Handlin' Rhymes: Hip Hop in Dakar, Senegal

This thesis looks at hip hop in Dakar, Senegal, and how hip hop figures prominently in the lives of Dakar youth primarily through the perspective of several Dakar-based Senegalese rappers. In particular it discusses how rap is reshaping the political landscape in Senegal, how youth are organizing around these hip hop soundscapes, how Senegalese rap groups use their texts as platforms to educate their audiences, how Islam plays an influential role in Senegalese "popular" and "traditional" music and dance genres sheds light on gender, sexuality, and conceptions of "modernity." This thesis looks at a sample of the wide array of constructions and creative mobilizations that occur when an imported cultural form brings images, movements, and sounds that circulate and change meaning in the recipient culture.