Impoliteness in hip-hop music

African American and White artists’ racist and sexist rhetoric

Bibliographic Data

ID21235441
AuthorsPanagiotis Delis (0000-0002-7238-4352, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume10
Issue1
Pages197-218
Publication date2022-02-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language Aggression and Conflict (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2213-1272 • E-ISSN: 2213-1280
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/jlac.00062.del
OpenAlexW3136390667
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited38

The aim of this paper is to examine the functionality of impoliteness strategies as rhetorical devices employed by acclaimed African American and White hip-hop artists. It focuses on the social and artistic function of the key discursive element of hip-hop, namely aggressive language. The data for this paper comprise songs of US African American and White performers retrieved from the November 2017 ‘TOP100 Chart’ for international releases on Spotify.com. A cursory look at the sub-corpora (Black male/ Black female/ White male/ White female artists’ sub-corpus) revealed the prominence of the ‘use taboo words’ impoliteness strategy. The analysis of impoliteness instantiations by considering race and gender as determining factors in the lyrics selection process unveiled that both male groups use impoliteness strategies more frequently than female groups. It is also suggested that Black male and White female singers employ impoliteness to resist oppression, offer a counter-narrative about their own experience and self (re)presentation and reinforce in group solidarity

Art · Euphemism · Linguistics · Literature · Lyrics · Narrative · Oppression · Political science · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Solidarity · Taboo · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology

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