Whoopin’ For the Innanet: Exploring YouTube Vlogs as Reputation Building Intermediaries for Artists in Chicago’s Drill Rap Scene

Academics have previously depicted how gang-associated youth and young adults in Drill rap’s community of practice exploit social media platforms to publicly shame and invalidate the authenticity of their rivals’ self-presentation of street toughness, strength, masculinity, and embeddedness in gang territories. Using 16 months of ethnographic work in Chicago’s Drill Rap scene, this chapter examines how vlogs serve as important intermediaries to circulate counternarratives and push discourse about the street credibility of the scene’s most popular artists. Respondents indicated two of the primary practices that Drill rappers use within their YouTube vlogs were “signifying” (using humor to discredit a rival’s accusations and appear unbothered) and cross referencing (calling attention to private information that contradicts one’s public image through storytelling). These findings show that publicly documenting happenings related to street life and criminal happenings remains central to branding authenticity in the rap music industry but brings about more dynamic communication and real-life consequences for up-and-coming Drill artists who still are very much nestled in the neighborhoods and lifestyles that they talk about in their music. This study carries important implications for extending conversations addressing race, Hip-Hop, and inequality in the clout economy.