Originally released in 2018, this archival episode revisits the 2018 conversation about the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in shaping the field of Hip Hop Studies.

Recorded at Howard University, the panel brought together scholars from 3 HBCUs in the Washington, DC area to discuss the significance of teaching hip hop in Black academic spaces, the relationship between hip hop and activism, and the responsibility of HBCUs to preserve, interrogate, and advance Black cultural knowledge.

In addition to the host, Dr. Msia Kibona Clark are:

• Dr. Greg Carr (Howard University)
• Professor Theodoros Williams (Bowie State University)
• Professor Jared Ball (Morgan State University)

Listening back nearly a decade later, many of the questions raised during this discussion remain just as relevant. Since this conversation was recorded, Hip Hop Studies has continued to grow as an academic field. Since 2018, Howard University launched a Hip Hop Studies minor and now hosts an annual Hip Hop Studies Conference.

If you have not, remember to go to hiphop.howard.edu for information on the Hip Hop Studies minor and upcoming conference (November 13-15, 2026.

In this solo episode of The Hip Hop African Podcast, Msia explores the question: What is Hip Hop Studies?

The episode approaches Hip Hop Studies from an African Studies and cultural studies perspective. Msia explains that Hip Hop Studies is not simply the study of rap music. It is an interdisciplinary field that examines hip-hop culture as performance, politics, language, identity, pedagogy, social critique, and global knowledge production.

The episode traces the growth of Hip Hop Studies in the academy, including Howard University’s historic role in hosting one of the first university hip-hop courses and conferences in 1991. It also discusses the rise of Hip Hop Studies programs at institutions such as the University of Arizona, Bowie State University, North Carolina Central University, and Howard University.

Msia highlights the field’s foundational texts and scholars, including James Spady, Tricia Rose, Joan Morgan, Bakari Kitwana, Imani Perry, Gwendolyn Pough, Jeff Chang, Samy Alim, Murray Forman, and Mark Anthony Neal.

A major focus of the episode is the place of Africa and the African diaspora within Hip Hop Studies. Msia argues that Africa should not be treated as peripheral to the field or only as a source of influence. Instead, African hip-hop scenes and scholarship must be understood as central to how Hip Hop Studies is being redefined globally.

• Nation Conscious Rap — James Spady
• Black Noise — Tricia Rose
• When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost — Joan Morgan
• The Hip Hop Generation — Bakari Kitwana
• Prophets of the Hood — Imani Perry
• Check It While I Wreck It — Gwendolyn Pough
• Can’t Stop Won’t Stop — Jeff Chang
• Roc the Mic Right — H. Samy Alim
• That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader — Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal

Link to our list of Hip Hop journals

Hip Hop Studies is not only about where hip-hop began. It is also about where hip-hop travels, how communities use it to narrate their realities, and how Africa and the Global South are reshaping the field itself.

Description: The stories told through Hip Hop's musical artists are unique when looked at through an African lens. This episode of Continental Cadences explores why African Hip Hop "hits different" by examining aspects of the genre's complex versions of identity and how they are portrayed through the musical artists' performances. The goal of this podcast episode is to break down three main points that are used as mediums to interpret African Identity: the use of indigenous languages, aesthetics, and political framing, which all contribute to African artists' self-expression and cultural understanding. We explore how language is used as a compass, where indigenous African languages speak to an artist's origins as they use their rap medium to tell their audience something. Artists' aesthetics move beyond the "poor and sickness-ridden" misconceptions placed upon Africa, giving artists an opportunity to represent their livelihoods through visual narratives of African life. Lastly, artistic political framing responds to African artists' relationships with their home countries' political systems and how that affects them. Through this conversation, Diandra, Abiba, and Aardashini stimulate conversation around how audience members are brought into the world of African artists through these points, which bring their identities to the forefront. With the art created by African Hip Hop artists being outstanding in the field of music, their work leaves viewers astonished and inspired to learn more.

In this episode, we’ll talk about Hip-hop artists who have engaged in protest Literature and Combat Literature based on the analysis of Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, as expanded Dr. Msia Clark in her book Hip Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City & Dustyfoot Philosophers.

Throughout the continent, Hip-hop has been used to stand up against injustice, but which artists and songs have engaged beyond critique? We’ll explore a track from South Africa, Fees will fall, which is standing up against the rise of tuition, also how Egyptian rappers such as MC Deeb fueled the Arab Spring/2011 revolution, and the way Somali rapper K'naan used rap to unite a war-divided country.

