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Rapping

Screenshot from "Cape Flats Kung Fu" by Eavesdrop.

‘Planet Hip Hop’: The music will always be the voice of the people, Samy Alim says

Planet Hip Hop

As we wrap up “Planet Hip Hop,” our summer series celebrating 50 years of hip-hop music around the world, H. Samy Alim returns to talk with host Marco Werman about the next 50 years. Alim is an anthropology professor and the director of the Hip Hop Initiative at UCLA. 

"Les Princes de la Ville" by 113, a French rap group.

Planet Hip Hop: How French rappers continue to raise their voices for justice and identity

Planet Hip Hop
rapper

Hip-hop artists in India call out caste discrimination 

Planet Hip Hop
Critically-acclaimed hip-hop artist Dope Saint Jude performs at the Cape Town Jazz Festival, April 2017.

Planet Hip Hop: The World celebrates 50 years of hip-hop around the globe

Planet Hip Hop
A woman with braids in a pink track sweatshirt

Alyona Alyona breathes new life into Ukrainian rap scene

Arts, Culture & Media
A camera man films two rappers battling.

Russia’s rap scene: No place for politics

Generation Putin

Rap is now mainstream in Russia. The sound is everywhere: in clubs, on the radio and in stores. But despite a culture of speaking out on issues in the West, why do many rappers in Russia avoid talking about the country’s big problems?

Saudi rapper

How a rapper’s radio interview revealed a Saudi soft power campaign

Culture

A Saudi rapper’s interview with The Takeaway led journalists to uncover a soft power campaign.

Kang Chun-hyok is an aspiring rapper in Seoul. He's also a defector from North Korea, and his music reflects what life was like there.

This North Korean rapper’s lyrics draw on his experience eating tree bark and drinking from puddles

Music

Kang Chun-hyok wants South Koreans to know what life is like in the north. So he’s rapping about his life there before he defected.

Looking for this decade’s Missy Elliott

Arts, Culture & Media

The underground hip-hop scene is thriving for women — get a sampling of the amazing female hip-hop artists at the SXSW music festival.

The Rap Guide to Evolution

What do hip hop and Darwin have in common? According to one Canadian rapper; a lot.