Hip hop, representation disputes and the affirmation of periphery as social grouping

Abstract

The category of periphery began to be mobilized by Brazilian rappers associated with hip-hop in the 1990s, growing significantly in the second half of the decade. This article examines the conditions of its affirmation, seeking to investigate the rappers’ intervention in the representation disputes of urban division. The hypothesis is developed about the rapper agency, articulating the dialogue between different peripheral neighborhoods, in the construction of a social grouping, within the confrontation with other representations and the violence against popular and predominantly black territories. By comparing their elaborations and other discourses about periphery, this study aims to address the symbolic operations in tension and antagonism that appears to contribute to the assertion of new social boundaries in contemporary Brazil.