Theses artist illustrate that combat literature is when artists engage in struggle, instead of only joining in post-movement. They do this by using music as their weapon to mobilize people in real time. One of the important patterns is how political context shapes the fight. Deeb used metaphors since the government had artists censored, while Gigi and K’naan were more direct in addressing the people with power as they call out the heavy injustice. Hip Hop has become the tool of resistance, where the microphone acts as a weapon to challenge power and amplify marginalized voices. This connects to the theme of resistance in the diaspora, especially when K’naan was speaking on Somalia from outside the country. People should care about this because these artists prove that young people can create real-world change and get involved in global issues.

Thanks for listening to Buna After Dark. Be sure to check out the artists we talked about below:

Egypt (MC Deeb) –Masrah Deeb

South African (Gigi Lamayne)- Fees Will Fall

Somali K'naan- Soobox

This podcast is hosted by Shamma Alhammadi and Sandra Senpeteri, and it takes a closer look at Ghana through conversation, culture, and personal perspective. We talk about what makes Ghana unique beyond the usual facts, highlighting its history, identity, and the stories that give it real depth.

In this special introduction episode, The Hip Hop African Podcast launches a curated student series featuring standout final projects from the Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa course at Howard University and George Washington University.

These short podcast episodes highlight how students are critically engaging African hip hop as culture, politics, storytelling, identity formation, and resistance. The featured projects move beyond surface-level conversations about music to examine how artists across the continent use hip hop to navigate history, power, language, migration, and social change.

Voices of Ghana

Hosted by Shamma Alhammadi and Sandra Senpeteri, this episode explores Ghana through culture, conversation, and lived perspective. The hosts examine the histories, identities, and stories that shape contemporary Ghana beyond stereotypical narratives.

Continental Cadences: The Global South Has Something to Say

Diandra, Abiba, and Aardashini explore why African hip hop “hits different” by examining:

• Indigenous African languages in rap
• Visual aesthetics and representation
• Political framing and self-expression

The episode investigates how artists use hip hop to communicate identity, challenge misconceptions about Africa, and create new cultural narratives.

The Vanguard of the Revolution? Buna After Dark Podcast

This episode examines African hip hop as protest and combat literature through the lens of Frantz Fanon and resistance movements across the continent.

The discussion includes:

• The Fees Must Fall movement in South Africa
• MC Deeb and the Arab Spring in Egypt
• K’naan and hip hop’s relationship to diaspora, conflict, and national identity in Somalia

Together, these projects demonstrate how hip hop functions not only as music, but also as political critique, cultural memory, and a tool of resistance across Africa and the diaspora.

Hip Hop & Social Change in Africa is an interdisciplinary course examining African hip hop cultures through history, politics, gender, identity, globalization, and social movements. The course is taught collaboratively between Howard University and George Washington University.

Follow The Hip Hop African Podcast for more conversations on African hip hop culture, scholarship, and global Black cultural movements.

In this episode of The Hip Hop African Podcast, we sit down with South African hip-hop pioneer Osmic Menoe to explore the history, evolution, and future of hip-hop culture in South Africa. From founding Back to the City, Africa’s largest hip-hop festival, to building the South African Hip Hop Awards and developing the continent’s first hip-hop museum, Menoe reflects on archiving and institution building. We also discuss AI in music production and what he thinks it means for the future of hip-hop.

“Every step of my journey has been about documenting and archiving the culture.”

Is Afrobeats hip hop? In this solo episode of The Hip Hop African Podcast, Msia breaks down one of the most persistent debates in global music: the confusion between Afrobeats and hip hop.

While the genres often overlap — and frequently collaborate — they are not the same. This episode explores the structural, historical, and political differences between African hip hop and Afrobeats, from breakbeats and cyphers to groove-driven production and dance-centered arrangements.

Msia examines how streaming algorithms, global music marketing, and even academic scholarship have blurred the lines between Nigerian hip hop, Ghanaian hip hop, and Afrobeats. She argues that collapsing the genres erases African hip hop’s activist traditions, lyrical depth, and cultural elements like deejaying, breakdancing, and graffiti.

If you’re interested in African music, global hip hop culture, Afrobeats history, or the politics of genre classification, this episode offers critical context and clarity.

Afrobeats is global. African hip hop is powerful. But they are not the same.

Listen now.