Ears to the Ground: Realness, Decolonial Meta-Rap, and the Language Debate in Nigerian Hip-Hop

Abstract

ABSTRACT Constantly shifting like a floating signifier, the interpretive life of “realness” has meant different things to global Hip-Hop adherents: staying true to oneself; reppin’ one’s hood; production styles such as boom bap; cadence, delivery, and flow; vivid storytelling; and underground resistance to forces of capitalist cooptation, among others. Yet to many others, realness means language – the artful capacity to rap, talk, and style oneself in ways that index one’s cultural roots and identities. In this article, I consider the latter understanding of realness through the theoretical lens of decolonial meta-rap. In decolonial meta-rap, Nigerian emcees turn the reflexive apparatus of Hip-Hop back to itself, in the process raising questions about anglonormativity and colonial continuities in Nigeria. Focusing on the discourses of these emcees as well as their self-presentations in oral interviews and music videos, I argue that Nigerian emcees both popularize and continue the long decolonial struggle against cultural sites of colonial power in Africa.