The City Is the Culture

How Music, Fashion, Language, Street Style, and Food Redefine Identity Across Africa’s Cities

By Passport to Africa

Across Africa’s cities, culture is not curated; it is experienced. It flows through sound systems, sidewalks, slang, silhouettes, and shared meals. From dawn markets to late-night street corners, urban Africans continuously remix tradition and innovation, crafting identities that are distinctly local yet increasingly global.

Music, fashion, language, and food collectively constitute a highly dynamic cultural archive. They:

• Connect identity to location

• Transform history into everyday practice

• Challenge static or outdated narratives

• Impact global culture while maintaining a local focus

  
  

For Passport to Africa, this feature highlights African cities as active cultural producers, not merely passive settings where identity is continuously created, tasted, worn, and heard.

Sound as Identity: Music That Defines the City

South Africa's Amapiano scent. Photo: Setumo-Thebe Mohlomi

Lagos: Afrobeats as Urban Language

In Lagos, Afrobeats serves as a social catalyst. The lyrics reflect ambition, struggle, humor, and survival in a city characterized by constant motion. Music spills from cars, clubs, and street vendors, reinforcing a shared rhythm that binds neighborhoods together.

Johannesburg: Amapiano and Post-Apartheid Cool

Johannesburg's Amapiano scene embodies a generation exploring freedom, class, and nightlife. The sound, the dance, and the fashion are intertwined, creating a cultural ecosystem that defines contemporary urban cool.

Accra: Diaspora, Rhythm, and Return

The soundscape of Accra combines highlife, hip-hop, gospel, and electronic experimentation, reflecting a city transformed by the return of the diaspora, where music serves as a connection between memory and future possibilities.

What We Wear, Where We’re From: Fashion as Geography

Dakar — Tailoring, Tradition, and Edge

In Dakar, fashion balances elegance and experimentation. Traditional tailoring and vibrant prints coexist with modern silhouettes, signaling continuity rather than contrast.

Nairobi — Streetwear with Purpose

Nairobi's street fashion embodies practicality and defiance. The youth culture combines thrift, sportswear, and symbolism to convey themes of mobility, climate, and political consciousness.

Language on the Streets: Slang, Code, and Belonging

Nairobi — Sheng as Cultural Code

Sheng continuously evolves, defining generational identity while avoiding standardization. It belongs to the street before institutions can claim it.

Lagos — Pidgin as Power

Nigerian Pidgin transcends class and geographical boundaries. It embodies humor, protest, intimacy, and creativity, grounding urban expression in its accessibility.

Food Is Memory You Can Taste

In Africa's cities, food goes beyond mere sustenance; it embodies identity, memory, and social ritual. The way cities eat, gather, and reminisce is influenced by street food, local kitchens, and informal vendors.

Lagos — Suya, Night Markets, and Social Exchange

In Lagos, suya represents more than just grilled meat; it embodies nightlife, conversation, and communal moments. Available at roadside stalls and late-night spots, it serves as a social cornerstone that transcends class boundaries.

Accra — Waakye and Morning Ritual

Waakye defines Accra mornings. Rice and beans, layered with sauces and sides, served quickly but with meaning. It reflects the city’s pace, one that is efficient, communal, and deeply rooted.

Dakar — Thieboudienne and Collective Eating

Thieboudienne features a one-pot meal of fish, rice, and vegetables stewed in a flavorful tomato sauce. Dakar’s national dish is traditionally eaten from a shared bowl, emphasizing hospitality, hierarchy, and unity, even as urban life speeds up.

Nairobi — Nyama Choma and Weekend Identity

In Nairobi, nyama choma, or barbecued meat, characterizes weekends. It is leisurely, social, and festive, offering a welcome contrast to the weekday pace.

Johannesburg — Kota and Township Innovation

The kota or spatlo, a hollowed loaf packed with fries, meat, and sauces, reflects Johannesburg’s ingenuity. Born in townships, it tells a story of survival, adaptation, and urban creativity.