru is a Kenyan rapper, singer, and songwriter. She was born on January 19th 1994 in Nairobi, Kenya. Growing up she knew she had a love for music. Wangechi has said that her passion for music derived from listening to Nazizi who is a rapper and songstress. She listened to African music from rappers such
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Defying the Norm
Born Mabel Oine Alubo, 24 year-old Bella Alubo is an up and coming Nigerian artist. Bella signed with Tinny Entertainment in December of 2016, after being recognized for a cover of Kanye West’s song ‘Therapy,’ and has features with mainstream artists like YCee. While being branded as Pop, Afrobeat, and Hip Hop, Bella reinforced her
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Fena-menal
Fena Gitu is a well known controversial rapper and singer from Kenya. Growing up in musical household she grew to have a love for music. At 23 years old she has managed to make an impact on her society. She is a free spirit who clearly doesn’t care about how society says women should act.