"Mweya weToyitoyi - the spirit of protest": re-inventing toyi-toyi in Zimbabwean hip hop

Abstract

At the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe's ruling party commissioned a large-scale cultural nationalist project. Urban youth music was particularly targeted in an effort to (re)gain the support of young voters, who largely had come out in support of the opposition. While some young artists utilised the state-subsidised platforms to further their careers, others refused to be categorised under the banner of urban grooves and resisted taking advantage of state sponsorship. Particularly members of the small, but vibrant Hip-hop community have continued to critically engage with and question Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's hegemonic and authoritative discourse through their music. In this article, I aim to illustrate this youth resistance through Hip-hop music by closely analysing selected song texts by three artists - Dizzy Don, Outspoken and Biko MC. Albeit different with regards to their ideological understanding of Hiphop, all three have released songs in which...