Just as in America, hip hop music caused the dominant culture to depict the listeners of this music and its creators within negative depictions, when in reality the stories and experiences that are being expressed within this music are accurate portrayals of the current realities of these people that are being denied by the institutions who created and maintain this oppression. This music in both Tanzania and the states is used to empower those whose dignity and humanity has been stolen. Tanzania’s depicted “hooligans” of this music is the states’ “thugs,” which are both racialized stereotypes. As one anonymous writer describes the loss of jobs has led to increased drug dealing and crime in these Tanzania neighborhoods within Dar es Salaam, …show more content…
Certain groups such as the youth in these communities are then associated with negative connotations “due to the ways young people are expected to react to these pressures” and “adults’ preconceived notions of youth culture and media representations,” and therefore, this music just like in both countries, is “perceived as a music corrupting the minds of the country’s youth” because it is seen as socially deviant. Because both countries are similar in that they share a large community of marginalized and oppressed people, they are then considered the “lost generation” as a whole, however this does not “recognize their agency as social and political actors and their ingenuity in creating opportunities for themselves.” These depictions also do not give American youth and Tanzanian youth the respect and applaud for “moving public opinions beyond representations of youth as a marginal age group” (76). Rap offer both groups of youth to educate others while gaining “confidence and self-reliance” about oppressive social issues that detrimentally affect the lives of these people and their families, as well as the ability to communicate their “concerns” in both context, as it speaks for those who lack the power to, or the …show more content…
One interesting dynamic of Tanzanian music is that they can often depict it in positive and hopeful ways, often implying that these issues are modern, when this theme is not too common in American rap, as they faced racism and oppression since the country was founded. They even imply that the U.S can help solve their problems, implying that life in the U.S is easier, however, this may not in fact be so for those in marginalized and oppressed communities, but may only seem so because of America’s romanticized stereotypes (87). Another shared theme of Tanzanian and American music is the sexism and misogyny that its lyrics and culture is entrenched in, which only perpetuates the domestic violence of women in real life, although there are in fact some pro-women organizations and artists that help promote their equality and