ABSTRACT
Norwegian rapper Hkeem won a “Norwegian Grammy Award” for the music video “Ghettoparasitt” [Ghetto Parasite] (2018), which confronts the persistence of racist discourse and discriminatory practices in twenty-first century Norway. This chapter investigates “Ghettoparasitt” as a salient example of how Nordic hip hop artists have used music video to articulate minority experiences and intervene in discourses on race, racism, and national belonging. As racism and racial discrimination have received renewed global attention in the late 2010s and early 2020s, it is imperative to increase our understanding of how issues of racial identity are negotiated in popular music and culture. Addressing this issue, the chapter demonstrates how a single music video can shed light on diverse aspects of contemporary hip hop's counter-hegemonic capacity and antiracist politics. Through a combination of music video analysis and media ethnography, I examine the video's critique of racial stereotypes and its public circulation and reception. This provides a platform for considering how Hkeem assumed a central role in public debates about racism in Norway in the early 2020s, as he spoke openly about his own experiences as an ethnic minority Norwegian man and employed “Ghettoparasitt” to raise racial issues on national TV.
