50 Jahre Rap – Slawische Sprachen im Fokus
50 Years of Rap – Slavic Languages in Focus)

Summary/Abstract: Rap, which is rooted in the African-American urban culture of the 1970s, has long ceased to be an exclusively Western musical phenomenon. Its presence and expansion in Slavic countries – from Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine to Russian-speaking Central Asia – confirms its global reach and adaptability to different linguistic, social and political contexts. As a means of artistic expression, political dissent and identity representation, in recent years rap has gained the attention of scholars, although the subject has long remained marginalised in German-speaking countries. Against this background, the anthology „Rap und die slawischen Sprachen. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge und Erkenntnisse“, edited by Aleksej Tikhonov and Cristiana Lucchetti, is a ground-breaking initiative. It is a publication within German-language Slavic studies that deals with the topic of rap in Slavic languages systematically and across geographical and disciplinary boundaries. In individual chapters, the authors analyse topics such as translanguaging, multilingualism, the use of vulgarities and the role of rap music. The review article is intended to provide an overview of the structure and content of the volume and to assess its relevance for contemporary Slavic studies, sociolinguistics and the study of language in music. It also examines the extent to which the anthology contributes to research into translational identity constructions, linguistic hybridity and the role of migrant languages in the public and cultural sphere.

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