KEEPING IT “REAL”: MAKING A CAREER IN PITTSBURGH’S RAP MUSIC SCENE by Jeffrey M. Tienes B.A., DePauw University, 2008 M.A., The George Washington University, 2010 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Jeffrey M. Tienes It was defended on April 21, 2017 and approved by Waverly Duck, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Melanie M. Hughes, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Ronald J. Zboray, Professor, Department of Communications Dissertation Advisor: Lisa D. Brush, Professor, Department of Sociology ii Copyright © by Jeffrey M. Tienes 2017 iii KEEPING IT “REAL”: MAKING A CAREER IN PITTSBURGH’S RAP MUSIC SCENE Jeffrey M. Tienes, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2017 How do aspiring artists in the Pittsburgh rap music scene propel themselves onto the national stage? Through interactions with others in the local rap music scene, artists develop the skills, practices, and dispositions that allow them credibly to “do hip-hop”. Through ethnographic interviews of 25 aspiring artists and 2 years of observation of live performances, studio recording sessions, social media interactions, and other events, I trace the process of accountability through which artists demonstrate that they are in and of the culture of hip-hop: They assess themselves and others according to the rap music credo of “keeping it real,” and enforce adherence to this central criterion of artistic and personal integrity. Rappers hold themselves and others accountable for their ability to cite hip-hop – and realness – as a norm. Despite artists’ desires for a unified scene and literature that conceptualizes scenes as nurturing musicians’ careers, Pittsburgh’s rap scene is rife with instances of horizontal hostility; artists see others in the scene as threating their success. I analyze the diverse pathways by which artists develop their ambitions to pursue rap music as a career. I uncover social, economic, and cultural forces that guide artists into their aspirations in music. I catalog a set of strategies artists deploy as they try to “make it” in rap music, with a particular focus on how they transition from amateurs to professionals. As artists attempt to “make it” and accountably “do hip-hop,” their interactions are shaped by the ways race, class, and gender organize expectations, standards of realness, and possibilities for success in the rap music industry. This study enriches the literature on cultural iv production by showing how local music scenes can both hinder and help the careers of artists trying to break into the mainstream. Additionally, my findings and analyses add to sociological and cultural understandings of how race and gender shape and reinforce not only individual identities and career trajectories but also the limits and possibilities of creativity and what it means to “do hip-hop.” Keywords: Authenticity, Hip-Hop, Gender, Ethnography, Professionalism, Identity v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... XI 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RESEARCH PURPOSE ..................................................................................... 3 1.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................................... 4 1.2.1 Description of Respondents and Research Setting ....................................... 5 1.2.2 Interview Data.................................................................................................. 7 1.2.3 Observational Data .......................................................................................... 9 1.2.4 Other Data Sources ....................................................................................... 10 1.2.5 Significance of Methodology ......................................................................... 12 1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 14 1.3.1 Boundaries and Rap Music: Keeping it Real in Cultural Production ...... 15 1.3.2 Keeping it Real in Rap Music ....................................................................... 18 1.3.3 Blackness, Masculinity, and Authenticity in Hip-Hop Culture ................ 24 1.3.4 The Political Economy of Rap Music ........................................................... 31 1.4 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 34 2.0 SETTING THE SCENE IN PITTSBURGH RAP MUSIC .................................... 37 2.1 PITTSBURGH’S UNDERGROUND RAP SCENE IN THE MID-2010S ... 38 vi 2.1.1 The Pittsburgh Renaissance ......................................................................... 40 2.1.2 Hip-Hop Infrastructure in Pittsburgh ......................................................... 43 2.1.2.1 The Beat Box........................................................................................ 44 2.1.2.2 100.1 FM: WAMO Radio ................................................................... 56 2.1.2.3 Rostrum Records................................................................................. 61 2.2 MUSIC SCENE STUDIES................................................................................ 64 2.2.1 What is a Music Scene? ................................................................................. 65 2.2.2 Music Scenes as a Response to Previous Concepts ..................................... 69 2.2.3 Scenes as Productive Spaces ......................................................................... 71 2.2.4 Scenes as Sites of Conflict ............................................................................. 73 2.2.5 Social Mobility in Music Scenes ................................................................... 76 2.2.6 The Success and Failure of Music Scenes .................................................... 78 2.3 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 81 3.0 “IT’S LIKE CRABS IN A BARREL”: HORIZONTAL HOSTILITY IN PITTSBURGH RAP MUSIC ..................................................................................................... 83 3.1 “YOU CAN’T THROW A ROCK IN PITTSBURGH WITHOUT HITTING A RAPPER” ........................................................................................................................ 90 3.2 COMPETITION IN PITTSBURGH HIP-HOP ............................................. 96 3.3 “IT SEEMS YOU’RE DOING BETTER FOR YOURSELF WHEN YOU’RE NOT SEEN IN PITTSBURGH” ..................................................................... 114 3.4 “THE PITTSBURGH SCENE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE AN L.A. OR ATLANTA OR CHICAGO” ........................................................................................... 126 3.5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 129 vii 4.0 "WE'RE IN THIS SELF-MADE HELLBOX": ACCOUNTABILITY AND NORM CITATION IN PITTSBURGH'S RAP MUSIC INDUSTRY ................................. 131 4.1 NORMATIVE CITATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN “DOING GENDER” ......................................................................................................................... 134 4.1.1 Doing Gender and Doing Difference .......................................................... 135 4.1.2 Normative Citation and “Doing Hip-Hop” ............................................... 138 4.1.3 Accountability .............................................................................................. 140 4.1.4 Criticisms of Doing Gender and Doing Difference ................................... 143 4.2 KEEPING IT REAL........................................................................................ 146 4.3 DOING HIP-HOP ............................................................................................ 152 4.3.1 “I did not have a Run DMC Rattle Above my Crib” ............................... 154 4.3.2 “To be Hip-Hop is to be in and of the Culture” ........................................ 159 4.3.3 “Be Original” ............................................................................................... 162 4.3.4 “I Don’t Like the Way They Smell”........................................................... 165 4.3.5 “We’re in this Self-Made Hellbox” ............................................................ 170 4.4 ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PITTSBURGH UNDERGROUND ........... 177 4.4.1 Orientations .................................................................................................. 178 4.4.1.1 “Who Are You and What Do You Stand For?” ............................. 178 4.4.1.2 “I’m Thinking About Who is Going to Hear This” ....................... 179 4.4.2 Assessments .................................................................................................. 183 4.4.2.1 “He’s Really Real About These Things” ......................................... 185 4.4.2.2 “Oh, You Must be Doing Something Shady” ................................. 188 4.4.2.3 “White People are the Tastemakers” .............................................. 190 viii 4.4.2.4 “Now I Need to Make