‘I feel English as fuck’: translocality and the performance of alternative identities through rap

Journal article

This article deploys the concept of translocality, in order to move beyond the transnational framework that underpins global hip hop studies. Over the last forty years rap music has become a vibrant and distinctive part of mainstream British life. Through rap young people construct identities that draw upon their local experiences while also connecting them with young people from other localities. These translocal identities affirm a multi-ethnic, urban experience of England in mainstream popular culture. Based on a year of ethnographic research in London and Bristol, we argue that a distinctive rap culture is produced through the performance, production, circulation, and reproduction of rap in and between English cities.

Authors: Bramwell, R; Butterworth, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: Ethnic and Racial Studies
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 14
• Pages: 2510-2527
• Publication date: 2019-07-15
• Acceptance date: 2019-05-13
• DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2019.1623411
• EISSN: 1466-4356
• ISSN: 0141-9870
• Keywords: performance; rap; grime; global hip hop; translocality; FFR; identity