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 November 9, 2017
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
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,” produced by Ned Sublette explores Puerto Rico’s distinctive cultural identity as expressed through flavorful music.
Hip Deep October 6, 2016
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 September 15, 2016
Hip Deep August 11, 2016
Ben Jor continues to be an active presence in Brazilian popular music and he grants us a rare interview to tell his story.
Hip Deep August 4, 2016
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 14, 2016
On this Hip Deep episode, Elijah Wald talks with producer Ned Sublette, and plays lesser-known recordings by Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr and others, who provided source material for some of Johnson’s classic tunes.
Hip Deep July 7, 2016
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
Hip Deep September 3, 2015
In this HIp Deep program, Saxon Baird explores the United Kingdom's history with reggae.
Hip Deep August 20, 2015
This program profiles the music scene in Accra, Ghana, circa 2013.
Hip Deep August 13, 2015
Hip Deep July 23, 2015
Hip Deep June 18, 2015
Join us for this Hip Deep program as we delve deep into the modern musical landscape of Antananarivo.
Hip Deep February 19, 2015
Hip Deep October 29, 2014
Hip Deep August 8, 2014
Hip Deep March 21, 2014
In this Hip Deep program, survivors of Haiti's earthquake find hope in music, political reform, and spirituality.
Hip Deep February 6, 2014
Hip Deep December 23, 2013
Hip Deep June 20, 2013
Hip Deep October 11, 2012
Hip Deep April 27, 2012
Hip Deep December 5, 2011
Hip Deep December 5, 2011
Hip Deep December 5, 2011
Hip Deep August 28, 2025
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
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
Hip Deep July 10, 2025
Hip Deep May 29, 2025
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
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
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
Afropop visits Kano in Northern Nigeria to meet local nanaye artists and meet young Hausa hip-hop artists.
Hip Deep April 17, 2025
In this Hip Deep program, Afropop explores musical connections between Africa and India.
Hip Deep April 16, 2025
This program explores the Gnawa music and tradition in Morocco with author and scholar Deborah Kapchan.
Hip Deep April 10, 2025
Hip Deep April 3, 2025
In this Hip Deep edition, Joseph Braude reports on the lives, legacy and music of Africans in Gulf States, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Hip Deep March 20, 2025
Hip Deep March 13, 2025
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
In this Hip Deep edition, Marlon Bishop and Marilyn Halter explore the Cape Verdean, creole experience in New England.
Hip Deep February 26, 2025
This Hip Deep edition tells the history of African influences in Venezuelan music.
Hip Deep February 13, 2025
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
Hip Deep January 30, 2025
Hip Deep January 23, 2025
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
In this Hip Deep edition, Joseph Braude recounts the Zanj Rebellion and the origins of the Suni Shiite divide in Islam.
Hip Deep January 2, 2025
Hip Deep December 19, 2024
Every year on Sierra Leone’s Independence Day in late April, musicians and revelers descend upon Freetown from throughout the country.
Hip Deep October 10, 2024
In this Hip Deep edition, we find out how cumbia left Colombia in the ‘60s and ‘70s and traveled to other countries.
Hip Deep August 15, 2024
Hip Deep July 4, 2024
In this Hip Deep episode, we use music to explore that history as we take a road-trip across the country in search of sonic traces of Afro-Mexico.
Hip Deep June 20, 2024
This Hip Deep program tells the story of Senegal's mbalax music.
Hip Deep May 30, 2024
Kelley Askew talks us through the history of East African Taarab music.
Hip Deep May 9, 2024
This Hip Deep program describes the Ethiopian musical diaspora around the world.
Hip Deep May 7, 2024
This Hip Deep program explores the role of the Ethiopian church and monarchy in building the country's unique brassy pop music.
