This thesis delves into the Moroccan rap scene and contemporary Morocco's social, political and economic context to examine the role of the state headed by the Makhzen (the Moroccan ruling elites) as main patrons of the arts in its attempt to use rap as a tool for social control. This project explores how, by promoting a 'modern' and liberal image of the country through patronage of selective rappers, the country's elites have honed a particular vision of the nation. It also looks at how other civil society groups have capitalized on rap to fulfill their own political agendas. Though forces conspired to silence certain rappers, voices of dissent that oppose dominant narratives have also emerged. Moreover, this thesis reflects on the different signifiers used to gain an audience and popular support, and the relation of rappers with urban unprivileged youth and their feelings of exclusion. It goes on to provide a nuanced analysis of rappers use of language, urban spaces, national and international music genres. In its analysis, this thesis unravels the Moroccan rap scene both as a music production at the intersection of national and local cultural politics, as well as one influenced by global cultural flows. It also examines how rappers reimagine national identity and the politics of patriotic rap songs. By presenting the complexities of the rap scene, this thesis aims at challenging the representation of youth cultural production in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and Africa as simply a 'protest' culture. It looks beyond the binary where music is understood either as co-opted or dissenting and explores the politics of artistic creativity and music aesthetics. Analysis is supported by two years of fieldwork that expands on the dominant perception of rap music and youth in Morocco, the MENA region and Africa.

The work here presented is a reaction to a number of issues within contemporary turntablism. Firstly, the perceived disparity between the turntable traditions of hip-hop and the avant-garde has been analysed, and a number of new works created in order to explore the possibilities for greater hybridity between these two playing styles. Secondly, the rapidly changing landscape of turntable technology has been addressed, and conclusions drawn concerning both the new technical and sonic opportunities afforded by the new technology and the influence of these changes on existing playing styles and techniques. Finally, one of the defining characteristics of the instrument – the need to choose source material before playing – has been explored, in order to make judgements concerning the interplay between technique, style and the chosen sonic materials. These different strands of practice-led research all feed into an overarching discussion of idiomatic playing, and the findings of these projects help to define what that phrase might mean for contemporary turntablists.

This thesis critically examines the transformative function and the limitations of crosscultural elements in current musical practices in Israel, specifically, in Hip Hop practices in the urban context of the diverse neighbourhoods of South Tel Aviv. This study explores locales on border-areas of the urban space, investigating precisely how Hip Hop practitioners and their audiences negotiate identity, politics, and cross-cultural communication in an urban zone, which, even while it enables unprecedented intercultural encounters, is characterized by an overarching international conflict. Specific examples have been explored to illustrate how the diverse performers and audience members consciously embody the paradox of political disparity and co-existence through their eclectic musical idiom and through the social aspects of the music-making process and public performance. My investigation shows how intercultural elements are negotiated in Hip Hop performances in contemporary Israeli urban space. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I propose and apply several theoretical frames of analysis. This multi-faceted framework allows the illustration of the complexity of the way in which the musical experience negotiates boundaries of identity and belonging. Amongst the theoretical frameworks are Homi Bhabha’s concept of thirdspace (1990) and Maurice Halbwach’s notion of local ‘collective memory’ (1941). My research locates the scope of investigation in a broad, abstract, transnational arena, and also in an analysis of the specific range of identities affected and potentially transformed by musical collaboration in a concrete and specific urban setting. The broad focus highlights how the Hip Hop groups under investigation operate and are regarded globally; the narrow scope enables an analysis of how, in the context of ethnic conflict and co-existence in contemporary Israel, identity construction and negotiation is experienced in different ways by the individuals physically co-existing in shared urban space.

This thesis considers rap music produced in London. The project employs close textual analysis and ethnography to engage with the formal characteristics of rap and the social relations constructed through its production and use. The black cultural tradition has a considerable history and the thesis focuses upon its appropriation in contemporary London. The study begins with an examination of the process of becoming a rapper. I then consider the collaborative work that rap artists engage in and how these skills contribute to construction of the UK Hip-Hop and Grime scenes. Moving on from this focus on cultural producers, I then consider the practices of rap music’s users and the role of rap in mainstream metropolitan life. I use the public bus as a site through which to observe the ethical relations that are constituted through sharing and playing with rap music. My analysis then turns to the processes through which identity is solicited and produced within nightclubs and concerts. I discuss the production of subaltern masculinities and femininities by the audience in this space. I also consider how MCs orchestrate their audiences in the production of special forms of collectivity and the organisation of a social consciousness. Following this, I examine rap lyrics in a selection of tracks and videos in order to engage with the representation of urban dwelling within the black public sphere. This close analysis allows me to consider rap songs as part of a cultural politics that challenges socio-economic inequality and racist oppression. I then discuss the structural position of the black working classes and the role of cultural production in providing means of avoiding the economic vulnerability of low skill labour. The study concludes with an examination of artists’ efforts to transform their socio-economic positions through their cultural production and self-representation.

This thesis examines how hip-hop has become a meaningful cultural movement for contemporary artists in Hamburg and in Oldenburg. The comparative analysis is guided by a three-dimensional theoretical framework that considers the spatial, historical and social influences, which have shaped hip-hop music, dance, rap and graffiti art in the USA and subsequently in the two northern German cities. The research methods entail participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a close reading of hip-hop's cultural texts in the form of videos, photographs and lyrics. The first chapter analyses the manifestation of hip-hop music in Hamburg. The second chapter looks at the local adaptation of hip-hop's dance styles. The last two chapters on rap and graffiti art present a comparative analysis between the art forms' appropriation in Hamburg and in Oldenburg. In comparing hip-hop's four main elements and their practices in two distinct cities, this research project expands current German hip-hop scholarship beyond the common focus on rap, especially in terms of rap being a voice of the minority. It also offers insights into the ways in which artists express their local, regional or national identity as a culturally hybrid state, since hip-hop's art forms have always been the result of cultural and artistic mixture. The theoretical focus on spatiality, historicality and sociality moreover reveals different and even contradicting manifestations of cultural hybridity and identity in hip-hop. In particular, this thesis looks at the formation of post-hybrid identities, with which hip-hop artists aim at expressing their multiculturality as an inherent part of their life in Germany.