Msia Kibona Clark
Dr. Msia Kibona Clark is an Associate Professor in the Department of African Studies at Howard University. Originally from Tanzania, her work has focuses on popular culture, migration, & gender. She has written numerous scholarly publications on both popular culture in Africa & African migrant experiences. She has published 3 books (Hip Hop and Social Change in Africa: Ni Wakati, Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City & Dustyfoot Philosophers, and Pan African Spaces: Essays on Black Transnationalism). Her more recent articles and book chapters include “Hip-Hop and Human Rights in Africa”, “Feminisms in African Hip-Hop”, “The Contemporary African Diaspora”, “The Evolution of a Bicultural Identity, in the Shadows of Nyerere’s Pan Africanism”, & the forthcoming “African Women and Hip-Hop in the Diaspora”.
She created & teaches the courses “Black Women & Popular Culture” and” Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa”. With the Center for African Studies at Howard University, she created the online course Hip Hop in Africa, which can be found on iTunesU. Along with her students, she produces The Hip Hop African Blog hosted at hiphopafrican.com. The site is also home to The Hip Hop African Podcast, which is also on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, & other podcast platforms.
Dr. Clark was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Dar es Salaam (2013/14), and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Diaspora Community of Tanzanians in America (DICOTA), and a member of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the African Studies Association of Africa. She is also an executive board member and past president of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists.
Dr. Clark is also a photographer who has exhibited her work online and in print publications, as well as in art and photo exhibitions in Tanzania and the U.S.
Phone: 202-238-2357
Address: Howard University
Department of African Studies
She created & teaches the courses “Black Women & Popular Culture” and” Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa”. With the Center for African Studies at Howard University, she created the online course Hip Hop in Africa, which can be found on iTunesU. Along with her students, she produces The Hip Hop African Blog hosted at hiphopafrican.com. The site is also home to The Hip Hop African Podcast, which is also on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, & other podcast platforms.
Dr. Clark was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Dar es Salaam (2013/14), and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Diaspora Community of Tanzanians in America (DICOTA), and a member of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the African Studies Association of Africa. She is also an executive board member and past president of the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists.
Dr. Clark is also a photographer who has exhibited her work online and in print publications, as well as in art and photo exhibitions in Tanzania and the U.S.
Phone: 202-238-2357
Address: Howard University
Department of African Studies
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Sipho also discusses the dynamics within Coloured communities in South Africa, and the relationships between Black and Coloured South Africans. He provides history of the origins of Coloured South Africans among the Khoi & San (first nation) communities, and their forming close-knit communities. The hip hop that came out of those communities, largely based in Cape Town, addressed the social ills happening in the Coloured townships.
Sampa the Great also talks about her experiences with racism and self-identification while studying in the US in the early 2010s, and later after she moved to Australia. She also talks about the differences between racism in the US and racism in Australia. She delves into the differences in the social unity of Black people in the US and in Australia, where in the US there is a division between Black immigrants and multi-generation-US-born Blacks and in Australia, there is an understanding of the importance of Black unity in the face of living in societies that are held up by institutional racism.
Books by Msia Kibona Clark
This issue’s contributors include Warrick Moses and Sipho Sithole, who influence current trends in hip-hop studies in South Africa, as well as the emcee Zubz, who captures the unbridled energy of South African hip-hop for our readers. The issue also includes album reviews and conversations with some of the leading women’s voices in South African hip-hop like Gigi Lamayne and Dope Saint Jude, as well as verses from the poet Hope Netshivhambe. The graffiti and photography in the issue feature work by South African graffiti artist Ewokessay and American photographer and filmmaker Magee McIlvaine (Nomadic Wax). It is our hope that this issue illuminates the importance of South Africa in the global hip-hop community, and that it inspires our readers to deepen their support for hip-hop in their communities at home and around the world.
