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“Short Fried‐Rice‐Eating Chinese MCs” and “Good‐Hair‐Havin Uncle Tom Niggas”: Performing Race and Ethnicity in Freestyle Rap Battles
Author(s) -
Alim H. Samy,
Lee Jooyoung,
Carris Lauren Mason
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of linguistic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.463
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1548-1395
pISSN - 1055-1360
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01052.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , contest , race (biology) , human sexuality , gender studies , negotiation , normative , sociology , psychology , social psychology , anthropology , political science , theology , philosophy , social science , law
This article shows how emcees create local meanings of race and ethnicity in freestyle rap battles. We demonstrate how performers attach new social meanings to race and ethnicity in verbal duels, even as they also reproduce normative meanings around gender and sexuality. Further, we suggest that the construction of local, alternative meanings around race and ethnicity might actually help support dominant racial hierarchies by relegating “blackness” suitable for only a limited set of domains. Despite the enduring nature of these broader racial hierarchies, we conclude that performances are activities in which individuals contest and negotiate the social meanings of identities. [performance, style, race/ethnicity, verbal duels, freestyle rap]