SAPIENS-TaalX Talks: Stories (Re)Contextualized: Language, Culture, Politics

Interdisciplinary research lecture series co-organized by sector plan group TaalX: Language in Context and the ICOG theme group Storytelling as Power – Identity, Equity, iNclusion, Sustainability (SAPIENS).

Organizers: Joanna Chojnicka and T.D. (Tekla) Mecsnóber

First talk

Friday 10 October 2025, 15:00-17:00 (room 1314.0042)

Steven Gilbers (University of Groningen):

“Criminal Slang”: The Role of Language in Hip-Hop Storytelling

Abstract

In hip-hop culture, language plays a central role. Hip-hop heads typically have extensive knowledge about language, and they see language not simply as “a means of communication,” but “as a series of choices that represent beliefs and have consequences” (Morgan, 2001, p. 190). The language of hip-hop is in great part shaped by “[hip-hop] heads’ unabated drive for stylistic distinction, creativity, manipulation of grammar and pronunciation, and the politics and pleasure involved in their use of the verbal art of slang” (Alim, 2015, p. 850), and nothing exemplifies this notion like the art of hip-hop lyricism, also known as the poetics of rap.

In this talk, I will dissect how hip-hop lyricists manipulate language to shape the narratives of their music. I will address how rappers use street slang to intentionally obfuscate meaning, how they play with grammar and phonology to create ambiguity, and how this all ties into some of the central tenets of hip-hop culture and Black Atlantic creative practice. Ultimately, the talk aims to highlight the importance of language in hip-hop storytelling, showing how a linguistic approach can be used to better understand the nuances of rappers’ cultural and political commentary.

About Steven Gilbers

Steven Gilbers (September 25, 1991) is an assistant professor in English Linguistics at the University of Groningen, specialized in the field of hip-hop linguistics. His research focuses on the connection between language and music in a hip-hop context, regional variation in African-American English speech and rap flows, the role language plays in hip-hop culture, and the phonetics of hip-hop lyricism (i.e., the poetics of rap). Gilbers is a former Fulbright scholar (NYU and UCLA), and is currently co-organizing the upcoming interdisciplinary European Hip Hop Studies Conference in Groningen (March 18-21, 2026). Aside from his academic endeavors, he is also active as a rapper affiliated with American music label FiveSe7en Collective, and he is involved with Dutch hip-hop platform Homebase.