Hip hop is a major part of the popular

music of Côte d'Ivoire The music of Ivory Coast includes music genres of many ethnic communities, often characterised by vocal polyphony especially among the Baoulé, talking drums especially among the Nzema people and by the characteristic polyrhythms found in rhyt ...

, and has been fused with many of the country's native styles, such as zouglou.

90s popularity

Hip hop became a mainstream part of Ivorian music beginning in about 1998. Some time later, the scene gained more publicity with the rise of a publicly feuding pair of crew leaders, Stezo of the Flotte Imperiale and Almighty of the Ministère Authentik. There is a kind of

gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

-influenced Ivorian hip hop called '' rap dogba'', inspired by Angelo & les Dogbas.

"Foreigness" and growth

Overall, hip hop is still perceived in Ivory Coast as a foreign type of music and artists do not enjoy the popularity of their zouglou or Coupé-Décalé counterparts. It is considered a marginal movement with a specific following because most Ivorians did not find material or situations to relate to or connect with in Ivorian hip-hop. However, since 2006 and the rise of a new school of Ivorian rap crews such as the very popular Garba 50 (whose name is inspired by a very cheap and popular Ivorian dish eaten by the common people), hip hop is enjoying a newfound following among the Ivorian population. By blending

Nouchi African French (french: français africain) is the generic name of the Varieties of French, varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 141 million people in Africa in 2018, spread across 34 countries and territories.29 full mem ...

, the particular and very evocative Ivorian vernacular and street language, with hip hop beats and rhyming style, groups like Garba 50, Sans Soi, and Rage Man (among others) have managed to revitalize the movement and make it more accessible to Ivorians.

Ivorian artists outside Africa

A new generation of Ivorian rappers who live overseas in France or the U.S like Djafoul Koncept, Dynamik Boobah Siddik, DDF, and many others have added to the growth of the movement in Ivory Coast by keeping in close touch with their Ivorian fan base and pushing technological and musical changes back to their native land.Rapalloco Ivorian hip hop portal
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References

africanhiphop.com: Ivorian Hip Hop
2002.

90s popularity

"Foreigness" and growth

Ivorian artists outside Africa

References

Further reading