EDITH VAZQUEZ


 In my study of Depestre's narratives, I discern a series of generic reno-
vations, linked to orality; but in a marked way also contrived an alterna-
tion between a boasting rhetorical style, and a thoroughly collapsed
rhetorical sphere. In this dressing up, and denuding, the semantic uni-
ties of gender, race, politics, language, and the body become dismantled.
Generally, Depestre's narrators are women operating within contradic-
tory and canny realms. These narrators speak in a language that is at
once cryptic and impossible to bear, yet literal. The voice is deeply, at
times, excessively self-revelatory, at other times utterly abject.
 "Abikui" is a murderer's confession. The narrator is the murderer
committing her crimes to gain "a few more floor tiles," in the extremely
crowded domestic space. Not only does she murder, but she commits
matricide, fratricide, infanticide. The excessiveness of her protest re-
lies on an ironic treatment of personal identity. The story encloses
several temporalities, though it is a criminal's confession delivered
through dramatic monologue. It is a confession spoken from a jail cell,
as we see in the final phrasings when the narrator completes her con-
fession of serial murder.
 Hip Hop aesthetics present in the story "Abiki" include: rhythm and
repetition of forms and language, African vernacular and religious
motifs, and an outsider/insider moral compulsion to acquire individu-
ation in a crowded space. The visual lay-out of the story highlights a
connection to poetry through the use of line breaks and stanza-like
spacing. "Abiki" renders a critique of patriarchy and its privileges.
The narrator's brother-in-law enjoys a larger share of floor tiles be-
cause he is a man. His privilege is measured in contrast to his wife
whose allotment is smaller in comparison. The depiction of the
brother-in-law is markedly more personal and detailed. He appears to
be the only member of the family who entertains friends in the apart-
ment. The family takes extra measures to please him which further
exacerbates the narrator's misery. "Abikui" performs a distorted and
extreme amelioration of sexual, familial, and spatial tension. As with
all short stories, its treatment of time is structurally crucial. In "Abiki,"
death is as irreversible as time. The killings were committed before
the narrator began her story. The ritual slaying actually permit narra-
tion. But, we must remember, this is the world of short fiction in which
such singular effects are the high mark of artistic achievement.
 Hip Hop is a movement, literary and multi-media, which revises the
previously-governing political and aesthetic paradigms of previous
generations. One manifestation of a refusal to align one's performative
genie with ineffectual political protest, is performed through Hip Hop