Mothering in Hip Hop Culture

Motherhood is an experience that is ever-present yet invisible in the global music genre of hip-hop. This aspect of wom- en’s experience has garnered little attention from journal- ists, writers and scholars of hip-hop culture. Nor do we have any understanding of how mothers who remain hip-hop cul- ture enthusiasts negotiate their relationship to the culture of hip-hop and its music with their children. Furthermore, what are the discursive spaces that motherhood occupies in hiphop? Are there ways of understanding mothering in hip-hop along a historical continuum? What are some of the ways that motherhood complicates the hyper-masculinity so dominant in hip-hop? What does empowered and feminist mothering in the context of hip-hop look like, and how might it chal- lenge the status quo? How are mothers engaging with hiphop, both locally and globally? Broad themes covered in this volume include: representations of motherhood in rap, femi- nist analyses of mothering in hip-hop, and experiential re- flections on mothering in the process of artistic production.