Beschreibung
During the 1990s, global Hip-Hop made inroads into Kenya. By and large, the culture manifested itself as a youth phenomenon. With Kenyan young people — who are marginalised in many respects — conceived as the main actors, the emergence of Kenyan Hip-Hop has had myriad developments that have put the concept youth into contestation. As the title suggests, Kenyan Hip-Hop as a Site of Negotiating Urban Youth Identities in Nairobi is a discussion of how young marginal Kenyans enlist the agency of Hip-Hop to address issues and concerns that resonate closely not just with their own local circumstances and experiences but also those of the wider society. This phenomenon is cast here as a form of negotiation of identities with a focus on youth in Nairobi. The book offers an analysis of how urban youth employ Kenyan Hip-Hop music and culture to performatively communicate meaning, interrogate knowledge, and offer social critique reflexive of their place and wishes in society. It assesses strategies used and the resultant impact of Kenyan Hip-Hop as a medium that bespeaks street, ‘hood’, political power, leisure, and general societal experiences so far realised by the youth in this endeavour.