Hip-hop, city, and identity: Chosen albums as an example of rap as a post-industrial urban experience

The aim of presented thesis is to show how popular culture (illustrated with an example of hip-hop culture) represents socio-cultural, economical, and political context in which it arises. The thesis situates hip-hop in the context of post-industrial development in New York and shows how the symptoms of post-industrial city were represented in rap lyrics of the 90s. Theoretical part is based on explication of conceptual study of music and explains the problematic post-industrial change in New York. Empirical part uses qualitative content analysis of the lyrics from several albums to answer the research question of how rap lyrics represent the symptoms of post-industrial change. A specific culture, which is based on so-called street codes, arose in the post-industrial ghetto and is constantly present in the lyrics. This culture and its representations of events are considered to be a certain way of opposition to dominant society