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Signifying Rappers

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Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race In the Urban Present
AuthorMark Costello;
David Foster Wallace
LanguageEnglish
PublisherEcco Press
Publication date
1990
Publication placeUnited States
Pages140 pp
ISBNISBN 0880012552 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC20992523

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 "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). 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.