“The radio won’t play you, but the neighborhood will” – Chicano Rap, Space & Identity in L.A., 1980s & 1990s

Hip-Hop is an innately urban subculture that spread from the South Bronx across the globe. In L.A., a city marked by gang violence in the 1980s and ‘90s, Hip-Hop uniquely merged with gang culture as many of the up-and-coming artists were gang members. Break-dancers, rappers and DJs had to cross enemy lines to perform at shows, while ‘tag bangers’ were writing their names on walls, crossing off the names of their rivals. ‘Chicano Rap’, a subgenre of Gangsta Rap created by Mexican-American and Latino artists, is closely intertwined with Chicano gang culture that has ruled L.A. neighborhoods since the 1930s. This paper pursues the distinct forms of spatial identification conveyed in Chicano Rap, whether gang related or not, yet always in accordance with hip-hop’s turf-mentality. While (Black) Gangsta Rap found its epicenter in Compton, Chicano artists were spread from Santa Monica (Proper Dos) and Pico Union (Psycho Realm) to Southcentral (Brownside), East L.A. (Kid Frost) and even Riverside (Lighter Shade of Brown). In their ‘Spanglish’ lyrics they talked about gang violence, police brutality, and daily life in the varrio[‘hood], entailing local signifiers like area codes, neighborhood- and street names. While strongly identifying with L.A., Mexico is omnipresent as a space of cultural rooting. Hereby, Chicano rappers forge “extreme local” (Forman 2002) identities on one hand and pan-Chicano pride and selfdetermination across city-, state- and country borders, on the other. Drawing on interviews with Chicano artists, this paper discusses how space and identity is being negotiated in L.A. Chicano Rap