Xool nu bu baax: Hip-Hop, Youth Movements, and Change in Senegal
Maren Larsen Institute for Political Science (Sciences Po), Paris
INTRODUCTION
The victory of Macky Sall ousting the octogenarian incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in Senegal’s recent presidential election is being hailed as a triumph for democracy on the African continent.1 Many onlookers have already begun to attribute the Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition leader’s successful election to the large youth constituency,2 mobilized through several indigenous forces and popular movements—one of the most interesting to Western media being hip-hop. The existence of a relationship between hip-hop and Senegalese politics is, however, not a new phenomenon and should not come as such a surprising platform for political expression. Since its inception and reappropriation by urban youth in the streets of Dakar, hip-hop culture has always contained a political dimension and has been used to protest, raise political awareness, and even help elect or dispose of presidents. What is more fascinating about what is going on in the Senegalese hip-hop scene however, are the strategies taken up by members of the movement to increase hip-hop’s capacity to turn words into action and position themselves in such a way as to create economic development and social advancement out of an urban, artistic “subculture.” The demands and claims made through hip-hop music not only seek to empower youth politically and get them to the polls but can also be used as 1 “Take a good look at us” (Wolof). Lyric from Y’en a Marre’s song “Faux! Pas Forcé!” 2 “One Shared Hope” (Wolof). | 41 |