The veiled rapper breaking taboos for women in Senegal

  • Ekaterina Ochagavia

Mina La Voilée is a female rapper from Parcelles, Dakar, who is breaking taboos by rapping about women's rights. As a woman who chooses to wear a veil, she explains how criticism from industry professionals who told her "the veil and hip hop don't flow together" drove her to succeed, and inspired her to tackle other controversial societal issues in her lyrics such as child marriage, rape and infanticide. She performs both as a solo artist and as part of an all-female rap movement, Genji Hip Hop, who use their music to fight cultural stereotypes and gender violence. I produced and edited this feature for the Guardian website.