Africanity and New Wave Popular Music Style in Nigeria: “Afro” Hip Hop Revisited

Abstract

The concept of Africanity traverses many decades, being a socio-political ethos or cogitation perceived as manifest reaction against slavery and colonization. As a resistance mode, imbuement of the Africanity philosophy has shaped people of African descent in the Diaspora and many post-slavery generations all over the world in maintaining their African roots identity. This paper examines the concept of Africanity in the 21st Century Africa, using the Nigerian popular music scene as a paradigm. Against the backdrop of the present mainstream Hip hop music style referred to as „Afro hip hop‟, the study will use music and video analytical procedures with the objective of identifying the various media through which hip hop artistes project their Africanity. It is quite evident that music artistes still strive to maintain their African identity despite subscribing to a Western originated music style. This is made manifest through language use, nomenclature, message, visual projection, and sonic arrangement among other parameters.