Hip-Hop in Africa. Msia Kibona Clark
ni fundo we ni mwali nishike udumishe ndoa
Bila mishe niko poa nipishe nisafishe doa
Nadharia kwa kilinge, ninge hazitambi tena
Nishinde mbilinge, Mungu hazijui dhambi njema
Gongo La Mboto msoto hainyweki gongo ya moto
Maisha vitisho, mwisho wanaujua hadi Mrisho Mpoto.
While musical genres such as kwaito, bongo flava, kuduro, genge/ kapuka/boomba, and hiplife may have derived from hip-hop, borrowing from R&B and reggae as well, they are not synonymous with hiphop. Studies of hip-hop in Africa are newer than studies of hip-hop in America, the latter including the work of several scholars who have been actively involved in the culture. Studies that present research on bongo flava as Tanzanian hip-hop, kwaito as South African hip-hop, or hiplife as Ghanaian hip-hop are evidence of a need for further research and understandings of the spaces shared by hip-hop and other musical genres in Africa. This book will briefly touch on the relationship between hip-hop and other pop music genres in Africa, but a broader study may be needed. Research on hip-hop in Ghana leads to material on hiplife, which is often discussed as if it is synonymous with Ghanaian hip-hop. Hiplife is its own genre, much like highlife, Afrobeat, and others. Jesse Shipley has acknowledged the difficulty of defining hiplife, saying it is characterized “not by a particular rhythm or lyrical pattern” but by “a performative electronic orchestration of Akan-language practices and diasporic hip-hop” (2013, 132). Some say hiplife is Ghanaian hip-hop rapped in local languages, but Harry Odamtten (2011) indicates that hiplife is performed not only in local languages but also in English and Pidgin English. Both Shipley and Odamtten discuss the various genres that hiplife borrows from, including hip-hop, highlife, and reggae. The fact that Ghanaian hip-hop artists often produce both hip-hop and hiplife music adds to the ambiguity. Ghanaian emcees like Sarkodie have produced both hip-hop and hiplife. In a 2011 interview with Ghanaian emcee Yaa Pono, he said that he considered himself both a hip-hop and a hiplife artist, drawing a distinction between the two but easily moving between both genres. Given hiplife’s dominance in Ghana, when I asked Yaa Pono why he performs hip-hop at all, his response was “because it satisfies my soul.” Similar responses were given by other Ghanaian emcees who perform hiplife because of the genre’s popularity and marketability.
Hip-Hop Subgenres and Hybrids
Musical genres are often influenced by other musical genres. In a sense, all musical genres are hybrids, developing out of a blending of musical styles and influences. In the emergence of hip-hop in the 1970s, we see the heavy influence of both reggae and Caribbean culture, as well as the Black Arts movement of the 1960s.2 Hip-hop was influenced by contacts with other music genres and cultures as well but would merge these influences and develop its own identity. Similarly, hip-hop would both produce its own subgenres and influence the emergence of other genres.
Out of US hip-hop would come hip-hop subgenres, like gangsta rap, dirty south rap, and pimp rap in the United States (Lena 2006); out of South Africa came gangsta rap, spaza rap, motswako rap, and zef rap (UnderGround Angle 2009; Subzzee 2010b; Williams and Stroud 2013). In her studies, Jennifer Lena (2004, 2006) has identified thirteen rap subgenres in the United States, distinguishing them by looking at a combination of lyrical flow, lyrical content, style of background music, and rhythmic style. Artists participate in developing subgenres through experimentation, especially with samples and other elements that help distinguish where the artist is located and which subgenre they represent. According to Lena, sampling helps “the artist or group in signaling sub-genre identity. Through sampling practices, rappers tell listeners to which artistic circles they belong” (2004, 309). In South Africa’s diverse rap scene, language is also a signifier of rap subgenre.
