"Tha Realness": In Search of Hip-Hop Authenticity

Jonathan D. Williams, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

Since hip-hop’s inception in the late 1970s, there has been a pervasive emphasis, from Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke” to Pitch Black’s “Its All Real,” on an emcee’s realness, or authenticity. Why is there such an emphasis on proving oneself to be authentic? How has the notion of an emcee or DJ’s “realness” evolved with the music itself? How have musicologists and sociologists defined authenticity with regard to hip-hop? Are these definitions appropriate? Are they adequate? How has the tradition of sampling other songs shaped the debate on hip-hop authenticity?

Discipline(s)

Ethnomusicology

Suggested Citation

Williams, Jonathan D., ""Tha Realness": In Search of Hip-Hop Authenticity" 14 December 2007. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania, https://repository.upenn.edu/curej/78.