Keepin' it Real: London Youth Hip Hop as an Authentic Performance of Belief

Hip hop is a global cultural phenomenon that encompasses rap music, dance, graffiti art, and fashion as well as particular ways of being. One sub-genre of hip hop is Gospel rap, in which Christian rappers attempt to ‘represent' the truth of God as a tangible reality, thereby ‘keepin' it re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dehanas, Daniel Nilsson (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Carfax Publ. [2013]
In: Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2013, Volume: 28, Issue: 2, Pages: 295-308
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Hip hop is a global cultural phenomenon that encompasses rap music, dance, graffiti art, and fashion as well as particular ways of being. One sub-genre of hip hop is Gospel rap, in which Christian rappers attempt to ‘represent' the truth of God as a tangible reality, thereby ‘keepin' it real'. This study investigates how young British Jamaican male adults in the Brixton area of London appropriate hip hop for their own ends. Based on original raps authored and performed by these young people, the research finds that their representations of spiritual reality are influenced by the conventions and boundaries of professional Gospel rap. The study describes how youth incorporate religious hip hop into their everyday lives and argues that in some cases hip hop performance becomes a method for pedagogically reshaping the body, giving religious beliefs an ‘embodied authenticity'.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2013.783340