Transnational Hip-Hop: Reflections of Haiti
Abstract: Hip-hop was not born solely in the Bronx, argues Sophonie Milande Joseph in “Transnational Hip-Hop: Reflections of Haiti.” Joseph draws attention to the genre’s origins within multiple Black North American communities, here focusing in particular on the “RapQuéb” hip-hop scene in Montreal, Quebec. In Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension (VSP), a largely Haitian ethnic enclave, rap artists have used music, video, and photography to wrestle with difficult planning and policy issues. By creating public art that records and broadcasts Black Urbanism experiences, RapQuéb’s transnational hip-hop culture grapples with, and broadcasts, these community struggles.
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