Keyword – rap

Borbíró, Aletta:

„It’s Important That You Network, aha”

This paper interprets the music video Szív (Heart) by Krúbi from the perspective of transmedia and convergence culture. In addition to briefly describing the characteristics of rap, it focuses on how the genre is interconnected with the dominant media outlets, how social media platforms provide space for alterego building and make the networking between rappers more visible. The song and music video Heart represent the networked nature of the music industry and include visual and metareflexive notes that highlight the changing nature of visual media, while also demonstrating the logic of media convergence.

Keywords: convergence culture, Krúbi, networking, rap, transmediality

Iványi, Márton Pál:

Stands, Suburbs, Salat

The scholarly literature has explored the genesis of rap music and its original social functions, including, among other things, the processing of the experiences of marginalisation, the formation of collective identities, and various forms of social engagement. Building upon these established lines of discussion, this paper introduces three case studies of artistic practice drawn from two broadly comparable historical and social contexts, as well as a third one that differs markedly from them. Through these cases, it aims to demonstrate how the artistic identity and oeuvre of a given rapper may be structured around distinct focal points such as 1) the articulation of affiliation with a sports club, as exemplified by Dale in the Hungarian scene, 2) the expression of patriotic motifs, characteristic of the Polish trajectory associated with Sokół and 3) the foregrounding of religious commitment, as observed in the Algerian case of Lotfi Double Kanon. In each instance, these emphases operate in tension with, or in opposition to, dominant mainstream cultural frameworks and currents. Taken together, these cases make it evident that certain salient patterns—related to sport, place-based belonging or religious orientation—may constitute some of the most prominent elements of an artist’s public persona or “brand”, even within a musical genre that has long been associated with African American cultural expression. Ultimately, this analysis corroborates earlier observations that suggest that rap has by now evolved into a highly differentiated field and a polyphonic universe of meanings.

Keywords: identity, mainstream, rap, society, underground, (post-)subcultural research