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The code of the streets in Beijing: Style-shifting and changing personae in the performance of Beijing male rappers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2023

Tianxiao Wang Open the ORCID record for Tianxiao Wang [Opens in a new window]
Tianxiao Wang*
Affiliation:
Xiamen University, China
*
Address for correspondence: Tianxiao Wang No. 4221 South Xiang'an Road Xiamen University (Xiang'an campus) Xiang'an District, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China, 361102 [email protected]
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Abstract

This study explores the link between stylized forms of language and the construction of social identities in performance in the Beijing hip hop community. It focuses on the indexical process by which rappers rely on existing characterological figures and local linguistic variables in Beijing Mandarin (i.e. rhotacized syllable finals, lenited retroflexes, interdentalized dental sibilants, and fronted palatals) to construct hip hop affiliated identities. A variationist analysis provides evidence of style-shifting between two generations of Beijing male rappers, who employ these socially salient linguistic features to different degrees, but always in a semiotically coherent package, in their performance. The analysis further demonstrates how the rappers maintain street credibility through a cultural alignment between hip hop and local social types. By examining the indexicality of these variables, the study highlights the interplay of hip hop ideology, local linguistic features, and local social types in stylistic practices and personae construction. (Hip hop, indexicality, iconicity, performance, Mandarin Chinese)*

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Article
Information
Language in Society , First View , pp. 1 - 27
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

I would like to express my gratitude to Rebecca Lurie Starr, Yuhan Lin, the editors, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments that improved this article greatly. I also thank the audience at the 6th meeting of the New Ways of Analyzing Variation – Asia Pacific for their kind feedback and encouragement. This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Project # 2072021119) and Fujian Provincial Federation of Social Sciences (Project #FJ2021C054).

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