Cultural Identities of Urban Adolescents in Chinese Hip-hop Song: A Case Study of Changsha, Chongqing, and Chengdu Cities

Abstract

This study explores how the Chinese hip-hoppers constructs their cultural identity and seeks social recognition through the creation and sharing of hip-hop music, from the perspective of the identity theory. The study selects 30 hip-hop songs from the three cities of Changsha, Chongqing, and Chengdu. The content and textual analysis was mainly applied by using documentary research and interviews. The results indicate that the hip-hop music was used to highlight their ‘self’ or personal identity, regional and group identity, and to construct their own hip-hop community in the virtual network world.