Afrikaaps and decoloniality: a case study of a hip hop artist on the Cape Flats in Cape Town South Africa

Mitchell, Keanan Lyle

Afrikaaps and decoloniality: a case study of a hip hop artist on the Cape Flats in Cape Town South Africa

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

College of Music

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

There has been much debate surrounding the topic of the ‘coloured' community, its history as well as its identity and social placement within South African society post-apartheid. After the run of the theatre production Afrikaaps (2011), a rise in interest and pride in this ‘coloured' culture as well as language variety occurred. This study shows the importance of popular music in the formation of culture and society. Focusing on the work of YoungstaCPT, this thesis explores Afrikaaps in hip hop as a musical style to illustrate the role it plays within the Cape Flats ‘coloured' community. YoungstaCPT, a self-proclaimed representative of said community, maintains a vast youth-based audience and portrays himself as ‘Young Van Riebeeck'. ‘The Cape Crusader' (YoungstaCPT) claims to colonize Cape hip hop as a conscious rapper in order to educate the youth about a problematic history that was written in textbooks. Through the exploration of hip hop, YoungstaCPT's influence and choices in music, I analyse how this persona serves ‘coloured' people of the Cape Flats. This thesis examines elements regarding communities of this nature, such as the construction of their socio-political identity as well as the culture portrayed through the Cape hip hop community and its audiences.