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To what extent and how does independent hip-hop challenge or reproduce US mainstream hip-hop culture and US culture more generally? This chapter attempts to address this age-old question. The author also reviews the history and literature on hip-hop culture, provides an overview of the underlying theory and methodology, and gives an outline of the remaining chapters. His research combines neo-Marxist, critical race, intersectional feminist, and queer theories, as well as Mansbridgeand Morris’ (Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ) concept of oppositionalconsciousness. The research design utilizes a mixed methods approach, which includes content analysis of twenty-five indie albums from 2000 to 2013 and interviewswith forty-six members of the independent hip-hop community, to uncover the historical trajectory of independent hip-hop in the post-goldeneraand how it has affected the culture today.

This chapter aims to uncover how independent hip-hop in the post-golden era challenges or reproduces cultural ideologies within US mainstream hip-hop culture and US culture more generally. Based on a content analysis of artists’ lyrics, the author identifies three recurrent themes found in albums by twenty-five indie hip-hop artists. First, these acts resist the majors through mainstream artists, large radio stations, and major record labels. Second, they reject the corporatization and commodification by major record labels and mainstream culture in favor of independently owned companies. Third, they advocate for an indie culture based on alternative cultural ideals. They instead socially construct and advocate for a brand of authenticity rooted in hip-hop’s origins.

This chapter focuses on how independent hip-hop artists in the post-golden era resist economic exploitation from mainstream culture and major corporations. Indie musicians make the grievance that major labels benefit at the expense of performers and hence are highly exploitative. Their unfair treatment is predominantly reflected in the contracts acts sign with major labels. This has repercussions for artists in numerous facets of the music industry: (1) advances/forwards, (2) control of copyrights, (3) artistic direction and relations with A&R, (4) touring, merchandising, and advertising deals, and (5) radio stations, media, and press. Finally, some hip-hop artists make the claim that creating and maintaining independent record labels helps mitigate economic exploitation, controls record label oversight, and serves for the betterment of the hip-hop community.

This chapter utilizes forty-six interviews with self-identified independent hip-hop listeners to navigate the changing meanings of indie hip-hop in the post-golden era. The author elaborates on listener’s definitions of independent and mainstream hip-hop and analyzes their interpretations of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and oppositional consciousness. Listeners suggest that indie hip-hop often focuses on race and class but often ignores issues of gender and sexuality. Female and queer listeners are more conscious of this omission than male and straight listeners, despite a current push toward female and LGBTQ representation in hip-hop’s mainstream. Also, there remains a blurry line between independents and majors that many artists navigate as they attempt to retain economic and creative freedom while still attempting to become financially successful. Technological shifts and advances, such as marketing and distribution channels, have further exacerbated the blurry lines of hip-hop.

This chapter discusses how previous chapters fill gaps in the literature and how this has implications for academics, readers, and the hip-hop community. Future research needs to be done to understand the current state of hip-hop and its relationship to the broader community. Artists’ and listeners’ grievances are changing, especially as independent hip-hop artists and listeners are becoming more diverse in terms of their gender, sexuality, and racial and ethnic make up, a new generation of artists and listeners is emerging, technological and media changes are shifting the boundaries between independent and major, and the political and economic context is shifting. All of these changes are likely to have important implications for the potential of indie hip-hop to inspire oppositional consciousness among its listeners.