ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the authors make a number of contributions on the levels of theory, method, and analysis. Theoretically, they aim to show how critical masculinity studies and popular music studies have the potential to expand and enrich one other. Methodologically, the authors seek to show how scholars can account for multiple creative domains – that is, word, sound, and image – in both a simultaneous and systematic manner. And analytically, they attempt to shed more light on how mainstream hip-hop artists resist – rather than merely reproduce – stereotypes of black masculinity. In keeping with current debates in the field, the authors explore the contextual, intersectional, experiential, and oppositional elements of Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak. They argue that the concept of hegemonic masculinity as defined and elaborated by critical masculinity theorists is a useful one for thinking about the gendered dynamics of mainstream hip-hop.