Paper short abstract:

Place and space in rap builds authenticity and authority that rappers use in performances. My research concentrates on Finnish rap and its Heimat feel seen through different performances such as interviews, lyrics and videos. What kind of heimat can be found between the local and global scenes?

Paper long abstract:

Place and space have been key elements in Hip Hop, particularily rap, since its beginning. New York is an iconic background for many of the first rappers’ performances and the neighbourhoods have been a way to talk about things such as personal history, social injustice and meaningful communities. Nowadays rap is a global cultural phenomenom and rap can be found all over the world in it’s localised forms.

The Finnish rap scene emerged in the 1980s and has grown into one of the most popular music genres in the country. Local scenes have been a big part of Finnish rap’s evolution. Many posses around Finland based parts of their performances on locality, local knowledge and local dialects. Local rappers were seen as local heroes and their success was considered as the success of a whole neighbourhood.

My research concentrates on heimat feel in Finnish rap, specially in the city of Espoo. I analyse different performances the rappers create focusing on place, space and heimat manifestations such as local lore and humour. Places are a crucial part of the way many of the rappers construct their authenticity as performers in the scene and places have become symbols of certain subgenres of Finnish rap. Interviews that I’ve conducted among the rappers give insight to their motivations and inspiration to rap about locality and Heimat feelings. What does it mean to be a rapper from a Finnish neighbourhood? What kind of heimat can be found between the local and global scenes?