Hip Hop as Public Pedagogy

This chapter is a contribution to the literatures on hip hop and identity politics among two rappers of color in Scandinavia. Locating the artists’ pedagogical practices within global flows of resistance in hip hop culture, the concept of public pedagogy is employed for analyzing how these artists use hip hop as a medium for education and activism outside of formal educational institutions. The analysis focuses on counter-hegemonic representations of identity in the music of Adam Tensta and Eboi. The author argues that the two artists have situated themselves as public pedagogues and catalysts for social change and that they have confront right-wing populism and deconstruct Nordic notions of Otherness in their music In doing so, the artists provide nuanced counter-narratives that share insight into how global struggles for resources and neoliberal policies in the welfare state are brought to bear upon individuals living in the Nordic countries.