what is AFRICAN HIPHOP ????

African hip hop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hip hop music has been popular in Africa since the early 1980s due to widespread American influence. In 1985 hip hop reached Senegal, a French-speaking country in West Africa. Some of the first Senegalese rappers were M.C. Lida, M.C. Solaar, and Positive Black Soul, who mixed rap with Mbalax, a type of West African pop music. An early South African group was Black Noise. They began as a graffiti and breakdance crew in Cape Town until they started emceeing in 1989.
There also have been groups in Tanzania and other countries that emceed before 1989, although it is not very well known. During the late 1980s-early 1990s rap started to escalate all over Africa. Each region had a new type of style of hip hop. Rap elements are also found in Kwaito, a new genre based on house music which developed in South Africa in the 1990s.

1 Algeria 2 Angola 3 Botswana 4 Cameroon 5 Côte d'Ivoire 6 Democratic Republic of Congo 7 Gambia 8 Ghana 9 Guinea 10 Kenya 11 Madagascar 12 Malawi 13 Morocco 14 Namibia 15 Niger 16 Nigeria 17 Rwanda 18 Senegal 19 Somalia 20 South Africa 21 Tanzania 22 Togo 23 Uganda 24 Zambia 25 Zimbabwe 26 References 27 Recordings 28 External links 28.1 General 28.2 Articles 28.3 Burkina Faso 28.4 Cameroon 28.5 Ghana 28.6 Guinea 28.7 Ivory Coast 28.8 Madagascar 28.9 Namibian 28.10 Niger 28.11 Nigeria 28.12 Senegal 28.13 Tanzania 28.14 Uganda

Algeria

Main article: Algerian hip hop

Algerian hip hop music, as a genre, includes the hip hop music of both native Algerians and Algerians abroad. Algerians living abroad have contributed much to this genre, especially in France, where they are also considered part of the French hip hop scene. Some of these Algerians have become prominent. Algeria also has a hip hop scene, which, while less well-known internationally, is among the most developed in Africa and the Arab world.
Raï is a genre of music which developed in Algeria during the 1920s as rural^[1] migrants incorporated their native musical styles into the culture of the growing urban centers of western Algeria.

Angola

The African nation of Angola has a lively hip hop music scene, including popular and influential crews like SSP; Army Squad, who are based out of Cape Town, South Africa, and have begun to work with some South African hip hop musicians.^[2] Angolan hip-hop is characterized by the influence of American hip-hop beats with a special flavor of Portuguese flow mixed with African rhythm and some Caribbean influence. SSP is credited for being the pioneers of the hip-hop in Angola from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

Botswana

Botswana has never had a large popular music industry, with most of its recorded music coming from South Africa or further abroad. However, since about 1999, Batswana hip hop performers have begun to gain mainstream acceptance; the record label Phat Boy has done a lot to promote Botswana hip hop. The hip hop movement in Botswana has grown over the years as evidenced by the release over the years of albums and songs from artists such as Mr Doe, Zeus, Touch Motswak Tswak, Ignition, S.C.A.R, Awesomore.aka Gaddamit, Nitro, Konkrete, HT, Flex, Dice, 3rd Mind, Kast, Nomadic, and Draztik to name a few. The release of hip hop albums is slow because of the small market and competition from other genres of mostly dance-oriented music. Since 2000 hip-hop has achieved more prominence in Botswana, with rappers like Scar Kast and Third Mind releasing relatively successful albums. In 2006, Scar released his sophomore offering, "Happy Hour". The same year Kast released "Dazzit". S.C.A.R has since won a Channel O Spirit of Africa Award 2007 for best hiphop.^[3]

Cameroon

The hip hop scene of Cameroon includes pioneers like Manhitoo and Negrissim who broke new ground in the early 1990s and new stars like Koppo. Other hip hop artists from Cameroon are Les Nubians and Bams -- female vocalists with a very personal approach to the genre who now reside in France.

Côte d'Ivoire

Main article: Ivorian hip hop

Ivorian hip hop became a mainstream part of the popular music of Côte d'Ivoire beginning in the late 1990s, and has been fused with many of the country's native styles, such as zouglou. Some time later, the scene gained more publicity with the rise of a publicly-feuding pair of crew leaders, Stezo of the Flotte Imperiale and Almighty of the Ministère Authentik. There is a kind of gangsta rap-influenced Ivorian hip hop called rap dogba, inspired by Angelo & les Dogbas. Many Ivorian hip hop artists perform or live in France, and French hip hop has a major influence on the Ivorian scene.^[4]

Democratic Republic of Congo

The capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, has long been a major home for pan-African styles of popular music like rumba, soukous and kwassa kwassa. Long-time performers on the Kinsasha scene include Profetzion (formerly of Holokaust, and the rapper Passi. Promising new Congolese hip hop groups include Lopango yaba Nka, Apkass, Kaysha and Ya Kid K.

Gambia

Main article: Gambian hip hop

Gambia's much larger neighbor, Senegal, is home to a thriving hip hop scene, which has exerted a strong influence on Gambian hip hop but Gambian hip-hop is now evolving its own unique style. In 1999, the Gambia Radio & Television Services gave out the first Gambian Rap Award. The first crew to win the award for best new act was Da Fugitvz, who rapped in Wolof, the national language of Senegal, and thus became popular in both countries. They also later played at Popkomm in Germany.

Ghana

Ghanaian hip hop is the origin of hip life, a combination of hip hop music and highlife. The Ghanaian music scene has also produced a number of rappers and DJs who are both locally and internationally renowned. Ghanaian rapping is mostly in the English language, but is also sometimes in Twi, Ewe, Ga or Hausa. Artistes include Reggie Rockstone, Kae Sun, Sway DeSafo, Samini, Okyeame Kwame, Bradez, Buk Bak, D-Black, Sarkodie, Tic Tac, Obrafour, 4x4, Kwaw Kese, VIP, Ayigbe Edem, Tinny, Castro Destroyer, Mzbel and upcoming artists including Lil Shaker, N-Dex, Yaa Pono, Kursa, Loone, and Sarkodie. Though in the recent years there has been an upsurge of true HipHop music on the Ghanaian music scene. Seeing artistes like C-real, J-town, E.L., JaySo and many others take on the genre with grace and finesse that at times challenges the western rappers. Also with the rise of these artistes from the undergrowth of Hip-life comes the awareness that follows. BET, Channel O and MTV Base have all had a taste of the HipHop talent from Ghana and it is without a doubt a growing industry. At times it is often hard to differentiate between artistes from Ghana and artistes from Brooklyn NY. Their skill and lyricism are not to be underrated. C-real hailed from the Gold-Coast as champion of the most recent Sprite Channel O Emcee Africa contest. Winning in his home town and placing second on the continental stage. His predecessor J-town boast an identical achievement as he also won the contest in Ghana and placed second on in the continental stage. Foreign artistes such as Rick Ross, Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes have graced the streets of Ghana in recent times.