The Politics and Place of a "Legendary" Hip Hop Track in Detroit

This paper examines how a collective of women in Detroit are using hip hop culture and rap music specifically to create spaces of resistance in a place inundated with environmental ruins, race politics, social alienation, and dilapidated living conditions. It contextualizes the historical and contemporary environmental situation of Detroit before moving on to examine the collective process of creating the rap song and music video "Legendary." Ecomusicological and urban planning literature, along with Adam Krims's concepts of design intensity, cultural regeneration, and urban ethos, are reconfigured in relation to socially conscious, women-centered hip hop. "Legendary" locates Detroit's contemporary struggles in racially marked places in the city through an array of arresting images that capture environmental waste, forgotten spaces, and resilience among residents to survive such challenges. Ultimately, we argue that the video serves as an example of how music can be used to question gendered power dynamics in hip hop culture and its connection to the environment, creating more desirable, sustainable communities. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]