Xuman and Keyti: An Unforgettable Event!

Xuman and Keyti: An Unforgettable Event!
Clockwise: Xuman takes a selfie with students in the Johnson Center; Xuman and Keyti together; Xuman and Keyti visit Christy Pichichero’s class on “Reading and the Arts.”

On October 17 and 18, 2016, we welcomed two famous Senegalese rappers, Xuman and Keyti, to campus.  These artists visited two classes, taught by Vincent Chanethom and Christy Pichichero, and gave two well-attended public presentations on the theme of “Hip Hop and Democracy Activism in Senegal.”  Although they have individual careers, Xuman and Keyti are best known for their collaboration on the “Journal rappé,” a news and commentary show on YouTube in which they rap the news first in French, then in Wolof, in an effort to engage Senegalese youth in political concerns.  (Wolof is the majority language of Senegal, whereas French is the language of government and education in most of France’s former colonies.)  The show has been written up in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Telegraph, among others.  Since the 2012 presidential election in Senegal, the role of conscious hip hop as a force for democratic political change in Africa has received international attention both from the global media and from academic researchers.  At Mason, Xuman and Keyti shared their experiences creating the show, their artistic vision for intelligent hip hop, and their opinions on youth involvement in politics with our campus community.  Many students from Global Affairs attended their presentation on October 18, as did a contingent from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  Xuman and Keyti’s visit was co-sponsored by several Mason departments and programs, namely University Life, African and African-American Studies, and Global Affairs.