Nordic Noise

Based on empirical research on hip-hop cultures, scenes, and artists in the Nordic countries, this book provides new perspectives on how hip-hop has been intertwined with wider societal and political contexts and discussions.

Hip-hop started to emerge in the Nordic countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden during the 1980s. Seen from the outside, these countries have largely been imagined as societies built on egalitarian ideals and trust and equipped with functioning welfare states that are based on political ambitions striving for socioeconomic and gender equality. This volume serves to problematize and challenge such generalized assumptions. Containing contributions written by leading Nordic scholars within the field of hip-hop, this book sets out to make visible and discuss the ways in which hip-hop culture has developed into a platform used by artists to address inequalities based on gender, class, and ethnicity/race, negotiate experiences of exclusion and otherness, and challenge dominant cultural norms.

The empirical material analysed by the authors consists of lyrics, videos, (social) media, interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork.