DOCSLIB.ORG

The Discursive Creation of a Subculture by Conscious Rap Adherents in South Africa

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Discursive Creation of a Subculture by Conscious Rap Adherents in South Africa Tuulikki Pietilä THE DISCURSIVE CREATION OF A SUBCULTURE BY CONSCIOUS RAP AdHERENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA abstract The early hip hop made in South Africa in the 1980s was politically conscious and openly critical of the apartheid system. Hip hop has proliferated and diversified since its beginnings, and according to several contemporary researchers, this development has entailed a shift from an emphasis on black consciousness towards a focus on individual achievement, sensuous pleasures, and materialism (e.g., Künzler 2011; Watkins 2012). This article shows that conscious rap still exists in South Africa. It studies the discourses of contemporary conscious rap artists and adherents and argues that they construct putatively distinct subcultural factions according to the music styles followed by the youth. The distinctions are driven by both the musical and socio-political considerations of the interlocutors. Theoretically, the article contributes to subcultural studies by arguing for the significance of both affective attachment and political context in the analysis of the subcultures. Key words: conscious rap, hip hop, house music, kwaito, South Africa, subculture INTRODUCTION on individual advancement, sensuous pleasure, and commercial-mindedness in South African Hip hop was adopted early in South Africa. The hip hop lyrics (e.g., Künzler 2011; Watkins first crews to gain popularity in the 1980s were 2012). However, there is also a relatively the politically conscious Prophets of Da City thriving ‘conscious rap’ scene, and this article (POC) and Black Noise, both based in the Cape focuses on the performers and followers of this Town area. POC’s album Our World (1990) was genre. In contrast to much of the existing hip among the first full-length rap albums in Africa hop literature that is based on analysis of lyrics, (Charry 2012: 13), and break dance competitions I will concentrate on the discourses of conscious were started in Cape Town as early as 1982 rap devotees that I have gathered through (Watkins 2004: 130). Since its beginnings, hip interviews and informal conversations. What hop has proliferated and diversified and several emerges from these discourses are surprisingly researchers have recently noted the decrease of recurrent themes that come to define conscious politically critical content and an increased focus rap as a subculture and a value orientation suomen antropologi | volume 42 issue 2 summer 2017 25 Tuulikki Pietilä distinct from competing youth music styles, ‘subcultural capital’, and in that way acquire kwaito and house music in particular. status in their social worlds. She coined this Here, rather than viewing ‘subcultures’ term by drawing from the work of Bourdieu as distinct youth groups that set themselves (1984) on diverse forms of capital. The picture against the norms of the wider society as in the that emerges from Thornton’s interpretation early writings of the Birmingham School (e.g. is devoid of the subversive capacity that the Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 1983 [1979]; early scholars associated with subcultures. Willis 1981), I am interested in the ways that While this is an important, balancing view the youth construct subcultural relations and for subcultural research, it is simultaneously distinctions among themselves. In this regard, problematic because it tends to reduce youth my approach aligns with that of Thornton styles and distinctions to mere competition over (1995) whose study of British dance club status. While I acknowledge the micro-political cultures explores the distinctions and hierarchies dimensions of the conscious rap followers’ made by the youth within the popular culture discourses—that is, the ways they aim at domain. In Thornton’s material, as well as in increasing their own value vis-à-vis those of the my own, the studied subculture is constructed adherents of the other styles—I do not see this by its devotees’ defining other youth music as their only dimension. Being engaged in—or styles as ‘mainstream’ and thus of lesser value. in economistic terms, investing their time and In the opinion of the conscious rap followers energy in—making and listening to music that studied here, contemporary kwaito and house does not necessarily bring them decisive social music in particular represent the ‘mainstream or economic capital means that there is more other’ that epitomises and enhances what they to that engagement than an analysis inspired consider to be the currently hegemonic socio- by Bourdieu can reveal. The content of the political values. For this reason, the macro- discourses—the expressed aesthetic, affective, political situation enters my analysis in a way and socio-political values—deserves serious that it does not in the analysis of Thornton consideration. and the Birmingham School; indeed, the hip Because this article is based on conversa- hop adherents’ discourses and expressed values tions with conscious rap adherents, and not on cannot be fully understood without the wider a holistic analysis of their lives and practices, it political context. I use the term ‘expressed values’ does not seek to measure the truthfulness or quite deliberately because this is what discourses the authenticity of the discourses vis-à-vis the are about. interlocutors’ lived reality. Instead, the article Even