African State of Mind: Hip Hop, Identity and the Effects of Africa Rising Lorien R
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African State of Mind: Hip Hop, Identity and the Effects of Africa Rising Lorien R. Hunter Bryan Singer Department of Cinema and Media Studies Doctor of Philosophy University of Southern California Conferred on December 13, 2017 Faculty of the USC Graduate School 1 For Yvonne W. Hunter The Original #1 Fan 2 Acknowledgements Six years ago, I happened across an article on Africanhiphop.com discussing the release of American rapper J Cole’s freshman album Cole World (2011). I had been following his career for a couple of years and was excited to get my hands on more of his music; however, after securing my copy of the album via the Apple Music Store, I turned my attention back to the website that had given me this information. What exactly is African hip hop, I wondered? And what is its relationship to Black American artist J Cole? To get answers to these questions, I began digging through the website, which only led to new questions and more digging. By the end of the semester, I had written my first paper on Africanhiphop.com, focusing on its conceptualization of the African Diaspora, which started me on the long and bumpy road that has now culminated into this dissertation project. I do not remember whether anyone ever tried to convey to me just how hard and bumpy this road would be; however, I am certain that if they did, my naiveté prevented me from truly hearing them. Instead, I started off as most doctoral students do—filled to the brim with too much confidence and barely any idea of where I was actually headed. Despite these significant shortcomings, my gracious committee members Taj Frazier, Kara Keeling, Josh Kun and committee chair Anikó Imre all bravely agreed to undertake the journey with me, acting as my guides, my champions, my critics and along the way, becoming my friends. Anikó’s office, especially, became a sanctuary to me, where our conversations always began with an offer of chocolate and a chuckle over my grandfather’s most recent antics. The chairs in the offices of Alicia White, Bill Whittington and Todd Boyd also became some of my most frequented and familiar places, as they were always willing to lend an ear, give advice, or answer one more of my seemingly endless supply of questions. 3 One of the most challenging aspects of this research project turned out to be its data collection, which took me to three different continents and numerous other virtual spaces. Were it not for the openness and generosity of individuals like Adam Haupt, Ade James, Akin, Angelo, Camiël, CC Smith, Culmin Matthew, Derick Neal, Eitan Prince, Emile Jansen, Hishaam, Ian Keulder, Jade Trueman, Jason Fraser, Leila Dougan, Lisa Burnell, Margolite Williams, Mariska April, Msa Mapiliba, Roger Steffens, Rushay Booysen, Sara Chitambo, Schaik Hewitt, Sebenzile Zalabe, Shameema Williams, Shane Heusdens, Siphiwo Kobese, Sky, the late Stephen Beale, Stephen Sontag, Thomas Gesthuizen, Tiffany Kung, Tom Schnabell and Tseliso Monaheng, as well as those attached to organizations like Kristin J. Craun with the University of Southern California internal review board, Lindsay Wicomb with the City of Cape Town, Meredith Drake Reitan and the Research Enhancement Fellowship Program with the University of Southern California Graduate School, Nico with the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Zanele Matshotyana with Smart Cape, the entire staff at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and the Musicology Archive at the University of California- Los Angeles, and countless others, this task would have proved impossible. As is often the case with challenging circumstances, I formed a close bond with many of my colleagues who found themselves struggling along similar paths. Late nights and a little too much wine with Ashley Young, Ayana McNair, Dayna Chatman, Dominic Matheny, Garrett T. Thompson, Janeane Anderson, Jessica Young, Jheanelle Brown, Kwynn Perry, Leah Aldridge, Manouchka Labouba, Stephanie Hoover-Yeung and Thomas Carter are by far some of my fondest memories from the last six years. I am also thankful to my cohort sisters Katherine Madden and Heather Blackmore, as well as my writing partners Cecilia Stepp, Pat Alford- Keating, Rachel Russel and Shieva Davarian, whose constant presence alongside me during my 4 entire graduate school career has made even the most difficult parts of the process seem survivable. My brilliant fellow adventurer Talia Squires not only inspired me to finish the project but also showed me that I could have a blast while doing it, while the frequent work sessions and late-night conversations I shared with Sangeeta Marwah amidst the ups and downs of this process were pivotal to my success and productivity in the Bay Area. I