African Expressive Cultures : African Appropriations : Cultural Difference, Mimesis, and Media

“cr azy white men” 241

because that was the big genre back then. So I realized that they enforced

their own culture, their own way of dancing, of graffiti and of emceeing

and I wondered how they [did] it. Looking into that I saw that they put

the A merican flag up every where and I thought maybe we can learn from

them so I started putting the Nam flag up every where; I must tell you it

works. I mean in 2010 [2010 FIFA World Cup] South A fricans know, you

put the flag up everybody—black, white, Asian, Indian, everybody: we are

one. So Namibia needed that after independence and so did South A frica

and that’s the second reason why I did that.

Of the three artists, Mzungu Kichaa stresses his “being African” the
most. Maybe this is due to the fact that unlike the two others, he cannot
claim to be a born African. Perhaps it is safe to say that he is African by
affection. “I am African,” reads the T-shirt he sports on the cover of his
2012 single, African Hustle (see figure 8.3).
In a different song, “Ujumbe” (The message, 2009), he explains his
emotional attachment to Tanzania and his desire to become a citizen:

Nimetunga nyimbo ya Watanzania

wenzangu!

I have composed a song for my

fellow Tanzanians!

Ebu sikiliza ninachotaka

kuwaambia

Please listen to what I want to tell

you

Nimepapenda sana hapa nchini I am very much in love with this

country

Watu ni wazuri kweli kweli The people are really very nice

Wamenikaribisha vizuri sana They have welcomed me so well

Mpaka nimesahau nilikotoka until I have forgotten where I came

from

Nikiulizwa leo ni Tanzania Today, when I am asked, it is

Tanzania

Kwa mila niliyopata nikilelewa For the culture I was socialized

into as I grew up

......
Nimekuja Tanzania kuwaomba
uraia

I have come to Tanzania to request

citizenship

Niwaeleze nini, ili mweze

kuniamini

W hat shall I explain to you, so that

you can believe me?

Nyama, ndizi, ugali, mchicha, yote

natumia

Meat and plantain, ugali and

spinach, I eat it all

Kwa nini isitoshe kunipatia uraia W hy shouldn’t this suffice for me

to be granted citizenship?