“When the Girls getting into Hip-Hop Music” Indonesian Youth and Hip-Hop Music Consumption in the Internet Age

Abstract

. This paper explored Indonesian young girls’ conceptions of musical tastes related to the context of musical consumption in the internet age, in particular how they utilized the internet in which they interacted with, in an effort to get access and to listen to Hip-Hop music, and how they constructed their own narratives as well. Further, it explored the role of the internet in mediating the relationship between girls and Hip-Hop music nowadays. How the internet reshaped the musical taste of Indonesian young girls in particular their understanding of Hip-Hop genre. How this triangular relationship between young people, music, and the internet represented a strong respond of young people dealing with the changing of context. The research used Cultural Studies perspective. Data was gathered from participation and in-depth interview of daily activities of Indonesian girls from different provinces, who had been engaged and consumed Hip-Hop Music from the internet. Results of the research showed that in the internet age, mostly subjects of this research were able to redefine their musical tastes, not merely following conventional definition of genre based on technologies they used. The hierarchy of musical taste including the choice of intra genre in Hip-Hop Music was getting blurred in the internet age. It gave some opportunities and spaces for the subjects doing some exploration more on multiple songs of Hip-Hop, engaging deeply with artists and songs that they adored, and also expanding their knowledge related to Hip-Hop. The profound engagement with the internet contributed to reshaping the subjects taste on music especially how they conceived and perceived Hip-Hop music in which has been underwent stereotyping in dominant culture for decades. The new engagement broke down the social taboos and helping the subjects in reformatting their identities in the midst of technological changing rapidly.