ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ВЖИВАННЯ АНГЛОМОВНОГО СЛЕНГУ НА ПОЗНАЧЕННЯ ГРОШЕЙ В АМЕРИКАНСЬКИХ РЕП-ТЕКСТАХ

З огляду на активне розширення міжнародної співпраці, глобалізації та Інтернет-культури поширення сленгу не тільки не припиняється, але й зростає. Сучасне життя суспільства, зокрема молоді, також характеризується стрімким проникненням реп-культури, у зв’язку з чим лінгвістичні дослідження цього стилю нині є дуже перспективними та актуальними, адже словник хіп-хоп культури вважається одним із найпродуктивніших способів поповнення лексичного запасу англійської мови. Ця стаття присвячена вивченню поняття та функціонування сленгових слів та виразів на позначення грошових одиниць у новітньому американському реп-дискурсі. Практична частина цього дослідження містить аналіз причин і особливостей використання сленгових лексичних одиниць у текстах сучасних американських реп- виконавців, таких як Kanye West, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, The Notorious B.I.G., Wiz Khalifa, Headie One, Trinidad James та інші. Авторами роботи було здійснене групування знайденого сленгу за семантичним значенням та з’ясовано закономірність його використання. У рамках проведеної роботи було виявлено, що сленгові терміни для позначення грошей часто пов’язані із зовнішнім виглядом і характеристиками банкнот і монет, їх вартістю, історичними асоціаціями або відповідними грошовими одиницями. Також варто зазначити, що частина з них стала домінуючим способом позначення валюти і навіть перейшла в загальновживані слова, про що свідчать сучасні словники. Наукове дослідження доводить, що сленг насамперед відображає реальність та використовується як прийом непрямої комунікації, під час якої розуміння висловлювання включає безпосередньо зміст, який власне не міститься в ньому, але потребує додаткових інтерпретаційних зусиль із боку адресата. У рамках одного мовного співтовариства деякі сленгові терміни розрізняються залежно від соціальних, етнічних, економічних і географічних шарів. Перспективність подальшого вивчення типології цих сленгових виразів зумовлена їх поширеністю в сучасному американському реп-дискурсі, що і буде становити предмет дослідження подальших наукових робіт.

Clothing and refugee identity in Des sneakers comme Jay-Z

This article presents and analyzes how clothing shapes refugee identity in Des sneakers comme Jay-Z, an engaged photographic project from 2018 by French photographers Frédéric Delangle and Ambroise Tézenas. Commissioned by the association Emmaüs Solidarité, the series features forty-six portraits of men seeking asylum in France. The refugees wear outfits they selected from available donations at the Centre de premier accueil de la Porte de la Chapelle in Paris. First-person texts featuring the men’s thoughts about their clothing choices accompany the images. I contend that vestimentary choices in Des sneakers comme Jay-Z reflect each man’s sense of agency in the social construction of his nascent transnational identity as he adapts to life within the French Republic. Although casual, everyday outfits rarely draw engaged reflection by those around us, photographing the refugees in their selected outfits and questioning them about these items creates a project that defamiliarizes common garments to encourage viewers to reflect on clothing’s role in fashioning new subjectivities. Reading the accompanying texts through the lens of the sociology of clothing and fashion, the article investigates how the men’s apparel choices reflect both nostalgia for their homelands and a desire to integrate into French society. Through the shared human experience of self-presentation through dress, Des sneakers comme Jay-Z thus constructs a narrative emphasizing refugees’ basic humanity in order to contest anti-migrant discourses.

Representing Absence: Contemporary Ekphrasis in “Apesh-t”

Traditionally, ekphrasis has been defined as the description and analysis of works of art in poetry, and so it has been understood as the verbalization of visual images (Sager Eidt). The article examines the concept in the light of contemporary definitions that include non-verbal media as targets (Cariboni Killander, Lutas and Strukelj; Sager Eidt; Bruhn; Pethö) in order to analyze its applicability to music videos. It concentrates in particular on “Apesh-t,” a video for a track by Beyoncé and Jay-Z from the album Everything Is Love (2018). The video is filmed in different interiors of the Louvre, where the singers appear, together with an ensemble of dancers, in front of selected artworks. The discussion focuses on an analysis of a single shot which presents an ekphrastic re-configuration of one particular work of European art, Jacques-Louis David’s Portrait of Madame Récamier (1800). The author argues that the use of ekphrasis in the video—through elaboration (close-ups and editing) and repurposing of the source material (painting)—plays an important role in the construction of the theme of “absence”: invoking not only what is represented, but what is not represented in David’s painting. It also foregrounds the potential of ekphrasis as a tool of political and cultural resistance, in the way it intervenes in the representation of the “other” in art and in the museum space.

