Keeping it real: reality and representation in Maasai Hip-Hop

Abstract

The article examines images and discourses produced by and circulating around X Plastaz, an internationally-successful Tanzanian hip-hop crew with one Maasai member which draws heavily on Maasai imagery in its publicity materials and performances, and uses Maasai chanting in its music. The analysis demonstrates that the interplay between local and international success is at the centre of the images the crew projects. By examining the different ways the crew and its foreign manager address local and international audiences, and play on these diverse audiences' expectations of what it means to be Maasai, Tanzanian and African, on the one hand, and to be internationally successful, on the other, we can better understand the tropes of African traditionalism, authenticity and hybridity they employ.

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