South African Rap Music, Counter Discourses, Identity, and Commodification Beyond the Prophets of Da City

Abstract

South African rap music developed in the Cape Town area as a form of resistance to apartheid. With its diffusion to other areas and to different social groups, however, rap became more heterogeneous. The existing literature on South African rap still focuses, to a considerable extent, on Capetonian rappers and especially the group the Prophets of Da City, even though this group collapsed more than ten years ago. This literature mainly discusses the counter hegemonic potential of rap music informed by Black Consciousness thought and its position in relation to questions of identity and commodification. Is this focus still meaningful for rappers who are too young to be part of the anti-apartheid struggle, and who grew up in the context of formal democracy? An analysis of 88 South African rap albums reveals that some ideas of Black Consciousness are still present in rap lyrics. However, the counter hegemonic discourse of earlier rappers has lost its hegemony and representations of identity have become more varied and individualised. As social advancement became a more pressing concern, the relationship between rap music and commodification has become more pluri-dimensional than previous studies have portrayed. As the comparative perspective followed here reveals, the heavy focus on particular case studies, while theoretically acknowledging the contestation of meanings in popular cultures, is problematic.