also want to express my deep sense of gratitude to the many brilliant minds I exchanged ideas with at conferences over the years, especially Fungai Machirori, Mark V. Campbell, Megan Murph, Murray Foreman, Shola Adenekan, Vanessa Plumly and Victor Vicente. Throughout it all, I have been lucky enough to have the love and understanding of my family, especially my auntie Donna Hunter and brother Sander Hunter who have both been through the doctoral process before and were thus invaluable sources of encouragement, empathy and understanding. Thank you very much also to my mother Karen Stowe for helping me proof read this entire document and root out typos, since we both know that I am not now, nor will ever be, a speller. On the day of my defense I was blown away by the number of family and friends who came from all over the country to show their support, including my father Robert Hunter, auntie Kim Hunter, uncle Ray Davis, auntie Julia Davis, friends Jessica Arline and Jessica Koslow, and many others whose names have already been mentioned. Thank you! 5 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 THE FACE OF AFRICAN HIP HOP: AFROPOLITANS, CHEETAHS AND THE RISING GENERATION 9 HIP HOP AND THE AFROPOLITAN IDENTITY 24 THE STUDIES 30 CHAPTER 2 WORD TO YOUR MOTHER(LAND): DIASPORIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN HIP HOP 37 A NEW AFRICAN DIASPORA 44 DIASPORA, ITS PRACTICE & THE RISE OF AFRICAN HIP HOP 49 SURROGATING IN THE NETHERLANDS 60 IDENTITY IN DIASPORA 68 CONCLUSIONS ON DIASPORIZATION 74 CHAPTER 3 LIVE FROM SOUTH AFRICA: THE ROLE OF DIGITIZATION IN COMMUNITY FORMATION 77 BUILDING A HIP HOP COMMUNITY 81 GOING ONLINE 89 THE PARADOX OF SUCCESS 97 CONCLUSIONS ON DIGITIZATION 125 CHAPTER 4 AFRICA IS THE NEW BLACK: COMMERCIALIZING AFRICAN IDENTITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 129 THE ROOTS OF COOL 140 OKAY AFRICAN COOL 144 EFFECTS OF THE CORE 149 ACCESS AND POWER 153 AFROPOLITAN IDENTITY IN YOUR EARBUDS 160 CONCLUSIONS ON COMMERCIALIZATION 168 CHAPTER 5 MIND OVER MATTER: THE FUTURE OF AFROPOLITANISM, RISING AND IDENTITY 170 THE RISING FACTOR 174 WORKS CITED 179 6 Table of Figures FIGURE 1.1 ....................................................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 1.2 ..................................................................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 1.3 ..................................................................................................................................... 12 FIGURE 1.4 ..................................................................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 2.1 ..................................................................................................................................... 37 FIGURE 2.2 ..................................................................................................................................... 39 FIGURE 2.3 ..................................................................................................................................... 54 FIGURE 2.4 ..................................................................................................................................... 56 FIGURE 2.5 ..................................................................................................................................... 58 FIGURE 2.6 ..................................................................................................................................... 60 FIGURE 2.7 ..................................................................................................................................... 61 FIGURE 2.8 ..................................................................................................................................... 65 FIGURE 2.9 ..................................................................................................................................... 66 FIGURE 2.10 ................................................................................................................................... 70 FIGURE 2.11 ................................................................................................................................... 72 FIGURE 3.1 ..................................................................................................................................... 78 FIGURE 3.2 ..................................................................................................................................... 84 FIGURE 3.3 ..................................................................................................................................... 91 FIGURE 3.4 ....................................................................................................................................