White Hip Hoppers, Language and Identity in Post-Modern America

Cecelia Cutler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780415890045
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317935896
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book examines language and identity among White American middle and upper-middle class youth who affiliate with Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop youth engage in practices that range from the consumption of rap music and fashion to practices like MC-ing (writing and performing raps or "rhymes"), DJ-ing (mixing records to produce a beat for the MC), graffiti tagging, and break-dancing. Cutler explores the way in which these young people stylize their speech using linguistic resources drawn from African American English and Hip Hop slang terms. She also looks at the way they construct their identities in discussions with their friends, and how they talk about and use language to construct themselves as authentic within Hip Hop. Cutler considers the possibility that young people experimenting with AAVE-styled speech may improve the status of AAVE in the broader society. She also addresses the need for educators to be aware of the linguistic patterns found in AAVE and Hip Hop language, and ways to build on Hip Hop skills like rhyming and rapping in order to motivate students and promote literacy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Abbreviations
• Transcription Conventions
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Permissions
• 1 Introduction: White Youth and the Appeal of Hip Hop Culture in the 1990s
• 2 Yorkville Crossing: A Case Study of the Influence of Hip Hop Culture on the Speech of a White Middle Class Adolescent in New York City
• 3 “Keepin’ It Real”: White Hip Hoppers’ Discourse on Language, Race, and Authenticity
• 4 Hip Hop, White Immigrant Youth, and African American English: Accommodation as an Identity Choice
• 5 Brooklyn Style: Hip Hop Markers and Racial Affiliation among European Immigrants in New York City
• 6 MC Battles: Seeing Oneself through the Eyes of the Other
• 7 “She’s So Hood”: Ghetto Authenticity on Reality TV
• 8 Conclusion: Implications for Theories of Style, Identity Formation, and the Status of African American English in the Hip Hop Age
• Bibliography
• Index