Remembering the Griot

This chapter locates Senegalese hip hop at the intersection of local musical history, transatlantic Afrocentric dialogue, and the accelerated globalization of the 1980s. It traces the historical invention of the griot through colonialism, religious conversion, and postcolonial nationalist projects, while showing how griot instrumental and vocal performance practices provided a foundation for Senegal’s preeminent popular music, mbalax. It details how early international rappers, including Positive Black Soul (PBS) and Daara J, in line with a history of Afrocentric and pan-African projects in which they were well versed, traced an alternative history that routed the griot through diaspora and “back” to Africa, bypassing contemporary griot performance and mbalax in the process. It argues that this was not a literal claim to hip hop origins, but a strategic project of remembering that claimed diaspora as an alternative local history.