The Politics of Language in Ugandan Hip-Hop

Silas "Babaluku" Balabyekkubo and Yaw M. Asare co-authored the essay "The Politics of Language in Ugandan Hip-Hop". Babaluku and Asare contemplate the colonization of African languages in Africa as a whole. Babaluku and Asare use a Pan-African lens to explore the importance of indigenous African languages in Hip-Hop, a culture connected to traditional (precolonial) Africa. The essay is firmly aligned with Ngugi wa Thiong'o's view of the importance of promoting African languages. Babaluku and Asare extend Ngugi's views to African Hip-Hop. They suggest that the use of European languages is part of the neocolonial project in Africa, and make the argument for the use of indigenous languages in African Hip-Hop. Babaluku also provides a firsthand reflection on his role in a movement to promote the use of indigenous languages in African Hip-Hop. As the founder of the Bavubuka Foundation and Back To The Source, Babaluku has hosted several programs and conferences with the aim of promoting and growing indigenous-language Hip-Hop practitioners across Africa. Seeing his work as rooted in Pan-Africanism, the essay explains Babaluku's promotion of Luga Flow (rap performed in Luganda) as well as his engagements with practitioners from around Africa on the question of language.