Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Communication
Major Professor
Christopher McRae, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jane Jorgensen, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Navita Cummings James, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Elizabeth Bird, Ph.D.
Keywords
black masculinity, Hip-Hop, rhetorical analysis, Black creativity
Abstract
The slang, attitude, cultural memory, creativity and innovation of African diasporic youth created a global cultural movement-hip-hop--that informs all aspects of our society. In this dissertation; however, I examine how post-soul hip-hop featured black cultural conversations, specifically the ‘conversation’ between Jay-Z and his imagined black audience. Over the past 25 years Jay-Z has been known as one of the most acclaimed and successful recording artists of his time; however this study examines what I term his black sincerity rhetoric (BSR). At times Jay-Z is praised for his commitment to community in verse; and at times he is rejected and criticized by his imagined audience. In short, I look at one of the most prominent rhetors in recent times and particularly his discourse seeking to affirm allegiance, kinship and consubstantiality with black audiences at the end of the post-soul era (1982-2008) via my theory of BSR. In this project I examine his discography through a hip-hop like mélange of Kenneth Burke, hip-hop scholarship and African American rhetoric studies. Burke’s trenchant belief in the poet as the ultimate rhetor and poetry as conduit for communion is concomitant with AAR valorization of the “word” as a means of black reunion. I engage in a close textual analysis informed by these conceptual schools to examine how Jay-Z’s black sincerity rhetoric adjusts, negotiates and transforms over this period. Indeed, this project provides an exemplar and method for making sense of black discourse concerned with maintaining cultural ties. The analysis demonstrates that appealing to and finding consubstantiality with black audiences in this era and beyond requires repeated, creative performances of sincerity. This project highlights how Jay’s style of BSR has informed a generation of black rhetors. Indeed, Barack Obama is regarded is one of the greatest speakers of our time and even he will tell you he was listening to Jay-Z before his most notable speeches.
Scholar Commons Citation
Hardy, Antoine Francis, "When I Rhyme It’s Sincerely Yours: Burkean Identification and Jay-Z’s Black Sincerity Rhetoric in the Post Soul Era" (2021). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/9587
