Tanzanian Hip-hop, which is sometimes referred
to Bongo Flava by many outside of Tanzania's hip hop community, encompasses a large variety of different sounds, but it is particularly known for heavy synth riffs and an incorporation of Tanzanian pop.
There is some debate over whether Bongo Flava, which has emerged as a defined pop movement, can really still be qualified under the overarching term "hip hop" and not a movement unto itself,[1] when it is beginning to develop a distinctive sound that differs from hardcore rap or, for example, the Maasai Hip hop of X Plastaz, who use the tradition of the Maasai tribe as the focal point for their sound and style.[2]
Tanzanian hip hop influenced the sound of the Bongo Flava genre. While Tanzanian hip hop retains many of the elements found in hip hop globally in terms of sound and lyricism, Bongo flava, derived from the Swahili word "ubongo" (meaning brains), incorporates hip hop, Indian filmi, taraab, muzik wa dansi, and dancehall beats.[3] It all began in the 1980s when Tanzanian teenagers were really interested in the American hip hop scene. At first, they took American beats and rapped to them. As the youth rapped, the hip hop in Tanzania began to develop into a mix of traditional and localized hip hop scene. As a result, it began a wave of interest from other people in Eastern Africa.[4]
^Thomas, A. "X Plastaz & Bongo Flava: Tanzanian hip hop released internationally". africanhiphop.com.
^Martin, Lydia. "Bongo Flava: Swahili Rap from Tanzania." afropop.org Archived 2005-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
^Bongo Flava:: Tanzanian Hiphop Fusion Online:: Swahili Music Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
^Mueller, Gavin. "Bongoflava: The Primer." Stylus Magazine, 12 May 2005
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