The Notion of “Rap Culture”
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THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE European Masters of Intercultural Communication (EMICC) Semiotics of cultures The Notion of “Rap Culture” Sonja Reher (University of Bayreuth / Germany) Peter Jandok (University of Bayreuth / Germany) Valentine Rosset (APU / UK) Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 1 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE Summary In our comparative study of the social actor of Rap culture in France and Germany we present results of internet- and library research, as well as group- and individual thinking in the following structure: After a short introduction of the three authors and a presentation of the results of our brainstorming before the beginning, we will outline four definitions of culture which are explained and applied to first findings of characteristics of Rap culture. Secondly a description of our social actor will be given in four dimensions: The first will be the common history, the second the Rap culture as a national scene, the third the common knowledge and values and the fourth the common activities. This will be done in a comparative way, usually starting with our findings of French Rap and afterwards of German Rap. The data on which our findings are based are a selection of lyrics of French and German Rap – in conjunction with theoretic concepts. With the help of them the third main part of this work is presented: The linguistic culture of Rap. There are some linguistic conventions in Rap culture. Typical linguistic strategies can be found, such as self-referential speech (e. g. boasting, identification, naming, references of place and time) and listener-directed speech (e. g. dissing). Stylistic devices are the second linguistic convention, e. g. the use of metaphors, metonymies, apocopes, aphaeresis, spelling of words. Examples of Bi- /Multilingualism and diglossic speech will also be introduced. If one wants to describe and understand another culture a cultural translation is necessary. The object of research has to be put into the “words” of somebody else’ culture which certainly is not the same. In this fourth chapter we will thus look closer at the process of interpreting as well as at the process of appropriating. This means that the interpreter has to adjust the found and experienced material in a way that the members of e. g. the researcher’s culture can understand what s/he wants to say. It will also be pointed out who are the “others” of our social actor, this means a mirroring object that defines the contrast, such as Pop-music, government or police in our case. Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 2 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE In the fifth chapter called McWorld a summary of similarities that are applicable all over the world will be given. It has to be pointed out that the brainstorming we did before we started was far from complete. A great part of the four categories of the social actor was only vaguely known to all of us (e. g. dress code, cities, status symbols) – but certainly not in such detail. We definitely did not consider the linguistic part as elaborate and strongly developed as it is, with its global and local features. On the one hand we learnt a lot about our social actor of Rap culture. On the other hand we learnt and practiced a way in which comparative studies can be approached. These steps on the meta level may help us in the future to open up unknown subjects in a systematic and academic way. Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 3 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 5 1. FOUR DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE (APPLIED TO RAP CULTURE) ................................................................................... 8 2. THE SOCIAL ACTOR OF RAP CULTURE ............................... 11 C. COMMON KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES ....................................................19 France .....................................................................................19 Germany ..................................................................................20 D. COMMON ACTIVITIES .....................................................................23 3. LINGUISTIC CULTURE ....................................................... 24 Universals ................................................................................24 Germany ..................................................................................32 4. CULTURAL TRANSLATION.................................................. 33 France .....................................................................................34 Germany ..................................................................................35 5. MCWORLD.......................................................................... 36 Local........................................................................................38 REFERENCES ............................................................................ 41 Bibliography .............................................................................41 Webliography: ..........................................................................42 Discography .............................................................................43 Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 4 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE Introduction Before we start the authors would like to introduce themselves: Peter Jandok is studying Pedagogic, Intercultural Communication and German as a Foreign Language at the Technical University of Chemnitz and at the University of Bayreuth. He gathered intercultural experiences by working and studying mainly in South Africa, Spain, China and Mexico. His hobbies are reading and partly music. Valentine Rosset studied four years at Nanterre University/France. There she studied Foreign Languages (English and Spanish). During these 4 years, she studied one semester in London and one in Amsterdam. Now she is registered at the APU/Cambridge to do a Masters in Intercultural Communication. Sonja Reher is a student of Intercultural German Studies, Anglophone Studies and Sociology at Bayreuth University. During her studies she worked and travelled in China, Ireland and the USA. When we were asked to describe the notion of a given culture we decided spontaneously to take a closer look on ‘youth culture’. Soon we noticed that this group would be far too big. We had to focus on the category which was easy because all the three of us are interested in music. As we all knew that Rap is a popular form of music in France as well as in Germany and because we all share the interest also in this music we came to the conclusion to investigate more thoroughly the similarities and differences between Rap in France and Germany. Another important factor was that Rap groups are often intercultural themselves and therefore an interesting subject of research. Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 5 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE As we did not want to go into research immediately we found it appropriate to do a brainstorming amongst ourselves in order to see what we already knew about our topic of research. This common knowledge was about to be proved in a scientific way as the following step. We all agreed that many Rap musicians often, at least partly, have an immigrant background which in some form gives them an own identity. Therefore we assumed that the lyrics of their music must reflect this thematically as well as linguistically. In France they mainly come from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Sub-Saharian Africa and live in the suburbs of the big cities, such as Paris and Marseilles. A majority belongs to an underprivileged group. In Germany we imagined that they are Turkish and from Sub-Saharian Africa as well as from US- American origin and live in big cities, too, but not so much in suburbs because the suburbs do not exist in the same way as they do in France. We also thought that Rappers often belong to the middle class. The members of the Rap communities have a certain dress code and are often involved in graffiti, break- dance and other artistic activities. Status symbols play an important role in their lives, such as jewellery, big cars and pretty girls. Competing amongst the Rap communities seems to be more important Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 6 EMICC; University of Bayreuth (Germany); 2003 THE NOTION OF RAP CULTURE in Germany than in France. In Germany there would be ‘battles’ where two competitors Rap against each other in clubs and the audience decides who is best. Insulting the other – ‘dissing’ – is the linguistic way to gain respect and prestige in these events which originate from the USA. During the discussion we found out that Rappers in France are rather rejected by the society and feel between two cultures. In Germany our impression was that Rappers more often function as a bridge, a linking element between two poles, whatever they may be: foreigners/Germans, rich/poor, young/established. Sonja Reher (Germany), Peter Jandok (Germany), Valentine Rosset (France) 7 EMICC; University of Bayreuth