Abstract

This chapter examines the creative linguistic practices of the Tanzanian rapper, Hashim Rubanza. Despite having made few recordings Hashim is a significant field in Tanzanian hip hop culture, revered by fans for his lyrical skill. The texts analysed in this chapter are part of a previously unpublished archive of recordings co-created during an artistic residency that Hashim undertook to the UK in 2010. Using Henry Louis Gates Jr’s concept of ‘signifyin(g)’, I seek to show how, by reading the referents in his texts, we can understand Hashim as riffing on, a range of popular, intellectual and religious discourses. I argue that Hashim’s lyrics engage with practices of hip hop signification as well as Swahili traditions of linguistic play. By drawing on the multiple meanings of Swahili words Hashim consciously opens his lyrics to a multiplicity of meanings