Is Kwaito South African hip-hop?: why the answer matters and who it matters to

Abstract

This paper asks whether South Africa's kwaito is an indigenous form of hip-hop or an original "spectacular vernacular" and considers how the difference between kwaito and hip-hop is discursively constructed and performed. The provenance, politics, economics and style of kwaito provides the locations for this comparison with hip-hop. While its provenance is similar to that of hip-hop, understanding the complex politics of kwaito deepens our understanding of identity and resistance in the context of the South African racial taxonomy and political history. The economics of kwaito alerts us to both the materialism of kwaito culture and the power of economics as political act. Finally by interpreting the style or "reading" some of the cultural artefacts associated with kwaito, the ambivalent relationship between young "black" South Africans and the various dominant groups against which they rail is highlighted.