From the US to Mongolia, CSUEB professor studies the global reach of hip-hop and rap music

• January 5, 2011 5:00am

Central Asian Survey published research by Assistant Professor Peter Marsh on the emergence of globally inspired hip-hop and rap music in Mongolia. “The story of hip-hop's development provides us with a window onto the changing social, political and economic landscape of post-socialist Mongolia,” wrote Marsh.  

His study, ”Our generation is opening its eyes: hip-hop and youth identity in contemporary Mongolia,” examines the development of popular music in Mongolia over roughly four decades, a period in which Mongolian popular musicians found their own voice within a rapidly expanding cultural mainstream. Hip-hop emerged within this mainstream as both a product of these developments and the result of the rise of a new generation of young people who defined themselves as distinct from the older, 'socialist-era' generations and used this music to declare this.

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