Hip Hop Activism: Lecture 3
Channel: Adam Haupt
Date: 2014-07-04

UCT Summer School marked the twentieth anniversary of South Africa's democratic elections by hosting lectures on hip-hop activism with a special focus on the work of Prophets of da City (POC), specifically Age of Truth. Key participants included founding Prophets of da City member DJ Ready D, rated as one of the top DJs in the world, DJ Azuhl and DJ Eazy. Ready D joined Assoc Prof Adam Haupt in three lectures on hip-hop history and its politics as well as a panel discussion on the banned album Age of Truth. The panel discussion paid particular attention to the theme of censorship and will drew comparisons between the 1990s and the present day.

Lecture 3 looks at hip-hop activism and US cultural imperialism

The lectures aim to validate an area of cultural expression that has largely been ignored by South African scholars and journalists, save for US-inspired tabloid fixations on the materialist (or bling) aspects of mainstream gangsta rap and R&B that often glorifies violence and objectifies women. Many people outside of South Africa's hip-hop circles may not know about the great linguistic, political and aesthetic diversity that the art form embraces. For example, many people may not know that POC's embrace of non-standard dialects of English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu set the scene for kwaito, Spaza, Motswako and what is now known in local hip-hop circles as 'rapping in the vernac' (rapping in one's mother tongue).

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