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Language play and politics in contemporary Swedish hip-hop

Nykvist, Karin LU (2019)
Abstract
Rap lyrics in Sweden have become increasingly multilingual in the past twenty years. In this chapter, Karin Nykvist provides insights into contemporary Swedish hip-hop and its use of multilingualism. In her analysis of Swedish rap poetics, Nykvist shows how hip-hop lyrics turn to multilingual aesthetics in order to destabilize and question ideas of national identity and to deconstruct the monolingual ideals that those ideas are founded on. She demonstrates how the political performance of multilingualism in contemporary hip-hop lyrics disturbs and alters notions of the Swedish language, as well as the idea and ideology of Swedishness itself. The works analysed in the article cover rap lyrics by the groundbreaking group The Latin Kings in... (More)
Rap lyrics in Sweden have become increasingly multilingual in the past twenty years. In this chapter, Karin Nykvist provides insights into contemporary Swedish hip-hop and its use of multilingualism. In her analysis of Swedish rap poetics, Nykvist shows how hip-hop lyrics turn to multilingual aesthetics in order to destabilize and question ideas of national identity and to deconstruct the monolingual ideals that those ideas are founded on. She demonstrates how the political performance of multilingualism in contemporary hip-hop lyrics disturbs and alters notions of the Swedish language, as well as the idea and ideology of Swedishness itself. The works analysed in the article cover rap lyrics by the groundbreaking group The Latin Kings in the 1990s, the female rapper Feven, and the contemporary male rapper Erik Lundin. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
The Aesthetics and Politics of Linguistic Borders : Multilingualism in Northern European Literature - Multilingualism in Northern European Literature
editor
Grönstrand, Heidi ; Huss, Markus and Kauranen, Ralf
pages
23 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85106650806
ISBN
9780429260834
project
Flerspråkighet i samtida nordisk litteratur
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4ca39697-10ec-45bc-827c-25bb51409af1
date added to LUP
2018-01-31 16:52:41
date last changed
2022-07-04 20:17:43
@inbook{4ca39697-10ec-45bc-827c-25bb51409af1,
  abstract     = {{Rap lyrics in Sweden have become increasingly multilingual in the past twenty years. In this chapter, Karin Nykvist provides insights into contemporary Swedish hip-hop and its use of multilingualism. In her analysis of Swedish rap poetics, Nykvist shows how hip-hop lyrics turn to multilingual aesthetics in order to destabilize and question ideas of national identity and to deconstruct the monolingual ideals that those ideas are founded on. She demonstrates how the political performance of multilingualism in contemporary hip-hop lyrics disturbs and alters notions of the Swedish language, as well as the idea and ideology of Swedishness itself. The works analysed in the article cover rap lyrics by the groundbreaking group The Latin Kings in the 1990s, the female rapper Feven, and the contemporary male rapper Erik Lundin.}},
  author       = {{Nykvist, Karin}},
  booktitle    = {{The Aesthetics and Politics of Linguistic Borders : Multilingualism in Northern European Literature}},
  editor       = {{Grönstrand, Heidi and Huss, Markus and Kauranen, Ralf}},
  isbn         = {{9780429260834}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{Language play and politics in contemporary Swedish hip-hop}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}