Dreams from the Trap: Trap music as a site of liberation

Abstract

Objective: This article makes a case for trap music as a form of political engagement and political mobilization for young Black folks. I use the concept of Fanonian freedom to unpack the complex politics of recognition that trap music holds for Black liberation. Methods: Using a case study of Lil Baby's (2020) “The Bigger Picture” as emblematic of the political possibilities of trap music, I demonstrate how trap music functions as a mode of liberation when seen through Fanon's framework. Results: Like Black spiritual and political anthems before it, trap music represents a powerful but often dismissed political tool of Black liberation. I suggest that social scientists who study social movements and politics must recognize aurality—in this case, Black Southern aurality—as a communal well of liberatory pursuit and infrapolitical realities. Conclusion: Mainstream social scientific definitions of “politics” as state-centered must be expanded to recognize the power of cultural representation and everyday acts, especially by the most dispossessed groups in society, such as young Black folk in the urban South. Such inaccurate social scientific conceptualizations uphold exclusionary logics that can alienate the dispossessed from political engagement and, ultimately, further blame them for this alienation.