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The relationship between Black youth and hip-hop culture is the focus of this article. The author considers how African American youth use hip-hop as a form of cultural capital in everyday settings. By focusing on how Black youth interact with one another at the City Youth Center, the article examines how this particular form of cultural capital may be used to authenticate a Black identity. Finally, how the articulation of this identity is based on traditional gender roles is explored. Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital is heavily relied on to investigate how Black youth construct legitimate racial boundaries in predominately Black settings. The intention is to provide an extension of Bourdieu's theory by examining how Black youth identity is formed and renegotiated in everyday interactions with other Black youth and how this negotiation is mediated through hip-hop culture.
Keywords: hip-hop culture; youth; performance; cultural capital; Black racial identity
Hip-hop culture, particularly rap music, has been praised by both popular and academic critics because of its linkages to Black political power ( Abrams, 1995; Decker, 1994; Lusane, 1993), its vivid illustrations of Black lived experience (Boyd, 1994; George, 1999; Gilroy, 1997; Rose, 1994; Watkins, 1998), and its ability to motivate and speak to Black youth (George, 1999; Gray, 1995; Kelley, 1994; Lipsitz, 1994b; Stapleton, 1998). The relationship between Black youth and hip-hop culture is the focus of this article. In the following pages, I consider how African American youth use hip-hop as a form of cultural capital in everyday settings. Furthermore, I suggest that this particular form of cultural capital may be used to authenticate a Black identity. Finally, I explore how the articulation of this identity is based on traditional gender roles. To understand identity in this context, I rely heavily on Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital to investigate how Black youth construct legitimate racial boundaries in predominately Black settings. My intention is to provide an extension of Bourdieu's theory by examining intra-ethnic/racial relationships and the distinction-making processes that occur within them. More specifically, I explore whether and how Black youth identity is formed and renegotiated in everyday interactions with other Black youth and how this negotiation is mediated through hip-hop culture.
I examine the negotiation of Black youth identity as it relates to...