while disregarding the macro-political examines the discursive creation of a subculture context, Thornton’s sobering contribution to and subcultural boundaries. It views subcultural subcultural studies was the acknowledgment of identity construction as based on narratives and the micro-politics involved in young people’s stories that people tell about themselves and making of distinctions. Unlike earlier scholars each other (cf. Yuval-Davies 2010 on identities). who tended to view and celebrate subcultures as In addition, it regards such discourses as forms of progressive defiance to the dominant performative (e.g., Austin 1962; Butler 1990), order and values, Thornton emphasised the ways that is, as having an impact on how social in which the making of subcultural distinctions reality is conceived. The investigated discourses enables youth to negotiate and accumulate construct understandings about distinct suomen antropologi | volume 42 issue 2 summer 2017 26 Tuulikki Pietilä subcultures, allegedly woven around disparate whites, the Khoisan and Xhosa populations and musical, social, and political values. The article imported slaves especially); and ‘whites’ refers to shows that, in addition to the subcultural micro- Afrikaans- and English-speaking descendants politics of status competition, the discourses of European settlers. In addition to these, there tackle the macro-politics of the state and the is also the population group called Asians that elites. refers to people of Indian origin, and nowadays In what follows I first describe how also to the newer settlers of Chinese origin.2 contemporary conscious rappers consider early kwaito a formative experience for them, rather THE IMPORTANCE OF than the early local, politically conscious hip hop. KWAITO: INSPIRATION After that, I will examine other recurring themes AND EVALUATION in their discourses. I do not aim to conduct a rigorous linguistic discourse analysis, but use Kwaito appeared in the 1990s and quickly the word ‘discourse’ in a wider Foucauldian gained popularity. It combined elements from sense, where interpretation is not based on several foreign music styles such as house detailed analysis of a speech situation but on its music, hip hop, dancehall, and raggamuffin wider social and historical contextualisation. My with earlier South African styles, in particular material is derived from numerous interviews kwela, mbaqanga, marabi, and bubblegum (or and informal conversations with conscious ‘township disco’). Even though combining rap adherents, that is, producers, rappers, foreign and local styles, kwaito was perceived as event organisers, and fans in Cape Town and a local style, as it was sung in township street Johannesburg between 2005 and 2013.1 All language and dealt with township issues.3 the people cited appear with their real names Furthermore, it localised the international styles or their artist names; when the artist name is by slowing down the tempo to about 100 beats the person’s real first name, I have added the per minute, to make the music more danceable surname in parentheses when introducing the by South African standards of the time. All person for the first time in the text. this distinguished kwaito from the other urban I use the terms black, coloured, and white, youth music of the era, predominantly hip hop and write them in lowercase letters, even and house music of foreign origin.4 though I acknowledge that these are artificial Exceptions to the US-dominated hip labels created by the apartheid regime to hop scene at that time were the two above- classify and differentiate various population mentioned groups—Prophets of Da City (POC) groups. The political definition of blackness and Black Noise—who had emerged in the includes all of the non-white population of the 1980s from the townships close to Cape Town. country, that is, black Africans, coloureds, and These groups were expressly political and vocal Indians. However, the apartheid-era categories about the injustices of the apartheid system continue to be used in the official statistics and in that way strongly local in their lyrical and in much of the popular parlance. Hence, content and approach. Composed of coloured in this article
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dancing to the Beat of the Diaspora: Musical Exchanges Between Africa and Its Diasporas
    African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal ISSN: 1752-8631 (Print) 1752-864X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rabd20 Dancing to the beat of the diaspora: musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas Paul Tiyambe Zeleza To cite this article: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza (2010) Dancing to the beat of the diaspora: musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas, African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 3:2, 211-236, DOI: 10.1080/17528631.2010.481976 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17528631.2010.481976 Published online: 23 Jun 2010. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 398 View related articles Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rabd20 Download by: [US International University - Africa] Date: 01 November 2016, At: 01:09 African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal Vol. 3, No. 2, July 2010, 211Á236 Dancing to the beat of the diaspora: musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas Paul Tiyambe Zeleza* Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA This essay examines the complex ebbs and flows of musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas. Specifically, it focuses on musical engagements between, on the one hand, the Caribbean and West Africa and, on the other, the United States and Southern Africa. It argues that the influence of diasporan music on modern African music, especially popular music, has been immense. These influences and exchanges have created a complex tapestry of musical Afro- internationalism and Afro-modernism and music has been a critical site, a soundscape, in the construction of new diasporan and African identities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of Rap in the Arab Spring
