![]() Pioneering hip-hop scholar Halifu Osumare explored authenticity in her concept of “ connective marginalities,” which established the blueprint for theorizing about global hip-hop. ![]() This could mean sampling music from their own countries or exploring the quirks and intricacies of their own languages and dialects. Some efforts may border appropriation or mimicry.Īt the other end lies hip-hop’s potential to inspire global rappers to dig deep into the well of local performance traditions. With hip-hop, I believe it is helpful to imagine a wide spectrum of possible markers of authenticity – that is, what it means to stay “true” to the art form.Īt one end lies the integration of Black American performance styles and fashion. How do people use, shape and transform cultural elements from elsewhere to make it speak to their own experience? And in the process, how do markers of authenticity become redefined? To an ethnomusicologist like myself, this paradox goes right to the heart of identity and authenticity. When hip-hop and rap travel abroad, does one or the other have to give? But so does the core idea of representing one’s own experience and place. The Black American urban culture that birthed rap and hip-hop makes up its very fabric. Soon, new styles partially informed by hip-hop emerged, like grime in London, which cultivated its own unique identity.īut the global expansion of hip-hop rides on a paradox. Indeed, by 2000 the term “global hip-hop” had entered commercial and scholarly discourse. France became – and remains – the second-biggest market for rap in the world. In the early 1990s, a vibrant French rap scene produced the first internationally touring, platinum-selling rap star outside the U.S.: MC Solaar. In 1984 in France, “ H.I.P.H.O.P.” hosted by DJ Sidney became the first nationally televised weekly show devoted to rap, preceding “Yo! MTV Raps” in the U.S. More milestones in hip-hop’s global spread soon followed. It marked the beginning of the globalization of rap music and the broader hip-hop culture in which it is embedded, which includes deejaying, break-dancing and graffiti-tagging. ![]() The rapid spread of “Rapper’s Delight” is an important milestone in hip-hop’s first 50 years.
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