Sujatha Fernades, former emcee and author of last fall's Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation was featured on today's The Takeway in a discussion about the up-and-coming rappers whose voices have rung out against corruption, political repression and economic disenfranchisement in Senegal, Tunisia and Egypt. 

Part of The Takeway's special on global protest music, in the segment Fernandes guides Takeaway co-host John Hockenberry through a listening tour of the music that is helping to build solidarity across borders, "shaping a language that allows young people to negotiate a political voice for themselves in their societies." [Fernandes, from Close to the Edge]. 

Despite the lack of an organized music industry in many locales, these artists are finding ways to get their music heard, speaking not just to their localized situations but to a global consciouness of the oppressed. 

Go to The Takeaway to listen to the segment in full.

By Jessica Turner / 06 February 2012 / post comment

Hip-hop music hasn't been this politically urgent or charged with energy since NWA and Public Enemy protested police brutality and told us all to ‘Fight the Power!' in the late 80s and early 90s. Although, if you didn't yet know, it's probably because the rappers of today's protest songs and new faces of popular dissent aren't in New York or LA and are definitely not on MTV, the news or any big music blogs. They are, instead, central figures in the global protest movements that have been sweeping through both the Arab and African worlds over the past year.

In today's New York Times, Sujatha Fernandes, author of Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation, had an illuminating op-ed piece on this nascent phenomenon, highlighting the crucial role that hip-hop is currently playing in galvanizing global revolutions. Whether it is by calling out repression and corruption, sustaining the popular energy of the movements or, in some cases, even helping promote community development and political alternatives, hip-hop has been instrumental in the ousting of repressive regimes and dictatorial control.

She writes,

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By Michael Bacal / 30 January 2012 / 1 comment

Sujatha Fernandes, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Queens College and author of Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation, blogs for the Huffington Post about the growth of the occupation movement in communities of color around New York City. She stresses that, while Occupy Wall Street has brought much attention to protesters and activists in downtown Manhattan, the movement has deep roots and a history of militant escalation in Harlem, Washington Heights, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn:

The predominantly African-American and Latino communities of the West Harlem area have long been struggling to fight unemployment, predatory lenders, gentrification, police brutality, and poor access to education and health services. These issues are now being highlighted more broadly as OWS moves into cities and neighborhoods across the globe. And slogans such as the 99% are producing new lines of solidarity that might bring together these different issues and help build connections between existing groups.

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By Francisco Salas / 14 November 2011 / post comment