MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The digital age has ushered in a landscape that allows for manipulations and fracturing of hip-hop authenticity. Using ethnographic data, I argue that McLeod’s (1999) six-dimensions of hip-hop authenticity are being manipulated by white hip-hoppers to justify their own hip-hop authenticity.

Hip-hop has divided into subgenres/communities while simultaneously being absorbed into mainstream culture. This division/absorption of hip-hop did not eliminate hip-hop’s traditions, such as its roots in resistance or emphasis on authenticity. However, this did alter how hip-hoppers view these traditions. There are three clear implications from the fragmenting and mainstreaming of hip-hop: (1) establishment of an underground adversary, (2) the incorporation of authentic commercial hip-hop, and (3) the manipulation of authenticity. Each of these influences how whites conceptualize authenticity by allowing space for whiteness to navigate hip-hop authenticity.

The underground adversary is a distinct feature that is not accounted for by McLeod (1999) in his six-dimensions. The fan, and occasional artist, get labeled as hipster, as a marker of inauthentic hip-hop. The perception of hipsterism provides white hip-hoppers the ability to emphasize McLeod’s political-economic dimension that undercuts the psycho-social dimension in order to reinforce their own authenticity. True-to-self ascends to primary status—underpinned by the cultural dimension—to create my new dimension of respect for hip-hop versus hipster dimension.

The hipster as an inauthentic member of underground music circles is not a new concept. Most famously Norman Mailer (1957/2007) lambasted hipsters as “psychopaths” that gentrify neighborhoods. What distinguishes hipsters in this study is that they were gentrifying already gentrified zones. Subgenres of hip-hop that were already designed to cater to whites, according to my participants, were also scenes in which hipsters were prevalent and intrusive. By using the hipster as a foil, white hip-hoppers can reinforce their own authenticity through comparison.