Ing the Real: Identity Politics and Urban Space in Mainstream Norwegian Rap Music
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Staging the real: Identity politics and urban space in mainstream Norwegian rap music Birgitte Sandve PhD thesis submitted at the Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, 2014 Table of Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. 4 1. Intro...................................................................................................................................... 6 Outlining the thesis........................................................................................................................6 Limitations and restrictions .......................................................................................................9 Entries into the discussions .....................................................................................................10 2. Rapping in a transcultural space..............................................................................12 Rap and the ‘rusting urBan core’............................................................................................14 The gloBal spread of a symBolic community......................................................................27 BarBarian North and slippery Beat streets.........................................................................37 3. Staging the ‘real’ .............................................................................................................49 ‘Keeping it real’: questions of authenticity and appropriation in rap music ..........50 The gloBal rap music scene: questions of Belonging, power and identity ...............64 HardBoiled, hen-pecked and peculiar: the performativity of masculinity ..............73 Karpe Diem – henpecked with a twist..............................................................................................75 Jesse Jones – a hard-boiled street boy..............................................................................................78 Lars Vaular – the peculiarities of post- hip hop ...........................................................................82 4. Studying the ‘popular’ in rap......................................................................................88 Contextualizing the rap text.....................................................................................................92 Rap as revision: signifying practices and musicological concerns .......................... 102 Audio-viewing rap: mediations of the rap text............................................................... 112 Conceptualizing artist identity ............................................................................................ 115 5. Karpe Diem: unwrapping ‘Norwegianness’........................................................ 120 Questioning ‘Norwegianness’ .............................................................................................. 121 Forging national identity through music.......................................................................... 126 Karpe Diem and the spectacle of ‘otherness’ .................................................................. 128 Byduer i dur ................................................................................................................................ 130 Recontextualizing ‘Byduer i dur’......................................................................................... 134 UrBan space and politics of difference .............................................................................. 138 ‘Still in the making’................................................................................................................... 143 Towards notions of a ‘New Norway’? ................................................................................. 145 6. Jesse Jones: a ‘real’ street Boy................................................................................. 148 The trope of hypermasculinity ............................................................................................ 151 ‘Gategutt’...................................................................................................................................... 153 Gategutt........................................................................................................................................ 159 Jesse Jones and the trouBled issue of heterosexism..................................................... 164 Performing out hypermasculinity in a transcultural space....................................... 167 7. Lars Vaular: straight-queer in a post-hip hop space ....................................... 171 Keeping it ‘riddled’: stylistic codes and gender performativity ............................... 172 Fett................................................................................................................................................. 176 ‘I min leilighet’........................................................................................................................... 183 Male vocality and performative materiality.................................................................... 191 Straight-queer in a post-hip hop space ............................................................................. 196 8. Coda ................................................................................................................................. 201 Appendix ............................................................................................................................ 203 2 Videography ............................................................................................................................... 208 Discography................................................................................................................................ 209 BiBliography...................................................................................................................... 209 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I want to thank for the opportunity to join the research project Popular Music and Gender in a Transcultural Context, funded by the Norwegian Research Council. As part of this research team, I have been provided the opportunity to develop my own work within a vibrant network of researchers and affiliated institutions, both on a national and an international scale. My next big thank goes to my research leader and supervisor, Stan Hawkins. This thesis would not have been possible to pull off without your help and thorough guidance. Your critical attention to my ideas, analytical perspectives and writing has been invaluable for my development as an academic. I also want to thank you for your big generosity, the good conversations and, not to forget, your catching laughter! I also want to thank the rest of the research team - Mats Johansson, Mikkel Ålvik, Mari Paus and Craig Jennex – for being such good colleagues and for all the intriguing and challenging discussions we’ve had during these years. A special thanks goes to Mari, who organized our trip to New York and for keeping my spirit up while caught on Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy. She also introduced me to Derrick Gaye, who I wish to thank for lending me a documentary on mainstream American rap music. This was an important eye opener for me. In the final, and quite exhausting, phase of this project I was so lucky to have Bjørn Meyer do the copy- editing on this thesis. Your sharp eye for language and your patience have been of huge help. I hope I’ve managed to weed out the ‘norwenglish’ and ‘garden passages’ that you pointed out. In the same vein, I’d like to thank Ståle Vollan for reading through the project description that brought me onto the research project in the first place. Also, I wish to thank all my colleagues at the Department of Musicology at University of Oslo, for providing such a good environment to work in. During my years as a PhD student, I’ve been fortunate to attend seminars organized by the department, where I’ve had the chance to test out my ideas for Susan McClary, Robert Walser and Stephen Feld. I wish to thank you for your constructive and useful feedback on my work in progress, and for pointing out directions that have influenced this work. I should also thank the PhD leaders Erling Guldbrandsen and Ståle Wikshåland for organizing the PhD program, and for supporting me at different phases of this project. I’ve had some interesting and 4 inspiring conversations with Triin Vallaste, Marita Buanes Djupvik and Lars Norberg, and I hope to meet you again in the near future, although we are scattered around in different places. The initial idea to this project came during the time I worked at Oslo Music Council, and wish to thank my former colleagues there for providing such an open-minded work environment. To my good neighbors Eline and Sandro: thanks for helping out with the family logistics and for encouraging me on the way. A big thanks goes to my parents and my sister Maria, who all share my deep interest for music and who always support me. Finally, to my own family: Berthine and Bård, I could not have made this without you. Your patience and unconditional support have pushed me forward, and I’m so thankful for having you both in my life. Oslo, 23 July 2014 Birgitte Sandve 5 1. Intro Outlining the thesis Writing this thesis has taken me on the long and winding road; or rather, the back- streets of the cities’ suburbs. Entering into this project with a scant knowledge of