Keep It Real. Authenticity in Hip-Hop and Rap Music

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,7, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: Hip-hop does only represent a mere music genre but also constitutes a movement that emerged out of profound economic and social changes in New York of the 1970s. It is a cultural expression of an Afrodiasporic community that faced social and racial inequity. Originally, hip-hop constituted a shelter for ethnic minorities that have been socially marginalized by the dominant American culture. However, hip-hop also constitutes a commercial commodity which is often reduced to its commercial purpose. This balancing act of representing a culture on the one hand, and a commodity on the other hand, evoked a discussion on authenticity. The aim of this paper is to analyze how and to what extent authenticity is claimed in songs of hip-hop artists. In order to understand the discussion of authenticity in hip-hop it is crucial to provide an informational background of the preconditions that contributed to the development of hip-hop. Chapter 1.1 provides this basis and describes social and political circumstances that America and especially New York experienced throughout the 1970s. The resulting evolution of the hip-hop movement is subject to chapter 1.2., explaining the beginnings of the movement and outlining hip-hop s elements. Chapter 2 is concerned with the concept of authenticity. In the course of this section I will deal with Kembrew McLeod s six semantic dimensions of authenticity which serve as a basis for the subsequent analyses. The last chapter provides an analysis of five rap songs that will be analyzed according to McLeod s dimensions of authenticity. The aim of this chapter is to find out, to what extent authenticity claims are used and how many dimensions can be identified in a song. Additionally, it is analyzed, if certain dimensions a used more frequently, or more specifically, if it is possible to allocate priorities to McLeod s dimensions.