Den här studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka sociala problem som uppmärksammas imusiktexterna, samt att ta reda på hur de sociala problemen beskrivs. Vi använde oss av enkvalitativ metod i form av en litteraturstudie. Studien gick ut på att undersöka musiktexterinom genren svensk rapp och hiphop. I studien gick det att identifiera sex stycken olikakategorier av sociala problem. Dessa sociala problem var våld, kriminalitet, alkohol & droger,vapen, segregation och psykisk ohälsa. I studien framkom det att sociala problemframkommer i hög utsträckning i de flesta av de musiktexter som analyserades. I analysen togvi hjälp av teorin om stigma, stämplingsteorin och diskursanalys. / The purpose of this study was to investigate which social problems are noticed in the musiclyrics, and to find out how the social problems are described. We used a qualitative method inthe form of a literature study. The study focused on examining musical texts in the genre ofSwedish rap and hip hop. In the study, it was possible to identify six different categories ofsocial problems. These social problems were violence, crime, alcohol & drugs, weapons,segregation and mental illness. The study showed that social problems appear to a large extentin most of the music texts that were analyzed. In the analysis, we took the help of the theoryof stigma, the stamp theory and discourse analysis.

This study exp !ores the relationship between an individual's interest in and exposure to the rap/hip-hop genre and the messages and values contained within the music, as well as the role of self-esteem in generating interest and motivating exposure to rap/hip-hop music. A survey questionnaire was administered to 213 students at a community college in northern California. Interest and exposure to rap/hip-hop were found to be significantly correlated with acceptance of a number of values portrayed in the music. However, those most interested in and exposed to rap/hip-hop music were less likely to perceive negative social values in the music as well as believe these values characterized rap/hip-hop artists. Self-esteem failed as a predictor of interest and exposure to the music.

Rap music is one of the biggest music genres in the world today. Since the early days of rap music, references not only to pop culture but also to other rap artists have been an integral part of the lyrics’ artistry. Rappers may use them to introduce their shared personal backgrounds such as where they grew up. In addition, rap musicians reference each other by adopting fragments of lyrics, for example, to give credit. This kind of text reuse can be used to create connections between individual artists. Due to the large amount of lyrics, only automated detection methods can efficiently detect text reuse. In addition, automated methods can also be used to identify similar artists based on their lyrical content. Here, we present a visualization system for analyzing text reuse in rap music lyrics. The system supports the user of detecting text reuse and allusions between songs and exploring connections between artists. For this purpose, we crawled song lyrics and their metadata of selected American rap artists from Genius.com. We also trained a network tailored specifically for rap lyrics, which we named “rapBERTa”, to compute similarities in lyrics.

Utilizing an Afrocentric methodological framework, this dissertation research seeks to examine the general public perceptions of African American women as reflected in rap music videos, and to determine how African American females perceive the images that are presented of them in rap music videos. This study explores Black women's representation through analyses of top ten rap music videos from January to September 2010 and conceptualizes the effects of these representations on Black female viewers. This study also explores the reception of Black women's images in rap music videos as they are potentially exported to other cultures. This project is a multi-method examination including questionnaires and focus group sessions, exploring the effect of rap music video content on the representation of African American women, society's perceptions of African American females, and how when given an opportunity to construct their own media image, how would African women be represented. / African American Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between white consumption of politically conscious rap music and the political beliefs of white rap music consumers. The guiding research questions included an exploration of why whites with little prior concern about racism consume rap music with politically conscious antiracist messages; if whites who consume this music believe the messages spoken are an accurate depiction of reality; and if a relationship exists between consumption of politically conscious rap music and an individual's political beliefs. Through interviews of white fans at politically conscious rap shows it was found that many individuals do not understand the music they are consuming is political in intent. Individuals highlighted themes that they could identify with, namely the need for unity and love, while ignoring others, such as the need to fight against injustice and racism. While independently individuals may have liberal political beliefs and consume politically conscious rap music, there appears to be no indication that consumption of rap music alters political beliefs. / Master of Science

An individual's identity development involves the intersection of several factors, including race, class, gender, and sexuality. Historically, enslaved women's identities were sexually, culturally, and politically framed on the plantations through the lens of white male hegemony. The double jeopardy of being African American and female in a white patriarchal society has generated a legacy of struggle to resist the images constructed such as Matriarch, Aunt Jemima/Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel to name a few. The resistance legacy of African American women like Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church-Terrell, has expanded into the musical sphere of popular culture. Blues artists such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith expressed their resistance to oppression and repression aesthetically. Through musical expression, African American women performers have formulated a space where they can protest the hegemonic paradigms of sexual and racial inferiority. In contemporary popular culture this musical space is in Hip Hop. Contemporary African American women rap artists are continuing the struggle to overcome the characterizations and undertake the monumental task of demystifying the racist and sexist ideologies framing their identity. This thesis examines the ways that African American women convey the challenges they face both within the Hip Hop micro-culture and as African American women struggling in a white patriarchal macroculture. In addition, African American women rap artists' employment of rap music as a medium to develop their own identities, whether negative or positive by "Black feminist" or "womanist'' standards is also explored. This study includes a survey of student attitudes toward these issues.

Rap music has been a major force in American culture since the 1970s. It can be political, uplifting, and celebratory. It can also be misogynistic and degrading to women, the focus of the current research. This paper begins with a brief history of the importance of music in the African American community. It then provides a history of rap music and major influences on its development through the decades. A systematic comparison of Billboard’s top 5 rap videos for 2004 and 2014 follows. This section, the core analysis, compares the lyrical and visual content in terms of the representation of African American women. Findings reveal three stereotypes—Jezebel, Sapphire, and Mammy/“Baby Mama”—dominate the presentation of African American women in the videos. Based on these three stereotypes, the videos present African American women as greedy, dishonest, sex objects, with no respect for themselves or others, including the children under their care. The women in the videos are scorned by men and exist to bring pleasure to them. Differences between 2004 and 2014 with respect to misogyny and degradation of a group that has historically suffered from dual disadvantage—because of both race and gender—are minimal. This research is a call to action to pay close attention to rap songs and rap music videos and to demand change both from rap artists and the companies that back them.

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This study analyzed the process of subject formation in South African underground hip hoppers. The main focus of the study was to explore how resistance is constructed and achieved through embodied discursive practices and discourse in underground Hip Hop music. The study analyzed how the terms, 'Representing', 'Keeping it real' and 'Hustling', were used by hip hoppers in their construction of a hip hop subject. These terms were used by the hip hoppers as the standard against which all hip hoppers are compared if they are to be considered authentic hip hoppers. It was found that resistance was framed in the form of a heroic narrative that made use of these vernacular terms. The word 'Hustling' was used to denote the difficulties that face the hero in a heroic narrative. This heroic narrative was a strategy in which the hip hoppers repositioned themselves as heroes fighting in a hard world, one full of inopportunity against people like themselves. Overcoming this space was important to the hip hoppers but retaining connections to it was also seen as equally important. Because of the history of opposition surrounding the emergence of hip hop, claiming and retaining marginalization remain important to hip hoppers in accounts of themselves. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Thesis (M.A.)--Flinders University, School of Education. / Typescript bound. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 149-168) Also available online.