If I Ruled the World: Putting Hip Hop on the Atlas (full issue) (original) (raw)

The compilation of "If I Ruled the World" consists of flows and a cipha in and of itself. The late and great Nigerian poet, Ikeogu Oke, blessed us with poems on Tupac Shakur. Oke's poems bring a new perspective to Tupac and positions Tupac as an African diasporic rapper. This perspective means that Tupac was (and still is) African. The shift in thinking from American to African living in a diaspora changes how we comprehend Tupac's identity and his reach around the world. My article "Can It Be Bigger Than Hip Hop," thoroughly examines Global Hip Hop Studies and lays out the overall argument for "If I Ruled the World: Putting Hip Hop on the Atlas." I contend for a third wave of Global Hip Hop Studies that builds on the work of the first two waves, identifies Hip Hop as an African diasporic phenomenon, and aligns with Hip Hop where there are no boundaries between Hip Hop inside and outside of the United States. Joanna Daguirane Da Sylva adds to the cipha with her examination of Didier Awadi. Da Sylva's excellent work reveals the ways in which Hip Hoppa Didier Awadi elevates Pan-Africanism and uses Hip Hop as a tool to decolonize the minds of African peoples. The interview by Tasha Iglesias and myself of members of Generation Hip Hop and the Universal Hip Hop Museum provides a primary source and highlights two Hip Hop organizations with chapters around the world. Mich Yonah Nyawalo's "Negotiating French Muslim Identities through Hip Hop" details Hip Hop artists Médine and Diam's, who are both French and Muslim, and whose self-identification can be understood as political strategies in response to the French Republic's marginalization of Muslims. In "Configurations of Space and Identity in Hip Hop: Performing 'Global South'," Igor Johannsen adds to this special issue an examination of the spatiality of the Global South and how Hip Hoppas in the Global South oppose global hegemony. The final essay, "'I Got the Mics On, My People Speak': On the Rise of Aboriginal Australian Hip Hop," by Benjamin Kelly and Rhyan Clapham, provides a thorough analysis of Aboriginal Hip Hop and situates it within postcolonialism. Overall, the collection of these essays points to the multiple identities, political economies, cultures, and scholarly fields and disciplines that Hip Hop interacts with around the world. A special issue of this caliber requires a large contribution from a number of scholars. Inevitably, we will not be able to name everyone, but here is our best effort. We would like to thank the team of reviewers, they copyedited, reviewed essays, and provided excellent feedback: