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Introduction to special issue: Prosecuting and Policing Rap

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2022

Eithne Quinn Open the ORCID record for Eithne Quinn [Opens in a new window] ,
Joy White  and
John Street
Eithne Quinn
Affiliation:
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL
Joy White
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Bedfordshire, Luton LU1 3JU
John Street
Affiliation:
School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ
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Extract

The state's coercive engagement with Black youth expressive culture, and rap music in particular, is a topic of mounting public and scholarly concern. Rap lyrics and videos made by defendants and codefendants are regularly used as evidence in court cases in ways that incite bias against young people in the dock. At the same time, the performance and circulation of rap music are increasingly monitored and constrained by the police and other bodies. Thus, as this special issue explores, the prosecuting and policing of rap music serves as a double-punch against Black youth: the state both showcases rap music as criminal evidence in the courtroom to lock down prosecutions and, at the same time, surveils rappers and suppresses the music's creation and dissemination and, in so doing, the income streams of those who make it.

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Article
Information
Popular Music , Volume 41 , Special Issue 4: Prosecuting and Policing Rap , December 2022 , pp. 419 - 426
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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