Select Table of Contents
Where my Girls at? Soweto, The Bronx, and the Network of Spoken Word Poetry by Crystal Leigh
Colouring Outside the Lines: Disrupting Racial Stereotypes In South African Hip-Hop by Warrick Moses
Being Hip-Hop Language Technicians in a Post-National South Africa by Quentin Williams
Two Genres one Mic: A Kwaito Jive or a Rap Party? A Revolution Betrayed by Sipho Sithole
Interviews with Lee Kasumba and Zubz by Fete Jen
Introduction to Hip-Hop in Africa: A Syllabus by Msia Kibona Clark
The issue includes a twenty-page syllabus “Introduction to Hip-Hop in Africa: A Syllabus” by Msia Kibona Clark. The syllabus provides information and links for resources on Hip-Hop in Africa, broken down by various regions across Africa. The syllabus also includes lesson plans that can be used in high/secondary school, community centers, and university classrooms. The syllabus also includes images (by Msia Kibona Clark) of African Hip-Hop artists and cultures from around the African continent.
Accompanying the issue is an amazingly curated mixtape that features 20 tracks from various South African Hip-Hop artists. These artists hail from various regions around South Africa.
Papers by Msia Kibona Clark
The music created by these artists is produced in spaces heavily influenced by globalization, and they represent challenges to those spaces. Like women hip-hop artists in Africa, they engage the state, and they engage in conversations around gender and sexuality. Women artists in the Diaspora not only confront class inequalities perpetrated by the state; however, they also confront racial inequalities and discriminations against immigrant populations. These Diaspora artists also utilize their access to multiple cultural and linguistic systems, revealing identities that are rooted both in Africa and the West. Their cultural representations (music) thus show intersecting identities and offer narratives of engagements by African women in the West with gender, identity, migration, spirituality, sexuality, and race.
Sipho also discusses the dynamics within Coloured communities in South Africa, and the relationships between Black and Coloured South Africans. He provides history of the origins of Coloured South Africans among the Khoi & San (first nation) communities, and their forming close-knit communities. The hip hop that came out of those communities, largely based in Cape Town, addressed the social ills happening in the Coloured townships.
Sampa the Great also talks about her experiences with racism and self-identification while studying in the US in the early 2010s, and later after she moved to Australia. She also talks about the differences between racism in the US and racism in Australia. She delves into the differences in the social unity of Black people in the US and in Australia, where in the US there is a division between Black immigrants and multi-generation-US-born Blacks and in Australia, there is an understanding of the importance of Black unity in the face of living in societies that are held up by institutional racism.
This issue’s contributors include Warrick Moses and Sipho Sithole, who influence current trends in hip-hop studies in South Africa, as well as the emcee Zubz, who captures the unbridled energy of South African hip-hop for our readers. The issue also includes album reviews and conversations with some of the leading women’s voices in South African hip-hop like Gigi Lamayne and Dope Saint Jude, as well as verses from the poet Hope Netshivhambe. The graffiti and photography in the issue feature work by South African graffiti artist Ewokessay and American photographer and filmmaker Magee McIlvaine (Nomadic Wax). It is our hope that this issue illuminates the importance of South Africa in the global hip-hop community, and that it inspires our readers to deepen their support for hip-hop in their communities at home and around the world.
Select Table of Contents
Where my Girls at? Soweto, The Bronx, and the Network of Spoken Word Poetry by Crystal Leigh
Colouring Outside the Lines: Disrupting Racial Stereotypes In South African Hip-Hop by Warrick Moses
Being Hip-Hop Language Technicians in a Post-National South Africa by Quentin Williams
Two Genres one Mic: A Kwaito Jive or a Rap Party? A Revolution Betrayed by Sipho Sithole
Interviews with Lee Kasumba and Zubz by Fete Jen
Introduction to Hip-Hop in Africa: A Syllabus by Msia Kibona Clark
The issue includes a twenty-page syllabus “Introduction to Hip-Hop in Africa: A Syllabus” by Msia Kibona Clark. The syllabus provides information and links for resources on Hip-Hop in Africa, broken down by various regions across Africa. The syllabus also includes lesson plans that can be used in high/secondary school, community centers, and university classrooms. The syllabus also includes images (by Msia Kibona Clark) of African Hip-Hop artists and cultures from around the African continent.