    Augsburg Honors Review Volume 6 Article 12 2013 The Influence of apr in the Arab Spring Samantha Cantrall Augsburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Cantrall, Samantha (2013) "The Influence of apr in the Arab Spring," Augsburg Honors Review: Vol. 6 , Article 12. Available at: https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review/vol6/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate at Idun. It has been accepted for inclusion in Augsburg Honors Review by an authorized editor of Idun. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IruFLUENCE oF RAP IN THE AnAB SPRING ey SaHaANTHA Carurneu-AuGSBURc CollEGE Enculry Anvrson: Dn. Roeenr Srecrcr BSTRACT: Throughout history, music has been influential in social, reli- gious, and political disputes. In the early 21st century, change in the estab- order can be found in expressing the need for reform halfway around the world in the Middle East's Arab Spring. Rap artists such as El General (Tunisia), GAB (Libya), and Omar Offendum (Syria) used their talents to both spark and en- courage protestors during the early days of the Middle Eastern protests that began in late 2010; these protests have since been coined "The Arab Spring." The energy that could have been used to wield guns and bombs was instead poured into protest music that these and other artists produced during this time period. The relatively Western genre of rap music became integral in peaceful citizens protests happening all over the Middle East.
    [Show full text]
  • Rapping the Arab Spring
    Rapping the Arab Spring SAM R. KIMBALL UNIS—Along a dusty main avenue, past worn freight cars piled on railroad tracks and Tyoung men smoking at sidewalk cafés beside shuttered shops, lies Kasserine, a town unremarkable in its poverty. Tucked deep in the Tunisian interior, Kasserine is 200 miles from the capital, in a region where decades of neglect by Tunisia’s rulers has led ANE H to a state of perennial despair. But pass a prison on the edge of town, and a jarring mix of neon hues leap from its outer wall. During the 2011 uprising against former President Zine El-Abdine Ben Ali, EM BEN ROMD H prisoners rioted, and much of the wall was destroyed HIC in fighting with security forces. On the wall that re- 79 Downloaded from wpj.sagepub.com at COLUMBIA UNIV on December 16, 2014 REPORTAGE mains, a poem by Tunisian poet Abu al in it for fame. But one thing is certain— Qassem Chebbi stretches across 800 feet the rebellions that shook the Arab world of concrete and barbed wire, scrawled in tore open a space for hip-hop in politics, calligraffiti—a style fusing Arabic callig- destroying the wall of fear around freedom raphy with hip hop graffiti—by Tunisian of expression. And governments across the artist Karim Jabbari. On each section of region are now watching hip-hop’s advance the wall, one elaborate pattern merges into with a blend of contempt and dread. a wildly different one. “Before Karim, you might have come to Kasserine and thought, PRE-ARAB SPRING ‘There’s nothing in this town.’ But we’ve “Before the outbreak of the Arab Spring, got everything—from graffiti, to break- there was less diversity,” says independent dance, to rap.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Hip-Hop Class
    AAAS 135b: GLOBAL HIP-HOP Wed 6:30-9:20 pm Mandel G03 Spring 2012 Wayne Marshall [email protected] office hours: by appointment DESCRIPTION Examining how hip-hop travels and is embraced, represented, and transformed in various locales around the world, this course approaches hip-hop as itself constituted by international flows and as a product and set of practices that circulate globally in complex ways, cast variously as American, African-American, and/or black, and recast through the cultural logics of the new spaces it enters, the soundscapes it permeates. A host of questions arise when we consider hip-hopʼs global scope and significance: What does the genre in its various forms (audio, video, sartorial, gestural) carry beyond the US? What do people bring to it in new local contexts? How are US notions of race and nation mediated by hip-hop's global reach? Why do some global (which is to say, local) hip-hop scenes fasten onto the genre's well-rehearsed focus on place, community, and righteous opposition to structural and representational forms of violence, while others appear more enamored with slick portrayals of hustler archetypes, cool machismo, and ruggedly individualist, conspicuous consumption? How can hip-hop circulate in such contradictory forms? In what ways do hip-hop scenes differ from North to South America, West to East Africa, Europe to Asia? What threads unite them? In pursuit of such questions, we will read across the emerging literature on global hip- hop as we explore the growing resources available via the internet, where websites and blogs, MySpace and YouTube and the like have facilitated a further efflorescence of international (and peer-to-peer) exchanges around hip-hop.
