Role of hip hop in Senegal presidential politics

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role of hip hop in presidential politics in Senegal                              Introduction         Initially, Senegal among the West African countries, was the only one regarded to be a beacon of democracy. Meaning that, the country for any years has enjoyed peaceful transfers of power since gaining independence from France in [url removed, login to view] Senegal, the artists especially the hip-hop rappers use their music, social networks for instance Facebook, to challenge the government particularly dictatorial leaders who want to overstay in their presidential seats yet their time has already elapsed. They continue to seek new terms which are against the Senegal’s constitution. An example of such is the president in 2012 who was seeking a third term of office in the 2012 election (DeGhett and Rose:[url removed, login to view]). The traditional musicians in the country have coalitions, for instance, Y’en a Marre in French, meaning that citizens are fed up in English. The coalitions rallied the youth to protest over the same issue aiming at stopping the President Abdoulaye Wade from vying again. The demand by Wader to vie for the third term was against the constitution, yet he wanted to vie alleging that the two-term limit was introduced when he was already in power. The Hip-hop artists decided to help their country in a variety of ways, for example forming songs whose message is against Wade’s kind of leadership. The artists also created massive movements to protest against such kind of leadership. The paper gives a brief history of Hip-hop in Senegal as well as its role in presidential politics (Catherine and Appert. 12).              History of hip hops in Senegal        The hip hop in Senegal begun in the early [url removed, login to view] first, when the hip-hop hit the scene in Africa, it expanded to be a political and social moment. The movement was mostly led by the artists who were the majority from Senegal. With the growth of technology in the country and the growth in media, facilitated the youth of Senegal to be able to embrace a new form of expression. The hip-hop became prominent due to its mixture of sound and culture. The hip hop scene in Senegal is distinctive, and the artists are highly talented therefore forms educative, entertaining and informing music. Senegal as the country has a history of strong musical traditions. Furthermore, hip hop became the aspect of life to Senegalese and translated to a way of life. The hip hop music started in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. Its growth became rapid and was commonly used in schools, homes, stores, restaurants, and just people rap as they do their normal activities. The songs normally talked about the general problems affecting Africa. Politics was a major center of focus. The music style was different from other countries’ music, especially regarding their instruments use. They used drums as the major instrument in their music and used mostly French language while rapping (Herson and Ben. 24).                    Roles of hip hop        The artists’ movement launched a voter registration drive. The movement prepared the voters to vote for the right leaders during elections. For example, a fed up movement was established by the artists in Senegal founded by 2011. The movement was made of the group of rappers and journalists who came together to stop the president from running a third term round. They succeeded in arousing the dormant social consciousness of Senegalese society through community organization, writing manifestoes, use of social media, thundering oratory, use of powerful visual imagery, and use of hip hops’ anthems that unified many supporters. The process helped the artists gain tremendous momentum that won the election setting off, the greedy Wade, the former president (Nilan and Felix 169).         The group promoted democracy and good governance by engaging the people of Senegal through its music. In 2012, the movement drew the international attention for helping to vote the president. Abdoulaye Wade was voted out of power after he announced that he was going to run for a third term unconstitutionally. The artists’ movement has played a profound role in ensuring that right leaders are elected constitutionally hence bringing change in the country. Only the leaders who possess good qualities of leadership were elected to lead the people so that such leaders can initiate developments in the country (Fascell:/[url removed, login to view]).         The songs can alter the mentality and actions of the citizens towards their community, their society, government and even, the world. The mentality of citizens matters in a great way in choosing of leaders. Good leaders who have been hated by citizens for no convincing reasons are given chance prove their abilities. Artists, especially the hip hop ones can convince such citizens through their music hence changing their perceptions. The act has aided to a larger extent in changing the attitude of people toward good leaders in Senegal (Appert and Catherine. 14).       