• A
  • A
  • A
  • ABC
  • ABC
  • ABC
  • А
  • А
  • А
  • А
  • А
Regular version of the site

Afro-American Tropes in Early Russian Hip-hop

Student: Sinelnikova Anna

Supervisor: Anna G. Ganzha

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities

Educational Programme: Cultural Studies (Bachelor)

Year of Graduation: 2020

My research focuses on the analysis of transfer of three tropes from American hip-hop to Russian rap culture (ghetto, violence and autobiographical modus of speech) in the late 1990s - early 2000s. According to H.L. Gates concept, hip-hop culture in USA is rooted into Afroamerican literature and oral tradition. For this reason, tropes, which are used by American rappers, are a part of their signifying system. Shouldn’t be here without explanations that only people, who is are included in the tradition, can decipher statement in the correct form. The point of my work is that Russian rappers did not understand this folk tradition of Afroamerican people. The misunderstanding has raised new meanings of borrowed tropes. M. Espagne suggests that the host culture gives meaning to the new element, building on the local problems and its own actual context. Thus, there is a metisation. It means that the form of borrowed elements are saved, but the original meaning is transformed. Racial violence, which is a basis of American rap, was not actual in Russia. For this reason, Russian rappers found another form of institutional harassment. Any authority became the greatest enemy in Russian hip-hop culture. This is the influence of Russian chanson, which focuses on the storytelling on behalf of a criminal. This part of chanson is mixed with classic form of rap (recitative and beats). Thus, Russian hop-hop culture is a product of metisation between American rap and Russian chanson.

Student Theses at HSE must be completed in accordance with the University Rules and regulations specified by each educational programme.

Summaries of all theses must be published and made freely available on the HSE website.

The full text of a thesis can be published in open access on the HSE website only if the authoring student (copyright holder) agrees, or, if the thesis was written by a team of students, if all the co-authors (copyright holders) agree. After a thesis is published on the HSE website, it obtains the status of an online publication.

Student theses are objects of copyright and their use is subject to limitations in accordance with the Russian Federation’s law on intellectual property.

In the event that a thesis is quoted or otherwise used, reference to the author’s name and the source of quotation is required.

Search all student theses