Hip-hop Kichwa: Sounds of indigenous modernity (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Hip-hop Kichwa: Sounds of indigenous modernity

Kichwa hip-hop dethrones the imagery of indigenous peoples as living in
rural communities isolated from modernity.

Last Modified: 18 Aug 2012 19:40

Quito, Ecuador - French people like hip-hop. So much so that socialist
candidate Francois Hollande used Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Niggas in Paris"
as the soundtrack to give some pizazz to one of his electoral campaign
videos. It was probably a good shot at expressing ideas of change. Hip-hop
is, after all, the global language of the youth. But it is also one of the
languages of alternative politics, in the streets and against the state.
Inevitably, then there is an un-bridgeable gap between Hollande's electoral
use of rap for his campaign and Medine rapping the ineffectiveness of human
rights for black men and women in France.

Hip-hop emerged as the voice of the excluded, and as mainstreamed and
commercialised as it has become, its essence can hardly be appropriated by
those who represent the official politics of the state. Hip-hop talks to
power from the streets, claiming self-empowerment, denouncing racial
injustice and seeking economic equality.

Access full article below:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201285142554706344.html
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