Global cultural trends: the case of HIP-HOP music in Dar es Salaam

The aim of this study to explore the social context in which the flourishing of hip-hop music culture, popularly known as “Bongo Flava”, with its origins in the U.S, has been happening in the past five years or so and critically engage its popularly, taking Dar es es Salaam as a case. The sampling method that was used is non-probability sampling method. The methods of data collection that were used in this study included in-depth interviews with musicians, music producers and the media personnel while open ended questionnaires were used to interview non-musicians. Observation methods were also used together with documentary review, the internet, music video cassettes and music tapes. The study discovered that specific historical global conditions enabled the Bongo Flava music genre to gain much popularly in Dar es Salaam, particularly in the city’s outskirts. Although it was originally sung in English the youth from these areas sung it in Kiswahili language. By using sophisticated technologies in music production they used the music as a medium of communication amongst themselves and also as a tool to address several important political, economical, and cultural issues. The findings oppose the claims that the youth in our contemporary societies are very blind and embrace everything projected in the media. It has been concluded that such forms of knowledge can be utilized in various studying levels such as Sociology of urbanization to better comprehend the plight of the imprivileged urbanites.