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{{short description|1990 book by Mark Costello and David Foster Wallace}}
'''''Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present''''' is a nonfiction book by [[David Foster Wallace]] and Mark Costello. The title is a reference to the practice of "[[Signifyin'|signifying]]" used in rap lyrics whereby words have meanings beyond their conventional interpretations, such as "cut" (turntable technique), "bite" (stealing someone else’s rhymes), "dope" (great), "dawg" (male friend) and such neologisms as "edutainment" ([[KRS-One]]) or "raptivist" ([[Chuck D]] of [[Public Enemy (band)|Public Enemy]]). The book explores this music's history as it intersects with historical events, either locally and unique to [[Boston]], or in larger cultural or historical contexts.
{{Infobox book
| name = Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present
| italic title = force
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Signifying-rappers-1st-edition-cover.png
| caption = First edition cover
| author = {{ubl | Mark Costello | [[David Foster Wallace]]}}
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| subject =
| genre =
| publisher = [[Ecco Press]]
| pub_date = November 1990
| english_pub_date =
| media_type =
| pages = 140
| isbn = 978-0-88001-255-3
| dewey =
| congress =
}}


'''''Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present''''' is a nonfiction book by Mark Costello and [[David Foster Wallace]]. The book explores the music genre's history as it intersected with historical events, either locally and unique to [[Boston]], or in larger cultural or historical contexts.
{{David Foster Wallace}}


== Title ==
[[Category:Non-fiction books]]
The title is based on the track "[[Signifying Rapper]]" on the album ''[[Smoke Some Kill]]'' by [[Schoolly D]]. The teasing, taunting, and insulting tradition within African American culture is referred to as "signifyin'", though the word's other meanings are perhaps reflected in Costello and Wallace's title. [[Henry Louis Gates Jr.]] has written extensively on the [[Signifying monkey|Signifyin (or Signifying) Monkey]], its origins and meaning, and how the monkey's attitude and effort to overcome evolved into the "Your motha is so fat" back-and-forth that was part of hip hop's original culture. The slang of rap, like all slang, may include words that signify others, such as "cut" (turntable technique), "bite" (stealing someone else’s rhymes), "dope" (great), "dawg" (male friend) and such neologisms as "edutainment" ([[KRS-One]]) or "raptivist" ([[Chuck D]] of [[Public Enemy (band)|Public Enemy]]), but it is not an important use of the idea of signifying in rap or hip hop. Signifying in critical theory usage is also meaningful, as [[Sign (semiotics)|signifier]] in [[critical theory]], and in the linguistic theory of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]].


== Publication history ==
The work was initially published as a shorter 20-page essay in {{Harv|Wallace|Costello|1990}} and then expanded to book size. The first edition published in late 1990. A second edition was published in 2013, following the death of the first author Wallace, and includes a new preface by second author Mark Costello.
* 1990, [[Ecco Press]], 140 pp, {{ISBN|0-88001-255-2}}.
* 2013, [[Back Bay Books]], 176 pp, {{ISBN|978-0-316-22583-0}}.

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Wallace | first1 = David Foster | authorlink1 = David Foster Wallace | last2 = Costello | first2 = Mark | doi = 10.1353/mis.1990.0052 | title = Signifying Rappers | url = | journal = [[The Missouri Review]] | volume = 13 | issue = 2 Summer | pages = 7–26 | year = 1990 | s2cid = 201767632 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* ''[http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/signifying-rappers.html Signifying Rappers]'' at The Howling Fantods
* [http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/08/signifying_rappers_david_foster_wallace_and_mark_costello_s_book_about_rap.html My Metonym for Self-Reference Weighs a Ton: When the "resoundingly and in all ways white" David Foster Wallace tried to write about hip-hop.], by Mark O'Connell, ''Slate,'' Aug. 9, 2013

{{David Foster Wallace}}


[[Category:1990 non-fiction books]]
{{nonfiction-book-stub}}
[[Category:Popular culture books]]
[[Category:Books by David Foster Wallace]]
[[Category:Ecco Press books]]
[[Category:Collaborative non-fiction books]]
{{sociology-book-stub}}

Latest revision as of 14:42, 17 November 2022

Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present
First edition cover
Author
LanguageEnglish
PublisherEcco Press
Publication date
November 1990
Publication placeUnited States
Pages140
ISBN978-0-88001-255-3

Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present is a nonfiction book by Mark Costello and David Foster Wallace. The book explores the music genre's history as it intersected with historical events, either locally and unique to Boston, or in larger cultural or historical contexts.

Title

[edit]

The title is based on the track "Signifying Rapper" on the album Smoke Some Kill by Schoolly D. The teasing, taunting, and insulting tradition within African American culture is referred to as "signifyin'", though the word's other meanings are perhaps reflected in Costello and Wallace's title. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has written extensively on the Signifyin (or Signifying) Monkey, its origins and meaning, and how the monkey's attitude and effort to overcome evolved into the "Your motha is so fat" back-and-forth that was part of hip hop's original culture. The slang of rap, like all slang, may include words that signify others, such as "cut" (turntable technique), "bite" (stealing someone else’s rhymes), "dope" (great), "dawg" (male friend) and such neologisms as "edutainment" (KRS-One) or "raptivist" (Chuck D of Public Enemy), but it is not an important use of the idea of signifying in rap or hip hop. Signifying in critical theory usage is also meaningful, as signifier in critical theory, and in the linguistic theory of Ferdinand de Saussure.

Publication history

[edit]

The work was initially published as a shorter 20-page essay in (Wallace & Costello 1990) and then expanded to book size. The first edition published in late 1990. A second edition was published in 2013, following the death of the first author Wallace, and includes a new preface by second author Mark Costello.

References

[edit]
[edit]