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'The industry's the new road': Crime, commodification and street cultural tropes in UK urban music

Ilan, Jonathan (2012) 'The industry's the new road': Crime, commodification and street cultural tropes in UK urban music. Crime, Media, Culture, 8 (1). pp. 39-55. ISSN 1741-6590. (doi:10.1177/1741659011433367) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:36552)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1741659011433367

Abstract

With original authors and audiences from the most disadvantaged and excluded communities across Western society, urban music has been equally scorned and sought out for its referencing of, and/or association with, criminal activity. Urban music (such as rap from the United States) can be understood as generating both 'respectable fears' and 'subcultural capital', appealing to youthful consumers who are seduced by its ostensibly transgressive character. This appeal is linked to the urban communities which incubated and popularised both the music and the 'street culture' of its underprivileged population. The wisdom has followed that the more 'ghetto' the music, the greater its ability to court controversy and generate record sales. Interestingly, the latest generation of UK urban artistes has bucked this trend, eschewing violent imagery and metaphor, courting a 'mainstream' aesthetic and actively referencing 'respectable' routes to inclusion such as engaging with education and running small businesses. This paper reflects on British 'grime' music, demonstrating that new media and music industry democratisation can alter the manner by which crime and street culture are commodified. It argues that where there is a perception of threat connected to street-level urban music authored by those with supposed links to criminality, the lines between real crime and its mediated representation can become blurred. The authorities and the music industry may respond by effectively criminalising and excluding an entire genre. In the case of UK urban music, artistes have adopted a strategy to succeed within the mainstream industry which, as opposed to US rappers, involves muting their links to street culture. © 2012 The Author(s).

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/1741659011433367
Uncontrolled keywords: commodification of crime, cultural criminology, grime, hip-hop, new media, street culture
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 18 Nov 2013 13:07 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:13 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/36552 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ilan, Jonathan.

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