In This Journey, You’re the Journalist: Rap Lyrics, Neoliberalism, andthe Black Parallel Public
In This Journey, You’re the Journalist: Rap Lyrics, Neoliberalism, andthe Black Parallel Public
This chapter examines the politics of rap production, stressing the politics of rap realism and neoliberalism, as well as citing Imani Perry’s theorization of the role of realism within rap music. Rap realism is defined as rap that is chiefly concerned with the social conditions of (black) working class (urban) life. As an authenticating device, rappers and consumers use the real to distinguish between those who are true representatives and those who are not; the real becomes a place from which to judge and situate African American experience. The two most important forms of realism Perry identifies are descriptive realism, which creates a world for the listener through the eyes of the rapper, and argumentative realism, which critiques the reality that rappers depict.
Keywords: rap production, rap realism, neoliberalism, Imani Perry, African American experience, descriptive realism, argumentative realism
Minnesota Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.