Antisemitism in North American Hip-Hop. Emergence, Attitudes and Counterbalances
Felix Philipp
Bachelor Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,3, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Englisches Seminar), language: English, abstract: This bachelor's thesis from the field of Cultural Studies in North American Studies deals with the emergence of antisemitic texts and attitudes, as well as the counterbalance to them in US-American and Canadian hip-hop and rap. First, the history of antisemitism and that of hip-hop are addressed before specifically antisemitic texts and currents in hip-hop are examined. In this context, the antisemitism promoted by the "Nation of Islam" and the collaboration of members or sympathizers of the latter with musicians of the scene are particularly striking. Public Enemy is a hip-hop group that chose drastic lyrics in order to emancipate itself, but at the same time deliberately used anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli stereotypes. This is followed by examinations of the lyrics of selected songs by Public Enemy, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, and by 21 Savage, as well as Snoop Dogg's relationship to the "Nation of Islam." As a counterweight to these developments in hip-hop culture, Drake, whose father is a person of color and whose mother is Jewish, is the subject. He unites the sides that have been played off against each other for decades, and could break prejudices with his music.
