ABSTRACT
Hip hop is still in the forefront of raising the concerns of those who feel excluded from various domains of power. This chapter focuses on hip hop and rap music among coloured youths in Cape Town, for it is in this population group, and in this part of South Africa, that hip hop first emerged, more than 20 years ago. It argues that rap music, break-dance, and spray-painting are the means by which the hip hop community is achieved and maintained, albeit within the locus of the movement, and on the fringes of society. In Cape Town, state and city council officials banned all public performances of break-dancing, especially in the city centre, with the result that hip hop meetings and workshops had to be conducted in secret. The experiences of memory and trans-local exchange are inscribed in the African body's musical expressions and musical behaviour.