A New Beginning

This chapter describes how President Obama enacted numerous policy changes that gradually moved towards improved relations with Cuba. The Cuban government and economy also underwent transformations instituted by President Raúl Castro during this period. Together these changes created opportunities for increased musical exchanges as demonstrated by numerous case studies including composer Juanes, Tania León, Jay-Z, and more.

Jay-Z and O.J.: Sport and the Performance of Race in Hip-Hop Music

The purpose of this study was to understand the symbolic messaging in hip-hop music as it relates to the lived experiences and realities of Black Americans in the United States. The study examined the song and music video titled “The Story of O.J.,” by hip-hop artist Jay-Z to gain a better understanding of how Jay-Z interpreted the impact of Black Americans’ lived experiences in the United States on their identity and ability to progress economically and socially, regardless of social standing, within subcultures such as sport. Employing a content analysis method, data were collected and analyzed using critical race theory. The results of the analysis of lyrical and video data identified three major themes: (a) battle with Blackness, (b) economic enslavement and financial freedom, and (c) systematic subjugation.

“Where I’m From”: Jay-Z’s “Hip Hop Cosmopolitanism,” Basketball, and the Neoliberal Politics of Urban Space”

This article examines the articulation of the Black ghetto to authenticity through the involvement of hip hop star Jay-Z in two highly publicized basketball-related ventures during 2003. During that year, Jay-Z organized a team for the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic (EBC) in Harlem’s Rucker Park and joined a team of investors aiming to move the New Jersey Nets to a new arena in Brooklyn. Informed by cultural studies scholarship, the paper explains the context through which basketball and hip hop were articulated with authenticity, and were deployed towards the goal of managing a career transition for Jay-Z, and was also used to gain public support for a controversial proposal to build an arena in the Atlantic Yards area of Brooklyn.

Life Is But a Story: Female pleasure and agency in Beyoncé’s autobiographical film

While the rise of new media has led to a blurring of stars’ public personae and private, intimate lives, the musician, in particular, has long been expected to share their private, authentic self through their music. This is certainly the case with superstar Beyoncé, whose 2016 solo album Lemonade was widely received as a revealing portrait of her marriage to hip hop mogul Jay-Z. Yet Beyoncé has long been playing with the public–private divide as a key part of her star persona. Her decision to limit media interviews has allowed her to maintain unprecedented control of her star image; an image that is now corralled through the texts that she herself circulates via her music, videos and other media. One such notable, yet under-examined text is her 2013 autobiographical film Life Is But a Dream. Both the narrative and the production of the film serve to teach audiences how to read the rest of Beyoncé’s cultural work; as work that is fully controlled by her and intended for women. This pedagogical film disrupts common readings of her image and performances as being in the service of a male gaze, thus opening up new pleasures and potentials for female fans more broadly and Black female fans more specifically. Life Is But a Dream is thus a central, rather than a periphery text in Beyoncé’s star image, complementing and complicating the work she produces across other media formats.

The Money Tree

Under Roger Goodell, the revenue and franchise values of teams and the league skyrocketed. Stadium sponsorships and advertising, parallel marketing partnerships, merchandise sales, television and other media contracts all contributed to the soaring value of NFL franchises reaching well over one billion dollars each. Jerry Jones led the way in Dallas with his new stadium as the anchor and driver of success. When owners opted out of the CBA in May of 2008 and with Gene Upshaw’s death, there were fears of a new crisis. DeMaurice Smith replaced Upshaw at the NFLPA, Owners and players prepared for a lockout, and it came in March of 2011. A ten-year settlement was reached in July and this set the stage for massive new television contracts. The NFL reached out into the international market with league games played in London and Mexico City. In 2018 television paid the NFL $7B in rights fees. Goodell’s achievements were further enhanced when Goolell opened the Los Angles market. Franchises movement followed led by the Rams, Raiders, and Chargers and the building of new stadiums in Hollywood and Las Vegas. The other areas of controversy and concern centered on social consciousness, freedom, and Patriotism. At the heart of these issues was the protest led by Colin Kaepernick, the protests surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, and the National Anthem controversy, all of which became political issues. Divisions within teams, between players and owners, and between players and fans were all touched by these issues. It began in September of 2015 when Colin Kaepernick “took a knee” during the National Anthem. The controversy spread across sports and borders. It seemed to decline by the 2019 Super Bowl. One key to this was the signing of Jay-Z and his production company, Roc Nation, to a contract to produce the Super Bowl halftime show, a show that Jay-Z and others had boycotted in 2019 in Atlanta. Then in a dubious PR move the NFL announced it would stage a tryout for Colin Kaepernick. Goodell’s PR skills continued to be lacking but ownership appreciated the money that flowed into the league under his leadership.