Another movement initiated by hip hop artists was formed in [url removed, login to view] was an observatory of democracy and good governance movement. The principal objective of the movement was to elicit widespread of public engagement in politics through training and informing the public of their rights, privileges and responsibilities. The movement ensured that the citizens know what to do when it comes to choosing the right leaders, and therefore no greedy leader would come to persuade people to an extend that they comply accordingly. The works of the artists were seen in their commitments which ensure that social and political reforms in Senegal were sustained. The Artists in conjunction with the oppositional government have played a crucial role in ensuring that democracy remained strong despite the efforts by some leaders to bring it down. (Bryson 34)        Content matter of the hip hops music. Senegalese ensured that their hip hop music’ message condemned evil political acts. For example, corruption within the government or even among its leading religious figures, many rappers felt free to rap against such practices. Many citizens would listen to such like music alerting them of such leaders which at the end, they avoided them. The process led to change in leadership, and those who were bad leaders forced to modify and do the right thing. Senegal has become a good place because of this reason (Bryson 36).      The message of accountability. The Senegalese artists have incorporated the message of accountability in their songs.  An example is singer-guitarist Baaba Maal, who is highly acclaimed for his music stardom on a global level. The music aimed at ensuring that accountability is enhanced by the government. It has ensured that the government did not throw money whenever there is a crisis but keenly evaluated the possible solution without necessarily spending much. Appropriate utilization of resource has considerably helped the country to grow economically hence developments. Those leaders who have failed to account for the resources are thrown away from power by not voting them (Chais:[url removed, login to view]).       Challenging the government by engaging in charity activities. The hip-hop artists have engaged in various charitable activities that aim at making the government realize the importance of mindful to the citizens. For instance, after the floods swept through the suburbs of Dakar in 2006, a popular hip hop rapper selected some youth to organize a fundraising concert for those who were left homeless after the floods. The homeless were helped through the fundraising. Also those living in poverty, lacking access to education and more so those susceptible to criminal activity were taken care of. The government on seeing the artists’ effort felt embarrassed and joined them in helping the victims hence making the government responsible (Chais:[url removed, login to view]).       Furthermore, the artists have ensured that international connections are fully sought with the work being done by them. They used various strategies to combat Wade’s candidacy. For example, the members took to Sound Cloud, Facebook, their website, and YouTube to post songs, music videos, messages, and clips of the demonstrations. They did this since their interests are to see their country achieving its national goals of development and not focusing on personal interests’ people. Such people are barriers to developments (Herson and Ben. 27).                   To sum up, the industry of art has played a fundamental in ensuring that the political system runs effectively. The hip-hop artists have enhanced democracy and equity in [url removed, login to view] changing the mentality of citizens to see what a person can do for them and not hate the person without any significant reason. The leaders have been shaped too forcing them to do the right thing keeping in mind that they are watched therefore a slight mistake will make them not be reelected next time. Senegal has become a state that embraces democracy, good governance encourages accountability and is against evil acts like corruption, and respect for the constitution. This has made Senegal to be a just society respecting the rights of its citizens and treating them nicely. This is evidence works of the hip hop artists in Senegal. ReferencesAppert and Catherine. "Rappin’ Griots: Producing the Local in Senegalese Hip Hop." Native Tongues: an African Hip-Hop Reader (2011): 3-22. [url removed, login to view], Davin. "The Rise of a New Senegalese Cultural Philosophy?" African Studies Quarterly journal 14.3 (2014): 33-57. [url removed, login to view] and Appert. "Rappin’ Griots: Producing the Local in Senegalese Hip Hop.” In Paul Khalil Saucier." Native Tongues: an African Hip-Hop Reader (2011): 3-22. [url removed, login to view], Kurbrin E. "Gangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas: Identity and the Code of the Street in Rap Music." Social problem journal (2005): 360-378. [url removed, login to view] and Torie. Rose. "El Haqed, Morocco’s Hip Hop Revolutionary." The Guardian journal (2012). web [url removed, login to view], Reagan. "Democracy Fellows. National Endowment for Democracy." (n.d.). web:/[url removed, login to view] and Ben. "A Historical Analysis of Hip-Hop’s Influence in Dakar from 1984-2000." American Behavioral Scientist 55.1 (2011): 24-35. [url removed, login to view], Pam and Carles . Feixa. "Hip-hop culture in Dakar, Sénégal." Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds journal (2006): 167-185. web.

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