Winning A Rap Beef Through Dancing

analysis of the authenticity dispute between Kendrick Lamar and Drake through the prism of rap’s choreopolitical regimes

Authors

  • Mário A. O. M. Rolim Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2237-9967.2025v14n25e34622

Keywords:

Rap, politics, authenticity, choreopolitical regimes, aesthetics

Abstract

Between March and May of 2024, rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar engaged in a fight like no other in rap history. This essay comments on this fight in two different conceptual frameworks. Firstly, the battle is analyzed in a more discursive way, as a dispute between rap’s two authenticity notions: one reterritorializing, connected to Lamar, and the other deterritorializing, linked to Drake. Afterwards, it is pointed out that the discursive approach is insufficient to understand both the reasons for Lamar’s victory and the actual state of rap. Therefore, the essay is concluded with an analysis through the prism of rap’s choreopolitical regimes, showing that rap’s politicity is not restricted to a specific poetic form, depending on factors such as the bodies’ movements and their relations to affective territories.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Mário A. O. M. Rolim, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Pós-Doutorando em Comunicação com bolsa concedida pela Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (Facepe) por meio do programa Bolsa de Fixação de Pesquisador (BFP). Doutor e Mestre em Comunicação pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação (PPGCOM) da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). E-mail: marioaugusto199301@gmail.com.

References

ALIM, Samy H. “Bring It To The Cypher: hip hop nation language”. In: FORMAN, Murray; NEAL, Mark Anthony (Org.). That's The Joint!: the hip-hop studies reader. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2012. Cap. 35, p. 530-563.

BALDWIN, James. The Fire Next Time. New York: 3rd ed. Vintage Books, 2013.

BURTON, Justin Adams. Posthuman Rap. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

CESARINO, Letícia. O Mundo Do Avesso: verdade e política na era digital. São Paulo: Ubu Editora, 2022.

DELEUZE, Gilles; GUATTARI, Félix. Mil Platôs: capitalismo e esquizofrenia 2, vol. 4. 2. ed. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2012.

FOSTER, Susan Leigh. “Choreographies Of Gender”. In: Signs, v. 24, n. 11, pp. 11-13. Chicago, Outono 1998. Disponível em: < https://www.jstor.org/stable/3175670 >. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2024.

GODARD, Hubert. “Gesto e Percepção”. In: SOTER, Silvia; PEREIRA, Roberto (org.). Lições de Dança 3. Rio de Janeiro: UniverCidadeEditora, 2003. Cap. 1, p. 11-35.

HEWITT, Andrew. Social Coreography: ideology as performance in dance and everyday movement. 1st ed. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2005.

IANDOLI, Kathy. God Save The Queens: the essential history of women in hip-hop. 1st ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2019.

LEPECKI, André. “Coreopolítica E Coreopolícia”. In: ILHA, Florianópolis, v. 13, n. 1, jan./jun., 2012, p. 41-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8034.2011v13n1-2p41.

LIMA, Dani. “Gesto, Corporeidade, Ética E Política: pensando conexões e diálogos”. In: Simpósio Internacional Repensando Mitos Contemporâneos, 2, 2017, Campinas.

MACHADO, Taísa. Cabeças da Periferia: Taísa Machado - o afrounk e a ciência do rebolado. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Cobogó, 2020.

McLEOD, Kembrew. “Authenticity Within Hip-Hop And Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation”. In: FORMAN, Murray; NEAL, Mark Anthony (Org.). That's The Joint: the hip-hop studies reader. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2012. Cap. 13, p. 164-178.

NASCIMENTO, Beatriz. Uma História Feita Por Mãos Negras: relações raciais, quilombos e movimentos. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2021.

NUNES, R. Do Transe À Vertigem: ensaios sobre bolsonarismo e um mundo em transição. 1. ed. São Paulo: Ubu Editora, 2022.

RANCIÈRE, Jacques. A Partilha Do Sensível: estética e política. 2. ed. São Paulo, Editora 34, 2009.

ROLIM, Mário A. O. M. Múltiplos modos de mover politicamente os corpos no rap: cartografia dos regimes coreopolíticos do rap do Brasil e dos EUA. 2023. Tese (Doutorado em Comunicação) – Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 2023.

_____, Rosto branco, voz “negra”: Iggy Azalea e as tensões do pop-rap. 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Comunicação) – Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 2018.

ROSE, Tricia. Black Noise: rap music and black culture in contemporary america. 1st ed. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.

TATE, Greg. “Hip-Hop Turns 30: Whatcha' Celebratin' For?”. In: FORMAN, Murray; NEAL, Mark Anthony (Org.). That's The Joint!: the hip-hop studies reader. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2012. Cap. 6, p. 63-68.

VIEIRA, Daniela. “A Nova Condição Do Rap: de cultura de rua à são paulo fashion week”. In: Estudos de Sociologia, Araraquara, v. 27, n. esp. 1, abr. 2022. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.52780/res.v27iesp1.15829.

YOUNG, James O. Cultural Appropriation and The Arts. 1st ed. Hoboken: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2010.

Capa da revista dispositiva.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

ROLIM, Mário A. O. M. Winning A Rap Beef Through Dancing: analysis of the authenticity dispute between Kendrick Lamar and Drake through the prism of rap’s choreopolitical regimes. Dispositiva, Belo Horizonte, v. 14, p. e34622, 2025. DOI: 10.5752/P.2237-9967.2025v14n25e34622. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/dispositiva/article/view/34622. Acesso em: 15 nov. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 14 (2025): Free Theme and Special Issue: Dramaturgies on/from the stage: arts, bodies, and communication

Section

Thematic Issue - dramaturgies in/of the scene: arts, bodies and communication

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Mário A. O. M. Rolim

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The copyright of articles published in Dispositiva belongs to the author(s) of the text, based on the rules of Editora PUC Minas. The journal has the right to first publication of the article, registered under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 sharing license. The license allows the text to be shared and adapted, always with attribution, without additional restrictions. Authors are requested to sign a declaration stating the authorship, originality, and novelty of the text during submission, according to the terms below:

  1. By submitting to Dispositiva, authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work being published under a Creative Commons license in the form of attribution, non-commercial use, and sharing under the same license (CC BY 4.0).
  2. When submitting to Dispositiva, authors are authorized to enter into additional contracts separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., publishing in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and mention of the initial publication in this journal.