Hip Hop Music and 'the Street’ Phenomenon in Nigeria

Abstract

In Africa, hip hop music is now undoubtedly the fastest growing form of expressive art in terms of availability, dissemination and acceptability. Nigeria not an exception, the genre in recent times has become the mainstream music representing the identity and socio-cultural aspirations of the teeming Nigerian urban youth population. Through incursion into the origin of hip hop, this paper examines the inter-connectivity and the inter-relationship between the street and hip hop music with a comparison of the Nigerian and the American street culture in hip hop music discourse. It is quite evident that hip hop music and the street are inseparable with manifestation which are visibly perceived through the Nigerian rap star- Olamide’s hip hop philosophy, his choice of language for dissemination, message and didactic use of the genre as an alternative and legitimate hustle as opposed to the now common internet fraud becoming a plaque among Nigerian teeming youths.