Hiphopistan: Representing locality in a global city

ABSTRACT?Hip-hop and rap cannot be viewed simply as an expression of African American culture; it has become avehicle for global youth affiliations and a tool for reworking local identity all over the world. Even as auniversally recognized popular musical idiom, rap continues to provoke attention to local specificities. Rapand hip-hop outside the USA reveal the workings of popular music as a culture industry driven as much bylocal artists and their fans as by the demands of global capitalism and U.S. cultural domination?(Tony Mitchell: 2001: 1).HIPHOPISTAN is a documentary film that examines the impact of hip-hop culture onIstanbul youth and reveals how young Turkish rappers, DJs, break-dancers, and graffitiartists creatively blend popular influences with their local cultural values and traditions. Ina world that is becoming increasingly exposed to global media, much has been debated asto whether or not societies and individuals can adopt influences from music, television,cinema, internet, fashion, etc…in a positive and constructive way without losing their owncultural identities and heritage. The dichotomy terms of ?East? and ?West? haveunfortunately regularly coincided with ?tradition? and ?modernity? and ?local? and?global? making it seem as though they are polarized opposites. While providing aglimpse into the lives of innovative youth in a predominantly Muslim and rapidlyglobalizing city, HIPHOPISTAN presents examples of how globalization can provideopportunities for creative changes rather than simply erasing local culture. Creative artistsprovide solutions that allow tradition and change to peacefully co-exist. By displayinghow communities are created through the use of lyrics, beats, rhymes, dance, and graffitiart, HIPHOPISTAN emphasizes how the universality of music and expression blurs allcultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic boundaries and barriers and thus raises awarenessof the many similarities of youth culture worldwide.