Yet linguistic creativity—or maybe rebellion—in African cities didn't cease when the continent began to receive its independence starting in the 1950s. Modern technology has recently provided young Africans with greater access to hip-hop, African-American culture, and global fashions. Africa's cities are alsodisproportionately young; as of 2012, the median age of the continent is 20 years old (the median age in North America is nearly 40 years old). This combination of youthfulness and global exposure has left Africa's urban youth with a lot to work with in terms of creating their own terms of communication.

Language serves the triple role ... of carrier of culture, as an image forming agent that provides the group with a whole conception of themselves, individually and collectively, and as a transmitter of the images of the world and reality. Thus the circumstances of the language contact environment in African cities present a variety of mixed codes that emerge to satisfy local needs.

The fusion languages springing up now in Africa's cities, however, are likely just the beginning. Africa's urbanization rate will be among the world's fastest from now until 2050. Unless some kind of national language policies are enacted, says Peter Githinji, a linguist specialist at Ohio University, slang-based languages will ultimately become the norm in Africa's burgeoning urban centers.