Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

2. Findings
When we examine the replies, there are some ideas that return a couple of times
throughout the discussions from several of our interviewees. In this section we will
structure and discuss these ideas.
Firstly, there is the idea that using your mother tongue to express yourself is the
most natural choice you can make. Full Stop, El Nino, Mayja and Dirty Tale have all
decided predominantly to use their mother tongue, Xhosa, in their lyrics, feeling
they can express themselves more easily and freely by doing so, more than in a
second language learnt later on in life. Since rap music is, for a considerable
number of our interviewees, a major means to express themselves to the outside
world, this is not a minor consideration.
The idea that every person has one mother tongue that is intrinsically linked with
who you are, is not uncommon. It is a strong and widespread language ideology
that dates back to a Herderian vision on language. In brief, this view assumes that
the essence of a nation is to be found in its national language. Every human being
is part of one culture and, thus, has one mother tongue. A difference in language,
immediately involves a difference in culture. This idea was also to be found in the
Bantustan politics during the apartheid era. Next to the racial classification, the
government also imposed an ethnic differentiation. ‘National African states’ were
created, as a compromise for the increasing political complaints of the African
population, while power was consolidated in white hands. The African population
was subdivided into nine ethnic groups, each awarded a homeland. This whole
operation was based on the ideology of the inequality between races, so a separate
development was justified.
Full Stop and Mayja indicate in this context that their limited knowledge of English
is not enough to be able to express every single detail they want to. Although all of
our interviewees speak English and talk it relatively fluently, they are convinced
that their vocabulary is not broad enough to express everything they want to say in
their lyrics.
We also noticed a sense of pride when it comes to rapping in their mother tongue.
They want to show that Xhosa is not inferior, that you do not need English to
express yourself or to be successful in life and in the things that you are doing.
This is certainly the case for rap music, as most rap music is in English and it is
rap in English that is mostly displayed in the media. One can say it is some kind of