1,720,984 research outputs found
Digital Flows
Full text linkDigital Flows provides a radical study of the most recent chapter in the life of hip hop, one closely intertwined with the networked cultural flows of the internet. Some fifty years after its birth in the Bronx, hip hop is one of the most significant cultural forms of the internet age. Now that the internet is enmeshed in our everyday lives, hip hop is predominantly encountered and experienced online, where it comprises a third of all streamed music. People are constantly making, sharing, and commenting on hip hop—from Drake memes through viral TikTok dances to AI-generated rappers—challenging hip hop’s conventional connections to place, authenticity, and community. Digital Flows uses an innovative method encompassing music and cultural analysis, ethnography, and web data analysis. It extensively draws on scholarship in hip hop studies, internet studies, popular music studies, media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, Black studies, intersectional feminism, and more. The latest practices in digital humanities and data ethics underlie Gamble’s interdisciplinary approach. The book provides in-depth insights into hip hop in the internet age, new net-native genres like SoundCloud rap and YouTube lofi beats, communities on social media and streaming platforms, online hip hop feminism in rap music videos, cultural appropriation and callout/cancel culture, and hip hop concerts on video game platforms. This book uncovers what happens when a cultural form born on the streets thrives on transformative technologies of global reach
Listening to virtual space in recorded popular music
No full textResearch on virtual recorded space manifests a division between productionandreception-based approaches. I address a number of issues which complicatediscourse across perspectives and outline why a convergence may bebeneficial to research in various disciplines. I consolidate previous models oflistening, including Moore (2012) and Zagorski-Thomas (2014), and arguethat the ecological approach to perception and research on embodied cognitionmay provide a useful theoretical framework for bridging this divide. Thisis exemplified by music analysis and interpretation of Karnivool’s (2009)‘Goliath’. I discuss the virtual recorded space that the track affords me andconsider how listeners may narrativise the track’s personic environment accordingto ecological/embodied principles
What the Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after #MeToo
No full textIn the context of this Forum on internet-mediated masculinities, this contribution examines the 2024 Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud for its reflections on contemporary standards of authenticity, respectability, and male celebrity behaviour in public life. Two of the most commercially and critically successful North American rappers trading barbs in such a widely mediated spectacle has generated a variety of online discourses about appropriate masculine gender performance–a crucial facet of hip hop authenticity–and contested feminist ideas. The piece argues that the individualistic culture of competition normalised on social media platforms and the perceived competition for attention in the digital media economy means that the feud has benefitted both artists, regardless of any lost credibility. Although misogyny and actual harm to women and girls are raised as pertinent issues during the rap feud, allegations are weaponised as aspects of improper male behaviour rather than actual problems that need addressing. Nonetheless, there are grounds for a feminist reading of how audiences celebrated Kendrick Lamar’s win, aligned with popular conceptions of social justice, gender equality, and a desire to see male abuses of power confronted in the public sphere.</p
Breaking down the breakdown in twenty-first-century metal
No full textIn this article, I introduce the breakdown as a formal structure identified in certain styles of modern metal, especially metalcore. Breakdowns are widely considered to be distinct sections of a song, much like a verse or chorus: this observation provides the basis for defining breakdowns structurally using music analysis. Responding to the nascent field of research on popular music fandom, I next discuss curatorial practices focusing upon breakdowns, where online fan communities collect their favourites, rate them and compare how they are employed in metal music. Moving beyond their use as extracts of recorded tracks, I investigate some possible uses and accompaniments for breakdowns in live settings. In particular, metal performance scenarios can emphasize breakdowns as opportunities for moshing and other forms of collective motion. Finally, I consider potential listening experiences of breakdowns (and their accessibility), from catharsis and emotional release to communal belonging
Empowerment in Rap Music Listening ft. Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle”
No full textThere is a widespread belief that rap music can be empowering for its listeners. In this chapter, I discuss conventional approaches to empowerment in hip hop studies and suggest how listening to rap affords such empowering experiences. I formulate a theoretical framework for empowerment in music listening, drawing from established theories of perception and cognition in music studies, community psychology work on empowerment, and psychological research on felt power. This model of listener empowerment is then applied to an analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s single “Backseat Freestyle” (2012). In doing so, I argue that even tracks which do not easily comply with dominant perspectives on rap’s emancipatory potential allow for empowering interpretations in the listening process
Hip-hop producer-hosts, beat battles, and online music production communities on Twitch
No full textThis article introduces a new creative industry actor, the ‘producer-host’, whose novel cultural practices combine several roles: that of performing artist, music production educator, event manager, livestream broadcaster, and community manager. Producer-hosts use the livestreaming platform Twitch (alongside other digital technologies) to run online beatmaking events with communal and participatory dynamics that indicate expanding uses of streaming platforms. Drawing upon 18 months of ethnography, active community participation, and interviews with three producer-hosts, we provide a nuanced analysis of the political economy of Twitch and developments in the contemporary creative industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse and discuss the outcomes of participation in music production communities on Twitch according to five themes: income and sustainability; personal and professional gratifications; online followings; community identity and belonging; and informal education
Hip-hop music producers’ labour in the digital music economy: self-promotion, social media and platform gatekeeping
No full textThere has been much debate concerning the changing nature of cultural production and distribution in the digital creative economy. Music production work has been especially affected by promotional conventions established by social media and music streaming platforms. This article critically builds atop perspectives on the platformisation of cultural production to investigate how independent hip-hop music producers develop their careers in the era of digital media platforms. It examines how traditional media and digital platform gatekeepers affect producers’ abilities to professionalise, promote creative work to audiences and manage precarious conditions for their labour. Insights from interviews with 15 producers from 8 countries are analysed and discussed to provide a nuanced view of the conditions for music production careers in the platform era of the digital creative industries.</p
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