Hip-hop subgenres remain connected to broader hip-hop cultures and communities. Spaza and motswako rap artists in South Africa still use hip-hop rhyme techniques, while kwaito, its own genre, borrows elements from hip-hop music, as well as house music, and has its own rules of composition. In a study of hip-hop subgenres in the United States, Lena writes, “While the diversity of rap sub-genres over sixteen years of production is undeniable, an analysis of rap lyrics suggests strong similarities across sub-genre styles” (2004, 490). New genres of music emerge from blending elements of various music genres. As new genres develop their distinctive styles, dances, culture, and rules of composition, they also develop their own identity.
In Africa, hip-hop would influence the development of several new music genres. New, hip-hop-influenced, musical genres emerged in many countries in Africa in the 1990s. These new genres (hiplife in Ghana, bongo flava in Tanzania, and kwaito in South Africa) would often blend hip-hop, R&B, reggae, house, and African sounds. In the cases of hiplife and bongo flava, the songs are also performed primarily in local languages. They are popular in urban African club scenes and have directly competed with hip-hop for radio airtime.
In Ghana, hiplife emerged in the early 1990s (Odamtten 2011; Collins, 2012; Shipley 2012). Artists like Reggie Rockstone, along with groups like Talking Drums, were among the first hiplife musicians in the country. Rockstone, known by many as the godfather of hiplife, is also a hip-hop artist. In a photo taken at his home in Accra (fig. 1.2), he wears a T-shirt proclaiming “I am Hiplife.” Ghana is home to an active hiplife and hip-hop community (sometimes referred to as GH rap, or Ghana rap), with many artists moving between the genres. Artists like Sarkodie, Reggie Rockstone, and Edem move between genres regularly.
Figure 1.2. Reggie Rockstone in Accra in 2010. Photo by author.
Unlike in Tanzania and South Africa, both the Ghanaian hybrid (hiplife) and hip-hop deal with social and political issues. According to producer Panji Anoff, hiplife often takes a more humorous approach to social commentary, while hip-hop tends to be more aggressive in its approach. Kwaito and bongo flava are known as mainly dance music, lacking a lot of real political commentary. Hiplife, kwaito, and bongo flava have all been described as be their country’s versions of hip-hop, but are actually their own genres, which incorporated sound from hip-hop and other music to create new genres. Today most are financially lucrative industries. Bongo flava is sung in Swahili, while hiplife is sung in Twi, Ewe, Ga, and other local languages. Kwaito is usually sung using one of the South African languages. Both kwaito and bongo flava contain lighter lyrical content, often avoiding many of the politics that South African and Tanzanian hip-hop often cover (World: The Global Hit 2007; Clark 2013), though in discussing early bongo flava, Lemelle (2006) suggests that it was initially political. Unlike in Ghana, in Tanzania hip-hop artists have fought to forge their own separate identity, distancing themselves from bongo flava, with only a few artists performing music in both genres. Ghanaian hip-hop artists often do both hip-hop and hiplife music. Likewise, in South Africa, Shaheen Ariefdien says that some hip-hop artists do kwaito in order to fund hip-hop projects. Shaheen Ariefdien is one of the members of pioneering South African hip-hop group Prophets of da City.
According to Shaheen Ariefdien, the reason hip-hop in South Africa remains strong is “because it doesn’t imagine its life-force coming from a barcode” (pers. comm., August 11, 2011). Shaheen Ariefdien perceived the biggest threat to South African hip-hop to be hip-hop influences from outside South Africa, particularly the kind of hip-hop that a lot of conscious South African artists do not identify with ideologically. Indeed, South Africa does seem to be facing some of the debates facing American hip-hop. According to Lee Watkins (2012), the growing influence of purely profit-driven hip-hop music has created some divisions within South African hip-hop.
The subgenres of South African hip-hop include spaza, motswako, and zef rap. The three styles utilize the same hip-hop rhyme techniques, and these terms are applied to artists performing South African languages. Spaza rap contains lyrics that are performed in multiple languages, especially Xhosa, often representing ghetto life in South Africa (UnderGround Angle 2009; Subzzee 2010b; Williams and Stroud 2013). Examples of Spaza artists include Driemanskap, Middle Finga, and Kritsi Ye’Spaza. Motswako is said to have come to South Africa via Botswana, and also contains the blending of languages,