Performing hip-hop Englishness: The performance of alternative British identities through rap

演绎嘻哈英式：通过说唱表现另类英国身份

• 批准号: AH/M011275/2
• 负责人: Richard Bramwell
• 金额: $ 18.92万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FM011275%2F2
• 关键词: Performing; hip; hop; Englishness; performance

The proposed research will examine the performance of rap in English social and penal institutions. The origins of rap can be traced back from the first commercial recordings of hip-hop in the 1970s, through slavery, to precolonial Africa. The performed character of rap is of significance to understanding the origins of poetry and the role of oral-poetic forms in maintaining the structure of preliterate societies. Rap is now the most popular poetic form in the world. With artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Roll Deep, Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk and the So Solid Crew reaching the top of the UK charts, rap music has also entered into the mainstream of British life. UK hip-hop and grime are also politically significant subcultures, through which working-class youths use rap to represent their conditions of urban dwelling. However, there is little scholarship on rap in the United Kingdom. The development of hip-hop over the last 35 years into a mainstream pop music genre and the production of grime as a distinctively British vernacular culture, highlight the importance of examining how the identities of British youths are shaped through rap.As a generation of Britons have grown up with rap as an ordinary part of their everyday lives, the proposed research will examine urgent questions regarding the impact that rap culture has on the identities of English youths and how state funded organisations influence the articulation of alternative English identities through rap in the wider hip-hop and grime scenes. Through this focus on the performance of rap in these institutions the project will examine the rhetorical and performative techniques used by rap artists to solicit identity from their audience members; to analyse how audience members produce identification in response to rap performances; to investigate the circulation of rap culture within and between different state funded institutions; and the impact of this cultural form on the communities from which young rap artists emerge.Studies of rap songs have predominantly employed textual analysis in a manner that obscures the significance of performance in this oral culture. Attempts to develop a hip-hop poetics and highlight rap's literary qualities are significant contributions to making rap amenable to incorporation within English studies. However, the textual analysis of rap lyrics fails to account for the mutually constitutive relations between the formal qualities of rap as a performed oral-poetic genre and the social forms produced within rap subcultures. By attending to the interaction between performers, audience members, and the performance context, the research will provide a fuller account of the social, cultural and aesthetic significance of rap. The project will investigate the impact that rap performances have on the identities of children and young adults and analyse how the rhetorical and performative techniques employed by rappers produce identities and identification between and within communities. Through a critical engagement with rap performances in one youth centre, a community centre, a young offenders institution and a prison, the team of researchers, with expertise in literary studies, cultural sociology, performance studies and prisons research, will investigate the impact that rap has on these organisations and analyse how rappers' performances, in institutions funded by national and local governments, produce alternative British identities. The research will address the following questions:What are the relations between between the rapper, dj, audience members and performance context in rap performances?How are alternative British identities produced through rap performances in state funded institutions?How does rap contribute to the culture and ethos within youth clubs, community centres, young offenders institutions and prisons in England?How are prison rap cultures interconnected with those in mainstream society?

拟议的研究将审查说唱在英国社会和刑罚机构的表现。说唱乐的起源可以追溯到20世纪70年代的第一个商业嘻哈唱片，通过奴隶制，到前殖民地的非洲。说唱的表演性对于理解诗歌的起源以及口头诗形式在维持文字出现前社会结构中的作用具有重要意义。说唱是当今世界上最流行的诗歌形式。随着Dizzee Rascal，Roll Deep，Wretch 32，Tinie Tempah，Chipmunk和So Solid Crew等艺术家登上英国排行榜的榜首，说唱音乐也进入了英国生活的主流。英国嘻哈和尘垢也是具有政治意义的亚文化，工人阶级青年通过说唱来代表他们的城市居住条件。然而，在英国几乎没有关于说唱的奖学金。嘻哈音乐在过去35年里发展成为主流流行音乐流派，而grime作为一种独特的英国本土文化的产生，突出了研究说唱如何塑造英国年轻人身份的重要性。随着一代英国人在说唱中成长，说唱成为他们日常生活的一部分，拟议中的研究将探讨有关说唱文化对英国青年身份的影响以及国家资助的组织如何通过更广泛的说唱影响替代英国身份的表达等紧迫问题，跳跃和污垢场景。通过对这些机构中说唱表演的关注，该项目将研究说唱艺术家为获得观众认同而使用的修辞和表演技巧;分析观众如何对说唱表演产生认同;调查说唱文化在不同国家资助机构内部和之间的传播;以及这种文化形式对年轻说唱艺术家所来自的社区的影响。对说唱歌曲的研究主要采用文本分析的方式，掩盖了这种口头文化中表演的意义。尝试发展嘻哈诗学和突出说唱的文学品质是重大贡献，使说唱服从纳入英语研究。然而，说唱歌词的文本分析未能解释说唱作为一种口头诗歌体裁的形式特征与说唱亚文化中产生的社会形式之间的相互构成关系。通过对表演者、观众和表演语境之间的互动，本研究将更全面地阐述说唱的社会、文化和美学意义。该项目将调查说唱表演对儿童和年轻人身份的影响，并分析说唱歌手使用的修辞和表演技巧如何在社区之间和社区内产生身份和认同。通过对一个青年中心、一个社区中心、一个青少年罪犯机构和一所监狱的说唱表演进行批判性的参与，一组具有文学研究、文化社会学、表演研究和监狱研究专长的研究人员将调查说唱对这些组织的影响，并分析说唱歌手在国家和地方政府资助的机构中的表演，创造出另一种英国身份本研究将探讨以下问题：在说唱表演中，说唱歌手、dj、观众与表演情境之间的关系为何？在国家资助的机构中，另类的英国身份是如何通过说唱表演产生的？说唱如何在英格兰的青年俱乐部、社区中心、青少年罪犯机构和监狱中为文化和精神做出贡献？监狱说唱文化如何与主流社会的文化相互联系？