Accompanying the issue is an amazingly curated mixtape that features 20 tracks from various South African Hip-Hop artists. These artists hail from various regions around South Africa.
The music created by these artists is produced in spaces heavily influenced by globalization, and they represent challenges to those spaces. Like women hip-hop artists in Africa, they engage the state, and they engage in conversations around gender and sexuality. Women artists in the Diaspora not only confront class inequalities perpetrated by the state; however, they also confront racial inequalities and discriminations against immigrant populations. These Diaspora artists also utilize their access to multiple cultural and linguistic systems, revealing identities that are rooted both in Africa and the West. Their cultural representations (music) thus show intersecting identities and offer narratives of engagements by African women in the West with gender, identity, migration, spirituality, sexuality, and race.
Tanzania is also the home of Bongo Flava, a genre of pop fusion that includes rap and R&B sung primarily in Swahili. As Bongo Flava eclipsed hip hop in popularity, air play, and income generation, hip hop artists fought back. By distancing themselves from Bongo Flava and calling out those that promote or represent Bongo Flava, many hip hop artists have attempted to draw a line in the proverbial sand, in an attempt to draw clear distinctions between hip hop and Bongo Flava. In so doing, hip hop artists have called to the carpet Bongo Flava artists over questions of authenticity. In addition to calling out pop or mainstream rappers, hip hop artists in Tanzania have directed their anger at the media houses and their “commodification” of hip hop culture and transforming it into Bongo Flava, a pop music genre. This process of commodification has created a bastardized version of hip hop culture, devoid of real ties to “authentic” hip hop culture, but a product of the creators of popular culture."
Hip hop’s origins lie in its use as a tool of self-expression and self-definition, allowing many artists to speak out on a host of social and political issues. A look at hip hop artists in both Accra and Dar es Salaam reveals conversations that are occurring among youth in these countries. Hip hop artists in both cities are critically examining current government leaders. At the same time, artists often invoke the images or words of the countries’ forefathers, Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, in a manner that suggests a nostalgia and reverence for the words and actions of these leaders.
Finally, hip hop in both Accra and Dar es Salaam have often been confused with and overshadowed by the more commercialized pop music genres; Hip-life and Bongo Flava, respectively. As a result, the conversation around urban youth music in Accra and Dar es Salaam is often distorted. While Hip-life and Bongo Flava both contain elements of hip hop culture, the confusion over the genres can often lead to a trivialization of hip hop.
Hip hop artists and the youth they represent are an important component of any social or political struggle towards progress. This research contributes to the need to engage with African hip hop culture and understand the growing social and political implications for Africa."
African hip hop music weaves several narratives of African immigrant experiences and serves as commentary on broader discussions of migration policies, push/pull factors, class, xenophobia, and alienation. These US-based African hip hop artists construct the reality of African immigrant life in America, contributing to existing literature on both African migration and cultural representation. This paper will examine the music of two Ghanaian hip hop artists, Blitz the Ambassador and M.anifest, and show the ways in which their music depicts certain realities for African immigrants in the US. This depiction informs its audience of African immigrant realities, while at the same engaging fellow migrants, and would be migrants, in conversations around those same realities.
Tanzanian artists, embracing hip hop’s tradition of political commentary, have used their music to speak out on society and politics in Tanzania. As home of to one of the most vibrant hip hop communities in Africa, the power of hip hop has helped catapult a whole generation into national debates around a host of social and political issues.
The influence of Tanzanian hip hop has led to the direct involvement of artists in the political process. One on hand there has been significant direct criticism towards government leaders, as well as the election of the first hip hop artist to Parliament. Likewise, politicians, recognizing the influence of hip hop, have responded by trying to use hip hop for their own political goals.
What hip hop in Tanzania displays is that hip hop artists and the youth they represent are an important component of any social or political struggle towards progress. This research contributes to the need to engage African hip hop culture and understand the growing social and political implications for Africa.
The course will also engage students in the methods of social and political organizing.
Students will learn the process of harnessing social media as sites for social and political
organizing.