Queering Rap
Day and time: Saturday (March 21) · 10:15–11:45
Location: Info Center
Format: Talk
Pretty Dollcorpse: Queer revolution in French rap
Presented by: Zénaïde Berg
A trio of artists composed of beatmaker Neophron, trans rapper Ptite Sœur, and gay rapper Femtogo released the album Pretty Dollcorpse on October 10, 2025, which addresses topics such as pedocriminality, grooming, queer solidarity, and trauma caused by sexual violence. This album is the first French rap album to focus on pedocriminality and the culture of incest that supports it, reflecting the liberation of victims' voices brought about by the MeToo movement since 2017 and the MeTooInceste movement since 2019 in France. Rap, which has historically been rooted in anti-racist struggles, has long invisibilized queer people, both in terms of its publics and its artists (Higgins, 2020; Guillard and Sonnette, 2020). A discourse analysis of Pretty Dollcorpse will be carried out using queer and feminist theory tools, including the concepts of queer and feminist gaze, as well as research on incest and its consequences for victims (Brey and Drouar, 2022; Evans and Gamman, 1995; Fayolle, 2023; Dussy, 2013). Chaotic traumatic memory and raw punchlines, like flashes of the violence experienced, will be analyzed.
Queer Positioning Strategies in German-Speaking Rap
Presented by: Benedict Weskott
The prevalent media and social image of rap in Germany, the structural conditions within a large part of the subculture, as well as the popular narrative of rap are mostly limited to a cis-male, heterosexual perspective, which renders many rappers and positions invisible. Queer rappers in the German-speaking region have received little attention in research to this date while their visibility has slowly increased in recent times. This is why my research focuses on rappers whose gender identity and sexual orientation makes them outsiders and targets in the world of rap, but who rap nevertheless and are successful in doing so. My research asks: “How do artists manage to transcend social or institutional boundaries and appropriate a field that excludes them per se or at least does not take them seriously?” To investigate this question, I conduct narrative-biographical interviews and analyse music videos by queer rappers to reconstruct institutional and sociocultural conditions within the cultural field of rap and beyond and to highlight and examine similarities and differences in queer rappers’ musical personae and positioning strategies.
The desire for Black queer liberation and acceptance in Janelle Monáe’s conceptual music
Presented by: TC de Roche-Puckerin
This project recognises the artistic quality of lyrics and seeks to situate them alongside other works of art: traditional media, prose, and poetry. I acknowledge that lyrics cannot be studied in isolation; they are intended to be experienced alongside musical scores and so to fully appreciate the breadth of meaning, this project will take an integrated approach.
It is necessary to look at the empowerment of Black queer people, as the frequency of our voices being silenced and removed from conversations is far too common; the genre of Afrofuturism offers material for this across several forms. As an interdisciplinary genre, Afrofuturism allows creators to explore ideas of Blackness and queerness in ways that are as expansive as the universe. Several critics, including Grace D. Gipson, have noted the relationship between Black feminism and Afrofuturism, a connection important for this project.
This proposal hopes to add to the discussion of Black queer empowerment in contemporary times, as well as the impact of Janelle Monáe and other creators who approach these themes through Afrofuturism. I also hope to highlight the representation of Black queer experiences within imagined works and the ways in which they work in conversation with reality.
