Audio Programs – Hip Deep
Hip Deep Fourteen years ago, with support from the NEH, we created Hip Deep, a subseries integrated into the overall Afropop Worldwide program offering. Hip Deep programs build on the techniques and format developed for Afropop Worldwide, but are enhanced by rigorous academic and field research that translates into higher production values. Every episode of Hip Deep actively involves leading humanities scholars to illuminate a wealth of history, culture, politics, ethnic and spiritual contexts. Over 15 years, Hip Deep has produced over 110 humanities-focused programs and a wide range of supplementary Web resources (interviews, videos, text/photo features, podcasts), all easily accessible within the Hip Deep section of our website. Hip Deep amplifies Afropop Worldwide’s longstanding commitment to disseminate humanities themes to the general public through world music via a growing set of media pathways.
Hip Deep September 20, 2018
Music and History in The Two Sudans
Hip Deep August 2, 2018
Cuban Counterpoint of Tobacco and Sugar: Sacred Musical Spaces in Western Cuba
Ned Sublette takes a group of travelers, including you, to multiple sites in western Cuba to analyze the musical impact of what Ortiz called the "Cuban counterpoint" of tobacco and sugar.
Hip Deep June 14, 2018
The Nature of Trance
In this program, we explore the phenomenon of trance through a survey of musical and spiritual traditions, discover how different cultural and spiritual ideas are expressed musically, how the mathematical complexity of mbira dzavuzimu music may lead to Shona spirit possession, and how experiments in neural imaging give us insight into how the brain works in a state of trance.
Hip Deep May 10, 2018
Lagos and the Rise of Nigerian Afrobeats
Lagos and the Rise of Nigerian Afrobeats tells the story of the birth and development of this scene straight from the influential and foundational figures who lived it including 2Face Idibia, Iyanya, Yemi Alade, Adekunle Gold, Flavour and more.
Hip Deep May 3, 2018
Lagos Roots: Fuji, Juju and Apala
Beneath the gloss of Nigeria’s contemporary pop, older roots styles, mostly derived from Yoruba tradition, still thrive.
Hip Deep March 15, 2018
Roots and Future: A History of U.K. Dance
Building on prior Hip Deep explorations of the origins of house and techno in the American Midwest, “Roots and Future” explores how a community of (primarily) black British musicians, fans, D.J.s, and radio pirates recreated dance music in the United Kingdom during the 1990s and 2000s.
Hip Deep February 1, 2018
Reimagining Jazz in Africa: Cape Town Cosmopolitans and Beyond
How jazz music came back to Africa, South Africa in particular, by way of America.
Hip Deep December 14, 2017
Thomas Mapfumo 2: The Mugabe Years
In recognition of the end of Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule in Zimbabwe, we are rebroadcasting our program on the career of Thomas Mapfumo during the Mugabe years.
Hip Deep November 9, 2017
Hip Deep Angola 2: Kuduro and Beyond
In this Hip Deep program, join producer Ned Sublette on the streets of Angola’s big, smoggy, oil-booming capital city of Luanda. Peace came to Angola in 2002 after forty-two years of war, and now everything is different, with construction under way everywhere.
Hip Deep November 2, 2017
Hip Deep Angola1: Music and Nation in Luanda
This Hip Deep program explores the role music played in the creation of a uniquely Angolan consciousness as the country struggled toward independence in the 1960s and ‘70s after centuries of colonialism.
Hip Deep October 19, 2017
Riqueza del Barrio: Puerto Rican Music in the United States
“Riqueza del Barrio,” produced by Ned Sublette explores Puerto Rico’s distinctive cultural identity as expressed through flavorful music.
Hip Deep October 6, 2016
State of Emergency: Reggae Reflections on Jamaica's Partisan Politics
This program delves into the way that Jamaican popular music has always sharply commented on partisan politics in Jamaica while also revealing that Jamaican politicians have often attempted to co-opt and subvert reggae’s liberating messages for their own purposes.
Hip Deep August 4, 2016
Rio 1: Samba at the Dawn of Modern Brazil
In part one of our 2012 Hip Deep Brazil series, we travel back in time to Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century to explore the birth of Brazil’s most iconic sound: samba.
Hip Deep July 7, 2016
Congo-Goma: Music, Conflict and NGOs
This Hip Deep edition examines how musicians approach topics of politics, peace and war, collaboration with NGOs and cultural centers, and artistic autonomy.
Hip Deep October 15, 2015
The Story of Rai
Hip Deep September 3, 2015
Dread Inna Inglan: How the U.K. Took to Reggae
In this HIp Deep program, Saxon Baird explores the United Kingdom's history with reggae.
Hip Deep August 20, 2015
Hip Deep Ghana 2: 21st Century Accra From Gospel to Hiplife
This program profiles the music scene in Accra, Ghana, circa 2013.
Hip Deep August 13, 2015
Living in New Orleans, Part 1: All on A Mardi Gras Day
Hip Deep July 23, 2015
Hip Deep in Madagascar: The Tsapiky Story
Hip Deep June 18, 2015
Hip Deep Madagascar in 21st Century Antananarivo
Join us for this Hip Deep program as we delve deep into the modern musical landscape of Antananarivo.
Hip Deep October 29, 2014
The Mandé Diaspora in New York City, Part Two
Hip Deep August 8, 2014
Lebanon 3: Beirut in the 21st Century
Hip Deep March 21, 2014
After the Quake: Music, Politics and Spirituality in Haiti
In this Hip Deep program, survivors of Haiti's earthquake find hope in music, political reform, and spirituality.
Hip Deep February 6, 2014
Reimagining Africa: From Popular Swing to the Jazz Avant-Garde
Hip Deep June 20, 2013
Rio 2: Samba Strikes Back
Hip Deep October 11, 2012
Egypt 3: Cairo Underground
Hip Deep April 27, 2012
Egypt 5: Revolution Songs
Recent Hip Deep Articles
Review September 27, 2012
Stefanie Alisch: The Hip Deep Interview
Feature September 13, 2012
Feature: Music and Nation in Angola
Blog September 12, 2012
Spirit of Angola: Dustrise
Hip Deep April 9, 2026
The Art of Improvisation, Part 2
Hip Deep April 2, 2026
The Art of Improvisation: Part 1
Hip Deep January 29, 2026
Sierra Leone: Celebration, War, and Healing
Hip Deep January 15, 2026
The French Caribbean--Cosmopolitan, Colonial, Complicated
Hip Deep January 1, 2026
Jewish Communities of Sub-Saharan Africa
Hip Deep December 18, 2025
Spiritual Journeys: Tarab: The Art of Ecstasy in Arab Music
Explore the rich traditions of Tarab in Arab music, its emotional ecstasy, and cultural values, through the insights of A.J. Racy, a renowned ethnomusicologist, and the artistry of legendary Tarab singers like Umm Kulthum, set against the backdrop of Aleppo's Aleppian Tarab tradition and Syrian music culture.
Hip Deep December 11, 2025
Luiz Gonzaga: The King of Baião
Hip Deep December 4, 2025
Hip Deep In the Niger Delta
Hip Deep August 28, 2025
Islam and Music: From Prohibition to the Science of Ecstasy
From early Baghdad to Qawwali and Iraqi maqam, Joseph Braude and Islamic scholars explore how Islam shapes music across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Hip Deep August 21, 2025
The Music of Black Peru: Cultural Identity in the Black Pacific
This Hip Deep edition explores the sonically vibrant realm of Afro-Peruvian music, a young genre identification that has flourished since the 1950s and has now produced artists of international renown, such as singer Susana Baca, and the black folkloric company Peru Negro.
Hip Deep July 31, 2025
The Story of Bembeya Jazz
Hip Deep July 10, 2025
Nollywood: Nigeria's Mirror
Hip Deep May 29, 2025
Afro-Dominicana: The Other Dominican Republic
This week, Afropop revisits the home of styles such as merengue and bachata, but this time we’ll be looking towards the most deeply African side of Dominican music—little known outside of the island.
Hip Deep May 15, 2025
Afro-Lisbon and the Lusophone Atlantic: Dancing Toward the Future
On this Hip Deep edition, we take you on a journey to Lisbon, a city facing both the sea and 600 years of its own history.
Hip Deep May 8, 2025
Seize the Dance: The BaAka of Central Africa
This program will initiate listeners into one of the most enchanting and mysterious musical practices in Africa, BaAka people music.
Hip Deep May 1, 2025
Hip Deep in Northern Nigeria
Afropop visits Kano in Northern Nigeria to meet local nanaye artists and meet young Hausa hip-hop artists.
Hip Deep April 17, 2025
African Sounds of the Indian Subcontinent
In this Hip Deep program, Afropop explores musical connections between Africa and India.
Hip Deep April 15, 2025
Spiritual Journeys: Traveling Spirit Masters, The Gnawa of Morocco
This program explores the Gnawa music and tradition in Morocco with author and scholar Deborah Kapchan.
Hip Deep April 10, 2025
A Hip Deep Portrait of King Sunny Ade
Hip Deep March 20, 2025
Women's History Month: Fairuz, A Woman for all Seasons
Hip Deep March 13, 2025
Reconstructing Somalia: Love Songs at the Birth of a Nation
This program offers a rare musical portrait of Somalia’s formative, pre-civil war years (1960-90). In a rising mood of patriotism and hope, Somalis sought to forge a culturally authentic, but also modern, national identity
Hip Deep February 27, 2025
Diaspora Encounters: Kriolu in New England, The Cape Verdean-American Story
In this Hip Deep edition, Marlon Bishop and Marilyn Halter explore the Cape Verdean, creole experience in New England.
Hip Deep February 25, 2025
The Rise of Afro-Venezuelan Music in the Hugo Chavez Era
This Hip Deep edition tells the history of African influences in Venezuelan music.
Hip Deep February 13, 2025
Shake It Fo Ya Hood: The History of New Orleans Bounce
For this Hip Deep edition, Afropop digs into the close-knit scene, talking to dancers, producers, MCs, and managers from over 30 years of bounce, all to explore the beat that drives New Orleans.
Hip Deep January 30, 2025
The Mighty Amazon
Hip Deep January 30, 2025
Hip Deep Ghana 1: Ebo Taylor and the Pioneers of Afro-Funk
Hip Deep January 23, 2025
Cairo - Hollywood of the Middle East
By the mid 20th century, Cairo had become the unrivaled center for music and film production in the Middle East. Producers, writers, composers, actors, musicians, star singers, and creators of every stripe flocked here to take part in the city's fervent, international, progressive artistic milieu.
Hip Deep January 9, 2025
A Tale of Two Rebellions: How Africans Helped Shape the Future of Islam
In this Hip Deep edition, Joseph Braude recounts the Zanj Rebellion and the origins of the Suni Shiite divide in Islam.
