Paper Short Abstract:

Hip Hop culture has a close relationship with urban space and place. My research concentrates on those themes in Finnish rap music in Espoo. The presentation examines music videos and lyrics from different generations and demonstrates how artists rewrite their city’s collective perceptions and memory.

Paper Abstract:

Hip Hop culture has always had a tight connection with urban environments. Starting from the streets of New York, it was first globalized through cities. Each place has its own stories, and the most relevant topics are often portrayed in different forms of Hip Hip culture: graffiti visualizes them, music makes you hear different sides to them and dance lets you feel it in your body. Hip Hop, to many, is a form of knowledge and knowing. Local identities, discussions and changes are being portrayed through Hip Hop culture.

My PhD research concentrates on Finnish Hip Hop, specially rap music. Hip Hop came to Finland in the 1980s and has since shaped urban environments across the country. In its over 40-year history Finnish Hip Hop have secured its place as part of Finland’s national music and art scenes. Rap music shapes the imagined landscapes of cities and neighborhoods, particularly in the greater metropolitan area of our capital, Helsinki.

I’ve conducted research on the second largest city in Finland, Espoo, through place-making, locality and sense of home. In this presentation I examine artists’ music videos and lyrics as part of their local knowledge production and history. The research material consists of videos and lyrics from different decades from the 2000s and interviews with the artists. How have they narrated their sense of place, the temporality of their city and themselves in those moments? How are they rewriting their city’s collective memory and the overall perception of Espoo?