RT Article
T1 Promiscuous πόρναι, Bad Bitches, and Misogynistic Masculinities: A Queer, Imperial-Critical Analysis of Revelation and Rap
JF Biblical interpretation
VO 27
IS 1
SP 130
OP 149
A1 Horn, O'Neil Van
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1683561635
AB If the Book of Revelation is anti-imperial resistance literature of the first order, hip-hop music is its contemporary equivalent - with Kendrick Lamar as one of its most politically sensitized "prophets." I will explore the intersections, commonalities, and divergences between Revelation 17-18 and rapper Kendrick's "For Sale? (Interlude)," especially regarding notions of empire, gender, and sexuality. I will draw connections between the characters of "For Sale" - Kendrick and Lucy - and those of Revelation 17-18 - John of Patmos and Babylon. This analysis will reveal the relationship between anti-imperial rhetoric and the troubling "effemination" of empire. I contend that Babylon and Lucy are both figures "in drag," dis/closing the prevailing imperial and misogynistic forces of their respective cultures. This queer interpretation, playing off Catherine Keller's and Stephen D. Moore's reading of the text and J. Jack Halberstam's study of drag kings, seeks to unveil the hypermasculine performances in both Revelation and contemporary hip-hop culture.
K1 Kendrick Lamar
K1 Revelation
K1 Empire
K1 Gender Studies
K1 Hip-hop
K1 Queer Theory
DO 10.1163/15685152-00271P07