    [Show full text]
  • When Art Is the Weapon: Culture and Resistance Confronting Violence in the Post-Uprisings Arab World
    Religions 2015, 6, 1277–1313; doi:10.3390/rel6041277 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article When Art Is the Weapon: Culture and Resistance Confronting Violence in the Post-Uprisings Arab World Mark LeVine 1,2 1 Department of History, University of California, Irvine, Krieger Hall 220, Irvine, CA 92697-3275, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] 2 Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Finngatan 16, 223 62 Lund, Sweden Academic Editor: John L. Esposito Received: 6 August 2015 / Accepted: 23 September 2015 / Published: 5 November 2015 Abstract: This article examines the explosion of artistic production in the Arab world during the so-called Arab Spring. Focusing on music, poetry, theatre, and graffiti and related visual arts, I explore how these “do-it-yourself” scenes represent, at least potentially, a “return of the aura” to the production of culture at the edge of social and political transformation. At the same time, the struggle to retain a revolutionary grounding in the wake of successful counter-revolutionary moves highlights the essentially “religious” grounding of “committed” art at the intersection of intense creativity and conflict across the Arab world. Keywords: Arab Spring; revolutionary art; Tahrir Square What to do when military thugs have thrown your mother out of the second story window of your home? If you’re Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuta, Africa’s greatest political artist, you march her coffin to the Presidential compound and write a song, “Coffin for Head of State,” about the murder. Just to make sure everyone gets the point, you use the photo of the crowd at the gates of the compound with her coffin as the album cover [1].
    [Show full text]
  • UNSUNG: South African Jazz Musicians Under Apartheidunsung
    UNSUNG: South African Jazz Musicians under Apartheid outh African jazz under apartheid has in recent years been the subject of numerous studies. The main focus, however, has hitherto been on the musicians who went into exile. Here, for the first time, those who stayed behind are allowed to tell their stories: the stories of musicians from across the colour spectrum who helped to keep their art alive in South Africa during the years of state oppression. CHATRADARI DEVROOP &CHRIS WALTON CHATRADARI Unsung South African Jazz Musicians under Apartheid EDITORS Chatradari Devroop & Chris Walton UNSUNG: South African Jazz Musicians under Apartheid Published by SUN PReSS, an imprint of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA (Pty) Ltd., Stellenbosch 7600 www.africansunmedia.co.za www.sun-e-shop.co.za All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 Chatradari Devroop & Chris Walton No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher. First edition 2007 ISBN: 978-1-920109-66-9 e-ISBN: 978-1-920109-67-7 DOI: 10.18820/9781920109677 Set in 11/13 Sylfaen Cover design by Ilse Roelofse Typesetting by SUN MeDIA Stellenbosch SUN PReSS is an imprint of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA (Pty) Ltd. Academic, professional and reference works are published under this imprint in print and electronic format. This publication may be ordered directly from www.sun-e-shop.co.za Printed and bound by ASM/USD, Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch, 7600.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Or Download
    afrique.q 7/15/02 12:36 PM Page 2 The tree of life that is reggae music in all its forms is deeply spreading its roots back into Afri- ca, idealized, championed and longed for in so many reggae anthems. African dancehall artists may very well represent the most exciting (and least- r e c o g n i z e d ) m o vement happening in dancehall today. Africa is so huge, culturally rich and diverse that it is difficult to generalize about the musical happenings. Yet a recent musical sampling of the continent shows that dancehall is begin- ning to emerge as a powerful African musical form in its own right. FromFrom thethe MotherlandMotherland....Danc....Danc By Lisa Poliak daara-j Coming primarily out of West Africa, artists such as Gambia’s Rebellion D’Recaller, Dancehall Masters and Senegal’s Daara-J, Pee GAMBIA Froiss and V.I.B. are creating their own sounds growing from a fertile musical and cultural Gambia is Africa’s cross-pollination that blends elements of hip- dancehall hot spot. hop, reggae and African rhythms such as Out of Gambia, Rebel- Senegalese mbalax, for instance. Most of lion D’Recaller and these artists have not yet spread their wings Dancehall Masters are on the international scene, especially in the creating music that is U.S., but all have the musical and lyrical skills less rap-influenced to explode globally. Chanting down Babylon, than what is coming these African artists are inspired by their out of Senegal. In Jamaican predecessors while making music Gambia, they’re basi- that is uniquely their own, praising Jah, Allah cally heavier on the and historical spiritual leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • 'What Ever Happened to Breakdancing?'
