I Got Something to Say

✍ Scribed by Matthew Oware

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing;Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 245
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

What do millennial rappers in the United States say in their music? This timely and compelling book answers this question by decoding the lyrics of over 700 songs from contemporary rap artists. Using innovative research techniques, Matthew Oware reveals how emcees perpetuate and challenge gendered and racialized constructions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Male and female artists litter their rhymes with misogynistic and violent imagery. However, men also express a full range of emotions, from arrogance to vulnerability, conveying a more complex manhood than previously acknowledged. Women emphatically state their desires while embracing a more feminist approach. Even LGBTQ artists stake their claim and express their sexuality without fear. Finally, in the age of Black Lives Matter and the presidency of Donald J. Trump, emcees forcefully politicize their music. Although complicated and contradictory in many ways, rap remains a powerful medium for social commentary.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xi
Introduction: Started from the Bottom… (Matthew Oware)....Pages 1-21
Urban Spaces and Bodies (Matthew Oware)....Pages 23-37
The Hybrid Rapper (Matthew Oware)....Pages 39-77
Bad Bitches? (Matthew Oware)....Pages 79-114
Coming Straight from the Underground (Matthew Oware)....Pages 115-152
The Queer Emcee (Matthew Oware)....Pages 153-180
Black Lives Matter and Political Rap (Matthew Oware)....Pages 181-206
Conclusion: Future Intersections of Rap and Politics (Matthew Oware)....Pages 207-223
Back Matter ....Pages 225-240

✦ Subjects

Social Sciences; Sociology of Culture; Cultural Studies; Music; African American Culture; Culture and Gender; Men's Studies