This article follows Burkinabe rappers as they move through cultural and activist worlds locally and globally. The author seeks to understand how the “socially engaged” label can either open an artist’s way into new social and political networks, or how identity can box artists in, leading them to work around labels in order to find more freedom. She studies how some contemporary musicians deploy various strategies to by-pass such identities during their careers, allowing the reader to catch glimpses of many social circles; these range from economic and cultural élites to more modest milieus. The effort rappers make to break out of these molds reveals these artists’ desire to escape from the boxes they get put into. It also shows their ambition to become more widely known.