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5. Hip-hop in Nairobi: recognition of aninternational movement and the main means of expression for the urban youth inpoor residential areas
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107 5 Hip-hop in Nairobi: recognition of an international movement and the main means of expression for the urban youth in poor residential areas Aurélia FERRARI INALCO, CNRS The expression “hip-hop” comes from Black American vernacular speech: to be hip means to be ‘cool’, or emancipated, to hop indicates to dance for a bet or for competition. The hip-hop movement has its roots in the Black and Hispanic residential areas of Queens, Brooklyn and in a larger part, The Bronx. Its origins date from the end of the 1960s with the emergence of the group Last Poets, a group of young Black Americans, whose lyrics had a political message (Cachin, 1996: 16). It is in the 1970s that Afrika Bambaataa13 , a gang member, realised the futility of violence, and together with his musician and dancer friends, established a nation united for peace modeled on the tribes of South Africa, called The Zulu Nation. He suggested oral codes based on fundamental rules of peace and positivism. The hip-hop movement quickly gained ground in large towns across the world. Often losing their identity between two cultures, the young generation in big towns seek validation from the streets. The difficult adaptation conditions for migrants in their new town environment create a gap between the generations. The parents of first generation migrants found their identity in the culture of their people while the younger generation identified with the urban culture. The social links between the younger generations were thus reinforced as they shared 13 The alias of a Zulu chief, who opposed colonisation and contributed to the unification of the South African tribes. 108 similar problems and anxieties. New values emerged to the detriment of traditional and religious culture. Thus, values such as solidarity of peer groups and other notions such as the notion of artistic daring in relation to self and others, and to free style (improvisation) occurred in the identity representation of the young. Rap, therefore seems to be “the result of the quest for identity by the youth who find themselves in cultural interstitial and producing qualities of their own culture” (Calvet, 1994: 274). Africa—which did not escape from the lack of transfer of rural culture to the large metropolitan areas—experienced the hip-hop movement at the end of the 1980s. The young generation Africans in urban areas are caught between the Western way of life led in the big towns, and African values. In Africa, as in the USA or in Europe, it is always in the streets or in the ghettos14 that the youth get together to form a culture. Rap is thus borne of integration problems. This not only concerns foreigners in a host country but also migrants in towns. The emergence of an international culture is not a new element in the daily life of Nairobi youth. It has been reflected for several years in the mode of dress, hairstyle, the music listened to and written, the vocabulary used, and the means of living and way of thinking. Several years ago, the reference point was reggae and ragamuffin. Reggae was considered the roots, and ragamuffin the actual music representing the society at the time. It was fashionable to have dreadlocked hair and to dress in green-yellow-red clothing. In the past few years, the reference point has begun to change towards identifying with the hip-hop culture. In Nairobi, many young people dress in baggy trousers, or in clothes branded with sportswear labels (and imitations), and listen to rap music. This has led to the recent emergence of several rap groups in Nairobi. However, the attachment to the reggae culture is still clearly visible and many groups mix reggae/ ragamuffin with hip-hop. The Rasta and hip-hop movements hence had similar aspects. The Rastafarian movement was born in Jamaica in the 1930s, from Marcus Garvey’s ideologies on the “return to Africa”…. He considered Africa as the promised land and its Emperor Haile Selassie as a spiritual leader (the name Rasta comes from Ras Tafari, meaning the king of kings) but since this 14 Poor urban residential areas. [3.235.46.191] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 15:38 GMT) 109 spiritual leader was not interested in repatriating his self-proclaimed subjects to Africa, Garvey led a reorientation movement which forgot its initial objective (return to Africa) and turned towards liberation in Jamaica. On this point, the parallels between the hip-hop and Rasta movements are striking. Beyond...