I Got Something to Say

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction: Started from the Bottom…

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 1-21

3. Urban Spaces and Bodies

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 23-37

4. The Hybrid Rapper

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 39-77

5. Bad Bitches?

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 79-114

6. Coming Straight from the Underground

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 115-152

7. The Queer Emcee

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 153-180

8. Black Lives Matter and Political Rap

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 181-206

9. Conclusion: Future Intersections of Rap and Politics

   • Matthew Oware

   Pages 207-223

10. Back Matter

    Pages 225-240

    PDF

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.

• Hip-Hop
• Race evasion
• post-feminism
• postmodernism
• underground rap
• conscious rap
• streaming music
• Women's studies
• gender and rap
• race and rap
• rap lyrics
• mainstream rap
• chart-topping rap

• Sociology , DePauw University , Greencastle, USA

  Matthew Oware

Matthew Oware is the Lester Martin Jones Professor of Sociology and Director of the Africana Studies Program at DePauw University, USA. He is an award-winning teacher and scholar whose articles have appeared in Journal of African American Studies, Journal of Black Studies, Poetics, and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. He teaches courses in Sociology and Africana Studies.