Make Rappers Rap Again: Interrogating the Mumble Rap "Crisis"

In Make Rappers Rap Again: Interrogating the Mumble Rap “Crisis,” author Heidi R. Lewis interrogates the ways Mumble Rap has been subjugated within real Hip Hop. Many critics claim mumble rappers are ignorant about Hip Hop history, disrespectful toward their Hip Hop elders, too similar, unskilled, prone to rapping about nonsense, and too feminine. In contrast, Lewis argues Mumble Rap is real Hip Hop. To do so, she examines Mumble Rap's congruence with oft forgotten or subjugated Hip Hop cornerstones like illegibility, melody, the DJ, and the subgenre, as well as the ways most mumble rappers practice citational and collaborative politics congruent with real Hip Hop. Following an analysis of the Mumble Rap sound, Lewis explains the subgenre's subjugation by situating it as southern and examining the ways it challenges real Hip Hop masculinity norms.