Global English - Hip Hop

to quickly skip back to verbal art, after reading an article about the state of the studies of global englishes, and the importance and meaning of performativity, i see that hip-hop culture is very much multi-faceted. although hip-hop originated from african american urban culture, the hip-hop seen and used worldwide does not exactly reflect that of african american culture. for instance, pennycook analyzes the lyrics by a hip-hop/rapper group named rip slyme, and although pennycook finds that the rhythm and rhyme of the verse is typical of hip-hop, the group utilizes english as a form of self-identity. specific words such as double and freaky side are english words, but at the same time, these words represent different aspects of japanese culture - double signifying an individual of two cultures and freaky side, conveying the notion of individuality. english is not simply a homogenizing force that attempts to cover the world with a single identity, but rather, speakers of english vary in how they interpret it, how they use it, and why they use it. pennycook quotes mitchell stating that english is "a tool for reworking local identity all over the world." english is a vehicle for hip-hop artists to express their sense of identity, similar to how the many different forms of breakdancing resemble the different areas where it originates. pennycook also quotes cameron claiming that it is false to assume that people speak because of who they are, but rather that how people speak defines who they are. the globalization of english is a complex occurrence that affects all aspects of society, but we must not forget that every culture assimilates it differently; thereby, creating a phenomena resembling but different from the original, at least that's what the inebriated anthropologist says.