Negotiating globalization through hybridization: hip hop, language use and the creation of cross-over culture in Nigerian popular music

The process of globalization has been of a tremendous impact on African societies while the status-quo of expressive cultures have obviously not remained the same due to this factor with popular music gradually becoming homogenized to fit into the western stereotypes. The Nigerian popular music has been greatly influenced by the dictates and progression in the international scene due to global communication and cultural flows as exemplified by the popularity and proliferation of hip hop culture among the youths from the 1990s. It is quite evident that English is more or less the official language of popular music while the glorification and promotion of foreign music styles especially hip hop and its cultural expressions is almost making the local music practices less fashionable. This paper explores the Nigerian popular music practice through the current mainstream hip hop and identifies how its practitioners have successfully formulated a sub-genre dubbed 'Afro hip hop' through hybridization whereby African identity is portrayed and maintained by asserting linguistic independence with the use of Nigerian languages as medium of delivery through code-switching. This is also followed by appropriating indigenous popular music style especially fuji and highlife to create a fusion that appeals to home-grown sensibilities while still subscribing to the global hip hop community. This paper reveals the effectiveness of 'Afro hip hop' as hybrid music and how it is being used as a strategy of resistance towards seemingly popular music homogenization brought about by globalization. Keywords: Popular music and identity, Hip hop, Code-switching, Globalization, Nigeria, Hybridism.