The Role of Hip Hop in Presidential Politics in Senegal

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The 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. The country for many years has enjoyed peaceful transfers of power since gaining independence from France in 1960. In 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 despite the elapse of their presidential terms. An example of such is the president in 2012 who was seeking a third term of office in the 2012 election (DeGhett and Rose: guardian.co.uk). The traditional musicians in the country have coalitions, for instance, Y’en a Marre in French, which means that citizens are fed up. The coalitions rallied the youth to protest over the same issue aiming at stopping the President Abdoulaye Wade from vying again. The demand by Wade 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 hop in Senegal
The hip hop in Senegal begun in the early 1980s. At 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, it facilitated the youth of Senegal the ability 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 a country has a history of strong musical traditions. Furthermore, hip hop became the aspect of life to Senegalese and translated the way of life of the Senegalese. 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 people just 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 the instruments they used. 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 in 2011. The movement was made up of the group of rappers and journalists who came together to stop the presi...