Turkish hip hop refers to hip hop music produced by members of the Turkish minority in Germany, and to a lesser degree by hip hop artists in Turkey. The Turkish minority, called the Turks, first drew inspiration from the discrimination and racism they received while living as migrant workers in Germany in the 1960s. Turkish hip hop uses Arabesk music, a folk style that finds its roots in Turkey during the 1960s, and is influenced by the hip hop music of America and Germany. Album artwork, lyrical content, and the Turkish language are used by hip hop artists to express their uniquely Turkish identity.
Lana Michele Moorer, better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rapper. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a full solo album with 1988's critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. The album spawned the singles "10% Dis" and "Paper Thin".
Hip hop music has been popular in Africa since the early 1980s due to widespread African American influence. In 1985, hip hop reached Senegal, a French-speaking country in West Africa. Some of the first Senegalese rappers were Munyaradzi Nhidza Lida, M.C. Solaar, and Positive Black Soul.
Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music and often contain catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines and vocals. They are also very similar tempos to early 1990s NYC house tracks.
Senegalese hip hop is a form of hip hop that originated in Senegal in the early 1980s. When hip hop first hit the scene in Africa, it went from merely being a fad, to a more social and political movement. Amongst the most influential leaders of this movement were artists from the country of Senegal. With the modernization of the country, and the rise in media, the youth of Senegal were able to embrace a new form of expression.
Tanzanian Hip-hop, which is sometimes referred to Bongo Flava by many outside of Tanzania's hip hop community, encompasses a large variety of different sounds, but it is particularly known for heavy synth riffs and an incorporation of Tanzanian pop.
Arabic hip-hop is a segment of hip hop music performed in the Arabic-speaking world. Due to variety of dialects and local genres which exist in the localities, Arabic hip-hop music may appear very diverse depending on the country of the song. Like most artists of the genre, the hip-hop artists from the Arabic-speaking world are highly influenced by American hip-hop.
Didier Awadi is a Senegalese rapper and a significant figure in Francophone West African hip hop. As a founding member of Positive Black Soul (PBS) with Duggy Tee, Awadi toured around the world contributing to the international popularity of Hip Hop Galsen. Awadi works as a solo artist, accompanied by his crew PBS Radikal. He participates in the Senegalese music industry through his label, recording studio, and rehearsal space, Studio Sankara. Awadi offers a conscious and revolutionary style of music strengthened by articulated and rooted messages. His motivation and inspiration is grounded in the Burkinabé revolutionary Thomas Sankara's phrase: "Let's dare to invent our future!"
United Artists for African Rap is a collective of 17 hip hop artists coming from ten different countries in West Africa and who are committed to use their voices and music for Africa’s development. With the support of the Non Governmental Organization PLAN International, they are engaged in a public awareness campaign relating to Children’s rights and youth problems. With respect, they realized in 2006 the first ever hip hop musical comedy show “The extraordinary Stories of Poto-Poto Children”.
The Gambian hip hop scene is a relatively new scene in African hip hop which developed in the mid-1990s and was heavily influenced by American hip hop and Senegalese hip hop. Gambian hip-hop has been heavily influenced by international music scene including worldbeat, Senegalese wolof music, and American hip hop, as well as traditional Gambian mbalax and n'daga music. Dominican merengue and Jamaican reggae, ragga, and dancehall have also influenced the development of Gambian hip-hop.
Tshila is a Ugandan singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer.
ALIF is the pioneer female hip hop trio of Hip Hop Galsen. Emerging in the late mid-1990s, ALIF offered a feminine and feminist flavour to Hip Hop Galsen encouraging women to play their part in the movement. The group split beginning of 2010 after thirteen years.
Gee Bayss is one of the pioneer DJs in West Africa. Member of the group, Pee Froiss, he toured throughout the world with his sure-fire turntablism which had crowds jumping whenever the group was performing. Combining solo projects with international tours of the Pee Froiss, Gee Bayss is actively engaged in transmitting his deejaying art to the younger generations.
Keyti is one of the first and most prominent hardcore hip hop artists in Senegal. With his group Rap’Adio, he offered a radical approach to Hip Hop Galsen violently recalling the initial purpose of hip hop as a means to denounce society’s flaws. Still radically critical, though less hardcore, Keyti now evolves in solo. He is part of the West African hip hop collective AURA and performs in its well-known musical comedy The Extraordinary Stories of Poto-Poto Children.
Matador is one of the most prominent figures of underground Hip Hop in Senegal. Founding member of the Thiaroye’s group, WA BMG 44, Matador has toured throughout the world gaining an international recognition from the underground hip hop scenes abroad. Since 2006, his struggle to represent the voiceless youth of his home country has taken a renewed turn with the creation of his structure, Africulturban in Pikine. Through this space dedicated to the youth, Matador reiterates his social and political engagement while pursuing his role of “Number One System Enemy” and “General Major Chief of the Dying People Army”.
Simon Bisbi Clan is one of the most visible hip hop artists on the contemporary scene of Hip Hop Galsen. After his beginnings in Dakar, Simon grows from his diverse experiences on other hip hop scenes abroad during five years before coming back to his hometown. Since his return, he has been intensively contributing to the development of the musical sector in Dakar with the creation of his LLC, 99 Records, a structure dedicated to the promotion of Senegalese urban music and centred on the label “Djolof 4 Life Entertainment”.
Following an historical process of appropriation of American popular music by Senegal, hip hop emerged in the Senegalese capital city in the early mid- 1980s. Although hip hop galsen is now famous for its diverse musical productions, the movement there spread out from its dancing appeal rather than from its musical one. Indeed, Senegalese hip hop artists initially participated in this movement as smurfer, breakdancer, B-boy in general performing during organised podiums. Schools, nightclubs and other temporary public stages thus played an essential role in amplifying this movement in Dakar. Besides, and in contrast to American hip hop, which grew from the youth in the inner city ghettos, hip hop in Dakar began among a somehow middle-class youth who was able to access and/or introduce in their home place new ideas and new cultural expressions coming from abroad. Indeed, hip hop became popular in the capital city through the intensive through informal circulation of VH7 cassettes and recorded videos, which were imported from USA or France by diaspora people.
Waga Hip Hop is one of the major international hip hop festivals taking place in West Africa. Each year, around early and mid-October, Ouagadougou thus welcomes international artists and media to attend this festival of urban cultures.
Hip hop feminism is a sub-set of black feminism that centers on intersectional subject positions involving race and gender in a way that acknowledges the contradictions in being a black feminist, such as black women's enjoyment in hip hop music and culture, rather than simply focusing on the victimization of black women in hip hop culture due to interlocking systems of oppressions involving race, class, and gender.
Danielle Eog Makedah, born July 21, 1982, in Paris, is a Cameroonian singer-songwriter of soul, R&B and jazz music. She began her career on the Cameroonian hip-hop scene in 2000. She accompanied many artists on stage and had multiple collaborations for more than 10 years before the release of her first solo album in 2013. She was a finalist for the Prix Découvertes RFI in 2013. She is a member of the collective Hip Hop Developed, in which she has been playing since 2011 alongside Lady B, Teety Tezano, Adango Salicia and rapper Sadrak.