    'What ever happened to breakdancing?' Transnational h-hoy/b-girl networks, underground video magazines and imagined affinities. Mary Fogarty Submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Interdisciplinary MA in Popular Culture Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario © November 2006 For my sister, Pauline 111 Acknowledgements The Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC) enabled me to focus full-time on my studies. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my committee members: Andy Bennett, Hans A. Skott-Myhre, Nick Baxter-Moore and Will Straw. These scholars have shaped my ideas about this project in crucial ways. I am indebted to Michael Zryd and Francois Lukawecki for their unwavering kindness, encouragement and wisdom over many years. Steve Russell patiently began to teach me basic rules ofgrammar. Barry Grant and Eric Liu provided comments about earlier chapter drafts. Simon Frith, Raquel Rivera, Anthony Kwame Harrison, Kwande Kefentse and John Hunting offered influential suggestions and encouragement in correspondence. Mike Ripmeester, Sarah Matheson, Jeannette Sloniowski, Scott Henderson, Jim Leach, Christie Milliken, David Butz and Dale Bradley also contributed helpful insights in either lectures or conversations. AJ Fashbaugh supplied the soul food and music that kept my body and mind nourished last year. If AJ brought the knowledge then Matt Masters brought the truth. (What a powerful triangle, indeed!) I was exceptionally fortunate to have such noteworthy fellow graduate students. Cole Lewis (my summer writing partner who kept me accountable), Zorianna Zurba, Jana Tomcko, Nylda Gallardo-Lopez, Seth Mulvey and Pauline Fogarty each lent an ear on numerous much needed occasions as I worked through my ideas out loud.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Graffiti Art
    Journal of Conscious Evolution Volume 11 Article 1 Issue 11 Issue 11/ 2014 June 2018 From Primitive to Integral: The volutE ion of Graffiti Art White, Ashanti Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, and the Transpersonal Psychology Commons Recommended Citation White, Ashanti (2018) "From Primitive to Integral: The vE olution of Graffiti Art," Journal of Conscious Evolution: Vol. 11 : Iss. 11 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cejournal/vol11/iss11/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Conscious Evolution by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. : From Primitive to Integral: The Evolution of Graffiti Art Journal of Conscious Evolution Issue 11, 2014 From Primitive to Integral: The Evolution of Graffiti Art Ashanti White California Institute of Integral Studies ABSTRACT Art is about expression. It is neither right nor wrong. It can be beautiful or distorted. It can be influenced by pain or pleasure. It can also be motivated for selfish or selfless reasons. It is expression. Arguably, no artistic movement encompasses this more than graffiti art.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Survival of 'Radio Culture'
    Coventry University Coventry University Repository for the Virtual Environment (CURVE) Author name: Mudhai, O.F. Title: Survival of ‘radio culture’ in a converged networked new media environment. Article & version: Post-print Original citation & hyperlink: Mudhai, O.F. (2011) 'Survival of ‘radio culture’ in a converged networked new media environment' in Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa. ed. Herman Wasserman. London: Routledge: 253-268 http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415577946 Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s final manuscript version of the journal article, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Available in the CURVE Research Collection: October 2011 http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open Survival of ‘radio culture’ in a converged networked new media environment* Okoth Fred Mudhai ([email protected]) Coventry University Introduction With emphasis on popular music and related entertainment rather than democratic culture and identity politics, this chapter examines the extent to which radio remains significant in socio-cultural and political landscapes in Africa given the proliferation of newer information and communication technologies (ICTs) more recently enlivened by cell phones and social networking applications.
