Brands in the Rap Subculture: How Artistic Creations Can Mitigate the Effects of Brand Criticism
(A2024-119753)

AUTHORS

Ghizlane Kasmi, ISCAE Morroco; Valérie Zeitoun, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; Géraldine Michel, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

ABSTRACT

Rap music is the most downloaded musical genre in the world including growing rates of brand usage. However, today we know little about how portrayed brands within the musical genre are apprehended by rap consumer. The objective of this research is to better understand the place, and the expected forms of brand usage within the rap subculture. How does the presence of brands shape the rap subculture? Are rappers free to use brand as they want? To answer these questions, we conducted a qualitative study with rap consumers. Our results show that brand usage in rap represents an intense case where brands are a stylistic visible element of the rap subcultures. Rappers influence brands via two vectors: their artistic creation and their social media platforms. Finally, brands appear to be protected in the first vector: the artistic creation, as brand criticism tend to be refused within the subculture