CAN HIP HOP CHANGE IN AFRICA

Across Africa, Hip Hop is helping to change and recreate the culture and lives of youth, as it introduces new means of communication, education, empowerment, activism, and entertainment.

Youth from the townships of South Africa to the suburbs of Paris are using hip hop music as a tool to assert themselves in their societies. Hip Hop in Africa has evolved into an agent for social change, and as a platform for youth to express themselves. African Hip-hop artists are daring to imagine a better future and challenging the status quo using Hip-hop to give voice to their dreams. Rhyming about pressing social ills— civil wars, HIV/AIDS, child labor, child soldiers, discrimination, corruption—ills that threaten the very fabric of their society. In Africa, Hip-hop is a tour de force that delivers hope, providing youth with alternative spaces and venues to be creative, voice their opinions educate and empower one another.
The African Hip Hop Project works to further the efforts of several African Hip Hop artists who use the tools of popular culture to empower African youth.