The Hip Hop African

Up and coming Ugandan rapper Rachael M speaks to equity and equality for young girls within Uganda. Rachael is a dancehall and reggae artist originally from Kampala, Uganda. She used house plates and pans as a small time rap career and has just grown since. She has skillfully created a beautiful song about Uganda and continues to push for a better future for “ no matter boy or girl, we need equal rights and justice.”   Her message transcends the country and extends to the continent as the treatment of men and boys is drastically different in many places. 

Repeating “wake up Justice” and a call to action for equal rights places her emphasis on how marginalization continues to perpetuate itself in smaller communities like the one she films the video in. She also displays her physical strength through her boxing, serving as a visual for the audience similar to the conversations we held in class and the videos we watched with women redefining their typical role. Rachael addresses several community issues, such as child marriages and how young girls get sexualized at such a young age. In parallel to some of the sentiments mentioned in the readings and through Rachael’s music, that can lead to a lack of safety. 

She represents strong women at 1:35; in the video, she shows a female graduate spreading her wings and underscores the importance of having girl graduates in our community. The growth and power that women receive from education are so crucial to the overall advancement of society and can allow the country to reassess its overall goals. She also has women from all different generations as part of her visuals similar to Peng black girls and highlights the mothers’ ignorance that they lived without proper treatment, especially related to sexual and reproductive health issues. From 2:15- 2:19 in the video she calls to action that the time is now and that responsibility needs to be taken because the consequence of the negligence will be loud and powerful. An inspiring message of equal rights and justice resonated with everyone that listened.