From rhymes to revelation:A qualitative study of listeners’ meaning-making of hip-hop music

Hip-Hop as a music genre is a popular music genre both in commercial success and global impact and there is a variety of academic studies on the origins, creation, effects, and uses of hip-hop. What remains understudied, yet fundamentally important, is a perspective that takes hip-hop consumers and the way they give meaning to hip-hop as a musical genre. The current in-depth interview study (N = 20) aimed to understand how hip-hop listeners came to give meaning to hip-hop music in their own words and from the perspective of their everyday lived experiences. Results outlined four themes that are relevant in the meanings constructed around hip-hop music, 1) how listeners define hip-hop, 2) how they experience listening to hip-hop, 3) how hip-hop is used as a source in identity-formational practices, and 4) how listeners employed a societal perspective in evaluating hip-hop as a musical genre. As such, the current study provides a balanced empirical perspective on hip-hop music and sheds light on the meaningful role it has in the lives of its listeners.