Senegal’s female rappers aren’t letting obstacles get in their way—who the rising voices are

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Mamadou Dramé, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar In Senegal, rap music and hip-hop culture emerged in the 1980s, driven by the urban youth. It has grown to be one of the most popular music genres in the country. But what role do female Senegalese artists play in developing and promoting hip-hop? And what challenges do they face in this male-dominated industry? Mamadou Dramé, who has done several studies on Senegalese hip-hop, answers these and other questions. What characterizes Senegalese hip-hop? The year 1988 marks the beginning of rap in Senegal. After a phase of imitation, artists set themselves apart from the rest of the world by incorporating local languages such as Wolof, Serer, Pulaar, and Joola alongside French and English. They went on to infuse Senegalese rhythms into the music by using traditional instruments like the kora, peule flute, and xalam. They also started collaborating with musicians from other genres such as mbalakh, also known as mbalax (think Daara J with Youssou Ndour, PBS with Baaba Maal, Pacotille with Fatou Laobé). Unfortunately this originality faded by the late 1990s, particularly when it came to the use of local sounds. This followed the rise of hardcore rap—a genre marked by...

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