Dookoom Rises Up
A Cape Town hip hop group causes a huge stir with its music video "Larney Jou Poes" (roughly translated: Boss, your cunt.) depicting an uprising by farmworkers.
hip hop
Dakar booms with life
The youthful and creative art scene in Senegal's capital is the subject of director Sandra Krampelhuber’s documentary film, "100% Dakar."
The Contemporary Mark of Assata Shakur
The Black American activist's relevance for today's generation following the killing of Mike Brown by police, and the suppression of protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
Discovering Prophets Of Da City
An interview with hip hop scholar, Adam Haupt, about hip hop pioneers P.O.C., the viral rappers Die Antwoord and the state of contemporary South African hip-hop.
The State Of African Hip Hop
Hip-hop in Africa is diverse — no single sound defines it. Electro-chaabi, mbalax-influenced rap, and house-sampling styles all reflect the continent’s broad musical scope.
Hip hop and electoral politics
South Africans vote on May 2nd, 2014, the country's 5th democratic elections. Do rappers vote?
Boogie Down Nima in the Bronx
Recognition of the contributions to the New York cultural landscape by African immigrants remains strangely absent from the average New Yorker’s frame of reference.
Rapping Against Impunity
A campaign in Senegal wants to put public pressure on the government to follow-though on criminal investigations in order to get justice for victims of violence and torture.
Mozambique’s Queen of Hip-Hop
Dama do Bling is sometimes called a Lusophone Queen Latifah and Mozambican Lil Kim. The comparison doesn't always work.
The New Breed of Lesotho Hip Hop
An idea of what's going down in Lesotho with the emcees whom I think will be making a considerable amount of noise in 2013.
The political fight is wherever people gather
Can young Angolan activists inspired by Angola's underground rap scene take on a political elite that has ruled for decades?
Soukous for Kabila
Congolese musicians are divided over politics: endorse President Joseph Kabila and gain from official patronage, oppose him in exile or cope independently in Kinshasa.
Family Matters
Does it matter whether the hip-hop artist Ismael Sankara is related to the great Burkinabe leader, Thomas Sankara?