Australian Hip Hop: A Sociolinguistic Investigation

Abstract

Youth music in Australia has long been said to involve an aping of American stylistic features including, significantly, accents. Australian Hip Hop, though, appears to be phonologically defying the conventions of lyrical performance which have been held, to a greater or lesser extent, since rock ‘n’ roll's emergence in Australia. This paper examines this interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon by providing a picture of phonological variation within youth music in Australia, enabling a comparison between Hip Hop and other genres. It argues that performance accent is closely tied to several factors, including cultural identity and genre appropriateness. In the case of Hip Hop, a local identity is maintained linguistically, in keeping with Hip Hop's philosophy of keepin’ it real, suggesting that the genre is simultaneously loyal to and distinct from its American origins.

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