{"id":356172,"date":"2026-07-09T05:49:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/african-music\/africas-role-in-cultural-discourse\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T05:49:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:49:33","slug":"africas-role-in-cultural-discourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=356172","title":{"rendered":"Africa&#8217;s Role in Cultural Discourse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"podcast_player\">\n<div id=\"3290934683\" class=\"castos-player dark-mode \" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Podcast player\" data-episode=\"32806\" data-player_id=\"3290934683\">\n<div class=\"player\">\n<div class=\"player__main\">\n<div class=\"player__artwork player__artwork-32806\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hiphopafrican.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Solo-Logo.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Hip Hop African\" title=\"The Hip Hop African\"\/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"player__body\">\n<div class=\"currently-playing\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Hip Hop African\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Ep. 107: What Is Hip Hop Studies?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"play-progress\">\n<div class=\"play-pause-controls\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button title=\"Play\" aria-label=\"Play Episode\" aria-pressed=\"false\" class=\"play-btn\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Play Episode<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button title=\"Pause\" aria-label=\"Pause Episode\" aria-pressed=\"false\" class=\"pause-btn hide\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pause Episode<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hiphopafrican.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/css\/images\/player\/images\/icon-loader.svg\" alt=\"Loading\" class=\"ssp-loader hide\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<nav class=\"player-panels-nav\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"subscribe-btn\" id=\"subscribe-btn-32806\" title=\"Subscribe\" aria-expanded=\"false\">Subscribe<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"share-btn\" id=\"share-btn-32806\" title=\"Share\" aria-expanded=\"false\">Share<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\">In this solo episode of <em>The Hip Hop African Podcast<\/em>, Msia explores the question: <strong>What is Hip Hop Studies?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\">The episode approaches Hip Hop Studies from an African Studies and cultural studies perspective. Msia explains that Hip Hop Studies is not simply the study of rap music. It is an interdisciplinary field that examines hip-hop culture as performance, politics, language, identity, pedagogy, social critique, and global knowledge production.<\/p>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\">The episode traces the growth of Hip Hop Studies in the academy, including Howard University\u2019s historic role in hosting one of the first university hip-hop courses and conferences in 1991. It also discusses the rise of Hip Hop Studies programs at institutions such as the University of Arizona, Bowie State University, North Carolina Central University, and Howard University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\">Msia highlights the field\u2019s foundational texts and scholars, including James Spady, Tricia Rose, Joan Morgan, Bakari Kitwana, Imani Perry, Gwendolyn Pough, Jeff Chang, Samy Alim, Murray Forman, and Mark Anthony Neal. <\/p>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\">A major focus of the episode is the place of Africa and the African diaspora within Hip Hop Studies. Msia argues that Africa should not be treated as peripheral to the field or only as a source of influence. Instead, African hip-hop scenes and scholarship must be understood as central to how Hip Hop Studies is being redefined globally.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Topics Covered<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mentioned Texts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Nation Conscious Rap<\/em> \u2014 James Spady<\/li>\n<li><em>Black Noise<\/em> \u2014 Tricia Rose<\/li>\n<li><em>When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost<\/em> \u2014 Joan Morgan<\/li>\n<li><em>The Hip Hop Generation<\/em> \u2014 Bakari Kitwana<\/li>\n<li><em>Prophets of the Hood<\/em> \u2014 Imani Perry<\/li>\n<li><em>Check It While I Wreck It<\/em> \u2014 Gwendolyn Pough<\/li>\n<li><em>Can\u2019t Stop Won\u2019t Stop<\/em> \u2014 Jeff Chang<\/li>\n<li><em>Roc the Mic Right<\/em> \u2014 H. Samy Alim<\/li>\n<li><em>That\u2019s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader<\/em> \u2014 Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"alignwide wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hiphopafrican.com\/hip-hop-studies-journals\/\">Link to our list of Hip Hop journals<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Closing Thought<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hip Hop Studies is not only about where hip-hop began. It is also about where hip-hop travels, how communities use it to narrate their realities, and how Africa and the Global South are reshaping the field itself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hip Hop African Ep. 107: What Is Hip Hop Studies? Play Episode Pause Episode Subscribe Share In this solo episode of The Hip Hop African Podcast, Msia explores the question: What is Hip Hop Studies? The episode approaches Hip Hop Studies from an African Studies and cultural studies perspective. Msia explains that Hip Hop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":356173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12025],"tags":[28085,5170,25961,1644],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-356172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-music","tag-africas","tag-cultural","tag-discourse","tag-role"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Africa&#039;s Role in Cultural Discourse - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=356172\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Africa&#039;s Role in Cultural Discourse - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Hip Hop African Ep. 107: What Is Hip Hop Studies? 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