Make Rappers Rap Again Interrogating the Mumble Rap "Crisis"

by Lewis, Heidi R.

• ISBN13: 9780197773819
• ISBN10: 0197773818
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-08-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In Make Rappers Rap Again: Interrogating the Mumble Rap “Crisis,” author Heidi R. Lewis interrogates the ways Mumble Rap has been subjugated within real Hip Hop. Many critics claim mumble rappers are ignorant about Hip Hop history, disrespectful toward their Hip Hop elders, too similar, unskilled, prone to rapping about nonsense, and too feminine. In contrast, Lewis argues Mumble Rap is real Hip Hop. To do so, she examines Mumble Rap's congruence with oft forgotten or subjugated Hip Hop cornerstones like illegibility, melody, the DJ, and the subgenre, as well as the ways most mumble rappers practice citational and collaborative politics congruent with real Hip Hop. Following an analysis of the Mumble Rap sound, Lewis explains the subgenre's subjugation by situating it as southern and examining the ways it challenges real Hip Hop masculinity norms.

Author Biography

Heidi R. Lewis is Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College. Lewis' first book, In Audre's Footsteps: Transnational Kitchen Table Talk examines how women of color resist subjugation and do solidarity. She has also published in Womanism Rising, Rethinking Women's and Gender Studies II, The Cultural Impact of Kanye West, the Journal of Popular Culture, the Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, and Indivisible: Alliances against Racism and contributed to NewBlackMan, NPR, and Bitch.

Table of Contents

I. Notes to Self and to You, the Reader
An Introduction

II. Chapter One
“You muthafuckas don't know that you're a part of this shit!”:
The Old Heads
Black Creative Traditions and the Hip Hop Elements
Collaborative and Citational Politics
The Old School, Golden Age, and Modern Era

III. Chapter Two
“Not every song is that fuckin' simple!”:
The Mumble Rap Sound
Legibility and Lyricism
Sameness
The Mumble Rap Sound

IV. Chapter Three
“Outsiders are welcome-but not, of course, necessary!”:
The South
Atlanta
Virginia
South Florida
The Midsouth
Louisiana
Houston

V. Chapter Four
“I feel like it's no such thing as gender!”:
The Contours of Masculinity
The Mental and Emotional
Drug Use and Addiction
Gender Identity and Expression

VI. Chapter Five
“You just gotta embrace the youth in all aspects!”:
The DJ Drama Interview

VII. A Note to Old Heads:
A Conclusion

Index
Bibliography