Short Fried-Rice-Eating Chinese MCs" and "Good-Hair-Havin Uncle Tom Niggas

Performing Race and Ethnicity in Freestyle Rap Battles

Bibliographic Data

ID2278313
AuthorsH Samy Alim (0000-0002-4664-021X, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Jooyoung Lee (0000-0002-3246-5246), Joo-Young Lee (0000-0002-0504-0568, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author), Lauren Mason Carris (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume20
Issue1
Pages116-133
Publication date2010-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1055-1360 • E-ISSN: 1548-1395
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01052.x
OpenAlexW2111005488
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited42

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

CONTEST · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Music History and Culture · Sports, Gender, and Society

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