Research On Identity Of Chinese Rap Fan Group In New Media Situation

In recent years,Hip-hop culture which born in western has became increasingly popular in Chinese teenagers’ world,and many online communities came out.But this culture genre is not highly accepted by Chinese,and possess no enough tolerance for the fans of rap,obsessed with common stereotype.While these fans of Hip-hop spirit and fans groups are under great difficulty to construct themselves express their identity,to seek emotional resonance and identity belonging.The thesis explained the background of Hip-hop creation and its development process in China.The thesis used Sub-Culture theory of Birmingham school and media ecology to describe Hip-hop culture and rap music genre,and rap fans’ gathering and interaction,engagement and sharing,segmentation and combination behavior.Meanwhile,the thesis analyzed three identity conversion,self and group identity of rap fans group,and found the creation of identity crisis in new media situation,and finally think about the enlightenment brought by crisis and the realistic meaning of the study.The thesis used five chapters to discuss the identity of rap fans in new media situation,which are origin and development of rap music,the formation and cultural practice of rap fans group,identification of three identities of rap fans,Multi-dimensional,construction of rap fans’ identity in new media situation,and the origin and enlightenment of identity crisis in new media situation.The first chapter explained the concept of rap music,introduced Hip-hop culture and historical background of rap music’s development,and Chinese rap music was divided into three phases chronologically,and the representation of rap music and their fans group genre.The second chapter introduced the formation of rap music group in new media situation,their cultural practice was carried by building hobby community,interacting by multi-channels,adapting texts,sharing cultural resources,segmenting outsiders and engaging in other activities,and also explained the establishment and development of ‘HMC’online community.The third chapter analyzed the three identities of rap fans group,Hip-hop music as an foreign culture in the process of localization,for one thing,rap music try to create local print,for another,to establish global view to improve image,and Hip-hop culture as a sub-culture,in the process of resisting mainstream culture,rap fans experienced the identity conversion from ‘marginal person’ to ‘Gladiator’ and then ‘former rebels’,in the end,Hip-hop music as post-modern culture,under the effect of complanation and market,rap fans have two identities which are genre creator and commodity consumer.The fourth chapter used deep interview study method,interviewed six members from ‘HMC’ fans group,and partly quoted the interview record to represent members’ mental activity of self-identity and group identity.Meanwhile,this chapter explained the effect of new media for minor cultural fans’ identity construction and create identity and sense of belonging.The fifth chapter summarized the identity crisis of rap fans which brought by new media in three perspective of ego,collectivity,and society,and lead reader to think about the realistic meaning of rap fans’ identity.