Hip Hop and Social Change in Africa: Ni Wakati

Artists across Africa use hip hop to speak to their communities, often through coded language and symbols that inform, question and challenge established social structures. Lyrical expression, dance and graffiti all carry that message, and the book looks at how the music is used in different places, spaces and moments to foster change.

The contributors are drawn from history, sociology, political science and African and African American studies. They examine how hip hop has reshaped the outlook of African youth, and how those young people have pushed for change across the continent. The book frames its argument around the moment when people decide together to take a stand, a moment the title captures in the phrase Ni Wakati, meaning it's time.

Edition note: published by Lexington Books in 2014, 336 pages. ISBN-13 9780739193297.