Mawunyo Gbogbo is a church-going African Australian girl growing up in the sleepy mining town of Muswellbrook, NSW.

Hip Hop & Hymns is a tussle between the search for belonging and ultimately accepting who you are, and a clear-eyed, heartfelt story about daring greatly and what it can mean to be Black in Australia. 

This creative memoir of Mawunyo’s life and how her faith forms a part of her identity and has provided her with a sense of belonging where she otherwise didn’t feel she belongs.

Throughout the story, we learn of Mawunyo’s love for Tyce Carrington who experiences racial injustice and consistent incarceration, Mawunyo’s personal battles with mental health, her experiences of racism in her journalism career, and the varieties of the Black experience she observed living in the United States. 

The story is about taking on the odds to find your place in the world and how hip hop and Christian hymn music formed Mawunyo’s identity, providing her with a template on how to live her life.