November 21st, 2009

Hip Hop Artist From Several Locations

The original manifestations of Hip Hop Artist was mostly affected by West African music and storytelling. Early hip hop performers were particularly fascinated by the character of the griot in West African tradition. Before the written word started to be a common kind of self-expression in West Africa, the griot served as the oral historian, musician, and teacher of the community. These days, you see proof of the didactic nature of hip hop in album titles such as the “Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” etc. and instructional titles, such as Dr. Dre. For gangster rap performers and listeners around the world, this music works as a way for them to re-contextualize and comprehend their civilizations (and sounds) in new and connected ways, according to experiences of migration, exile, and diaspora.

Unarguably, Africa houses the greatest gangster rap community away from the US. Well-known hip hop voices from over the region include Positive Black Soul (Senegal) and Daara J (Senegal), X Plastaz (Tanzania) Zombo (South Africa), Army Squad (South Africa), and Yéli Fuzzo (Mali).  Diasporic artists contain MC Solaar (originally from Senegal, now living in France) and Les Nubians (Cameroonian sisters now living in France), and JCC, also known as Abdul Bello (born in Nigeria, now currently in the UK).

Nonetheless, Europe also has a variety of rap cultures, mainly coming out of urban centers such as Paris, Marseilles, London, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Milan, Turin, Bologna, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Istanbul and Athens. Due to the array of sociological and ethnological elements in each of these cities, the themes in European reggae are quite varied, including immigration law, cultural blending, national politics, sexuality, gender, arranged marriages, money, nationalism, racism, belonging, and religious beliefs.  Similar to the U.S. rap movement, European gangster rap has seen two waves of “new school” and “old school” artists.  Renowned gangster rap artists from across Europe include Zondani Nekri and Sadahzinia (Greece), Articolo 31 (Italy), Sultan Tunc (Turkey), Sona Family (United Kingdom), and B-Tight (Germany).

Many French hip hop musicians come from urban milieus on the outskirts of major French cities such as Paris, Marseilles, Toulouse and Nice. These regions, described in France as banlieues, consist of a series of cités, which are essentially clusters of low-income high rises called HLMS (habitation à loyer modéré).  HLMs are home generally to immigrants hailing from France’s former African colonies.  Therefore, several immigrant artists craft lyrics about their suffers from growing up in this atmosphere.  References to Africa and globalization abound in their work, as do specific descriptions of the quotidian realities of immigrants in France.  Major styles include poverty, racism, gender inequalities, being out of work, Islam, French bureaucracy, and citizenship.

Famous French hip hop artist include: IAM, Manau, Supreme NTM, La Cliqua, MC Solaar, and Saïan Supa Crew. Present with the global rap movement is the practice of sampling excerpts of different musical styles of one’s country of source, while simultaneously taking thematic or stylistic cues from an international New Hip Hop Artist. Hip hop types and themes differ depending on the culture of the artist, global gangster rap artists share a want to overcome injustice and teach a global market about national and interpersonal realities faced by individuals around the globe.


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