Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture

A vocabulary-style set of flashcards capturing key terms and concepts from the notes on hip hop and the postindustrial urban context.

Hip Hop

An Afro-diasporic cultural form that emerged in New York City’s postindustrial era, combining rap, DJs, graffiti, and breakdancing; uses flow, layering, and rupture to express and negotiate urban life and social change.

Postindustrial city

Urban centers transformed by deindustrialization, shifting employment from manufacturing to corporate and information-service sectors; changes in housing, communication, and opportunity.

Deindustrialization

The decline of manufacturing sectors in cities, leading to economic restructuring and widening inequality in urban areas.

Cross-Bronx Expressway

Robert Moses’s highway project through the Bronx that displaced hundreds of thousands and contributed to urban decline in the South Bronx.

South Bronx

Neighborhood heavily impacted by urban renewal and economic restructuring; recognized as the birthplace of hip hop and a symbol of urban ruin in the 1970s.

Urban renewal

Government redevelopment that often demolished neighborhoods and relocated residents, reshaping urban spaces.

Slum clearance

Policies and practices to remove dilapidated housing, leading to displacement and community destruction.

Graffiti tags

Stylized signatures or marks painted on surfaces to claim territory and display identity within hip hop culture.

Breakdancing

Street-based dance featuring fast footwork and spins; a core element of hip hop.

Boom boxes

Portable speaker systems used to broadcast music publicly, enabling impromptu performances and community sharing of hip hop.

Crews/Posse

Local, often multiethnic groups providing identity, support, and social networks within hip hop communities.

Flow

The smooth, continuous movement of lyrics and rhythm in rap and associated music; one of hip hop’s organizing aesthetics.

Layering

The stacking or overlapping of sounds, voices, and textures to create complexity and dialogue in hip hop.

Rupture

Abrupt breaks or shifts in flow or rhythm that puncture continuity and create energy.

Afro-diasporic

Pertaining to cultural practices and identities rooted in the African diaspora across the Americas and Caribbean.

Afro-Caribbean

Afro-diasporic influences from Caribbean communities shaping hip hop (e.g., Puerto Rican, Jamaican contributions).

Recuperation

Hebdige’s idea that subcultural signs are converted into mass-produced objects and redefined by dominant groups; a form of co-optation.

Incorporation

The process by which subcultures become integrated into mainstream culture, often via commodification and corporate control.

Commodification

Turning cultural expressions and practices into marketable products; central to hip hop’s relationship with capitalism.

Ghetto blasters

Large portable stereo systems used to broadcast music in public spaces, aiding street-level dissemination of hip hop.

Hoodies

Large hooded jackets popular in late 1980s–1990s hip hop fashion.

Snooties

Skull caps worn as part of hip hop style and street fashion.

Tims

Timberland boots, a prominent item in hip hop footwear fashion.