After the arrest of Pastef-Les Patriotes leader Ousmane Sonko on March 3, 2021, Senegal was the scene of violent clashes with the death of 13 people, hundreds of injured and people put in prison. The Senegalese rappers wanted to express their deep feeling in the face of this situation of chaos that their country has experienced. Canabasse, Hakill Dip Doundou Guiss, Ngaka Blindé, the group Positive Black Soul with Didier Awadi or the DaaraJ Family, all took part in this fight for democracy through songs that denounce the excesses of the power in place, the regime of President Macky Sall.
Rap is a cultural and musical movement that has its origins in hip-hop. It appeared in the early 1970s in the ghettos in the United States. However, Senegalese hip-hop, or Senegalese rap, refers to the hip-hop culture that has emerged in Senegal since the early 1980s in the Senegalese city of Dakar, in a politically engaged and social context. When hip-hop emerges in Africa, it becomes popular in a much more engaged context that has always sided with the oppressed. This function of this militant music was confirmed by Senegalese rappers during the protests against the arrest of Ousmane Sonko which shook Senegal.
As a reminder, Senegalese rappers played a decisive role in the departure of Abdoulaye Wade’s regime in 2012 with very committed texts by Thiat, Kilifeu and Simon with the movement “Y’en A Marre” or Books by “Sen Kumpa”. For this popular uprising of 2021, born of the “Ousmane Sonko – Adji Sarr” affair, Senegalese rappers have taken the same line of conduct to make their voices heard.
The leader of the label “Reptile Music” Dip Doundou Guiss, moreover, one of the most popular Senegalese rappers, opened the ball with a song with very strong lyrics. Dip denounces with the greatest energy the injustice that is rife in Senegal, the inequalities but also and above all the lack of consideration towards young people. The song by Dip Doundou Guiss which is titled “Free Senegal” begins with the tears of a young girl and we hear another girl who says: “She cries because she is sad, it is our brothers and sisters who are there and difficult to see them under these conditions “. Dip begins by saying, “We live in a country with someone who loves violence and that’s what hurts me. You are all the same and it hurts me to see young people dying.”
Rapper Hakill, former foal of Dip, has joined in the same vein to tell his truths to the regime. His song which is titled “Fii” which means “here” in French is one of the titles of his future album. Canabasse of “Buzzlab”, for his part launches “Khekh yu bess”, in this song the rapper tackles the president Macky Sall in these terms: “You forgot those who elected you. I ask if you are going to sleep with a clear conscience after all this violence ”.
Ngaka Armored with “Sunu flag” invites the youth not to break and especially to avoid taking the property of others. Apart from him, Akbess and so many other rappers have also lent their support with militant and committed songs that invite Senegalese leaders to have more respect and consideration for their compatriots.
The former rappers are not left out, the mythical group Positive Black Soul with Didier Awadi released a song called “Bayil Mou Sed” to alert, and above all to denounce the acts of the government in place without forgetting the song released by the Daraa J Family Entitled “It makes you crazy”, in this song the two acolytes addresses crooked African leaders and African youth as a whole. They tell us about the abuse of power in these terms: “We often look for them in hospitals or in asylums. We call them mentally ill or even morons. The madmen are among us, more skilful and more subtle, happy madmen, madmen in love, dangerous madmen, they are addicted to power … Power and money drive mad. They killed Kadhafi – Lumumba. They shot the captain (Thomas Sankara) at close range. And all that for power. And all for fame and money. “
The Senegalese for their part magnified the symbolic gesture of these rappers, bearers of voices who were sensitive to the country’s problems.
