Home Institution

Boston University

Publication Date

Fall 2013

Program Name

Senegal: National Identity and the Arts

Abstract

Le Journal Rappé is a weekly Senegalese television segment presented and created by “old-school” rappers Cheikh “Keyti” Sene and Makhtar “Xuman” Fall. Each Friday on the Senegalese television station 2S, the rappers take on the personas of broadcast journalists, delivering the week’s top headlines in rhyme—they literally rap the news. Since its initial inception on April 11th, 2013 as a YouTube venture, Le Journal Rappé has garnered both national and international praise. The program superficially serves as an alternative source of media, one that deviates from the mainstream in its format, entertainment value, and appeal to youth culture. On a more dermal level, however, Le Journal Rappé serves as alternative source of media, one that combats the superfluous, biased, and even corrupt state of Senegalese news distribution. As a case study, this research firstly tracks the development of Le Journal Rappé in a historical, political, and musical context. It then documents the creative process behind Le Journal Rappé (from here abbreviated as the “JTR”, Journal Télévisé Rappé), explains the future endeavors coupled with the JTR’s innovative use of internet platforms, and examines the national and international attention the program has received. I finally argue that, regardless of Keyti and Xuman’s intentions, the JTR serves as a vehicle to illuminate Senegalese societal values, to remedy current sociopolitical problems and corruption, and to expedite Senegal’s increasing sociopolitical progress.

Disciplines

Broadcast and Video Studies | Communication Technology and New Media | Critical and Cultural Studies | Journalism Studies | Mass Communication | Social Media

Download

Share

Article Location

 
COinS