    [Show full text]
  • Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form
    Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form Marcyliena Morgan & Dionne Bennett To me, hip-hop says, “Come as you are.” We are a family. Hip-hop is the voice of this generation. It has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these people, all of these nationalities, all over the world together. Hip-hop is a family so everybody has got to pitch in. East, west, north or south–we come MARCYLIENA MORGAN is from one coast and that coast was Africa. Professor of African and African –dj Kool Herc American Studies at Harvard Uni- versity. Her publications include Through hip-hop, we are trying to ½nd out who we Language, Discourse and Power in are, what we are. That’s what black people in Amer- African American Culture (2002), ica did. The Real Hiphop: Battling for Knowl- –mc Yan1 edge, Power, and Respect in the LA Underground (2009), and “Hip- hop and Race: Blackness, Lan- It is nearly impossible to travel the world without guage, and Creativity” (with encountering instances of hip-hop music and cul- Dawn-Elissa Fischer), in Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century ture. Hip-hop is the distinctive graf½ti lettering (ed. Hazel Rose Markus and styles that have materialized on walls worldwide. Paula M.L. Moya, 2010). It is the latest dance moves that young people per- form on streets and dirt roads. It is the bass beats DIONNE BENNETT is an Assis- mc tant Professor of African Ameri- and styles of dress at dance clubs. It is local s can Studies at Loyola Marymount on microphones with hands raised and moving to University.
    [Show full text]
  • Trace Mziki Celebrates African Greatest Music Talents at Afrimma Awards 2017
    PRESS RELEASE NAIROBI, SEPT. 28 2017 TRACE MZIKI CELEBRATES AFRICAN GREATEST MUSIC TALENTS AT AFRIMMA AWARDS 2017 TRACE MZIKI, the channel dedicated to Swahili, Eastern and Pan African music is supporting the 4th annual AFRIMMA Awards and Music Festival 2017 in Dallas (TX) on Sunday October 8th. Since 2014, AFRIMMA awards and celebrates new talents from Africa and the African diaspora. As the first ceremony outside Africa showcasing Afrobeats, Assiko, Bongo, Coupé Decalé, Funana, Genge, Highlife, Hiplife, Kwaito or Soukous, AFRIMMA will be co-hosted for the first time by Kenyan stand up comedian Chipukeezy, alongside Nigerian comedian Basketmouth. This year, AFRIMMA promises a bigger show. The event will offer a music festival experience with headlines such as Tanzania sensation Diamond Platnumz as well as Uganda’s Triplets Ghetto Kids who were featured in French Montana’s “Unforgettable” music video. Other headline acts confirmed to attend are Fally Ipupa, C4 Pedro, Eddy Kenzo and Tiwa Savage. This year’s events include a Pre-Show with London band The Compozers, a Pre-Party, a Pool Party, A Music Panel, Fashion Show, as well as a grand After Party after the main show to close AFRIMMA 2017. Two new categories have also been added to the 2017 edition of AFRIMMA : Best Lusophone artist and Best Francophone artist. Anderson Obiagwu, CEO of AFRIMMA/BIG A declares, “TRACE has been a proud supporter of African music and important matters and causes in Africa. AFRIMMA is delighted to partner with TRACE in a synergy of brands synonymous to African music. It’s all about Africa as Africa’s biggest music award ceremony and Africa’s biggest music TV group brings you an unforgettable AFRIMMA experience.” Launched in 2016, TRACE Mziki with its presence at AFRIMMA allows TRACE group to continue to dedicate their love and support to African artists, whether they are newcomers or internationally acclaimed.
    [Show full text]