The Satirized Badman Performance in British Rap Music

Abstract

Inspired by Chicago drill rap, rappers in the British drill scene perform a hypermasculine badman trope as required of the musical framework. Critics argue that this performance induces violence and is therefore dangerous to society. This thesis, however, argues that these drill rappers portray the authorised other” which is defined, accepted, and commercialised by white society. In mimicking the badman, these youths, which are often disadvantaged black ales, can perform their specific mode of social critique. This is expressed as satire in slang to circumvent governmental restrictions. To support this statement, a close reading of Crep Shop (2019) and Drilly Rucksack (2020) will show that the incorporated machismo performance contains this social critique.