Material or Symbolic Value? From the Ghetto’s CNN to the Forum of Bragging?

From its African-American beginnings, rap has evolved into a multiverse. Our analysis considers major turningpoints in the multifaceted career in America, the post-socialist region, and Hungary, exploring the social and sub-genre stratification observed. Crucial experiences of the American rap scene include the „old school” / ”new school” shift and the mainstreaming driven by commercial interests and subcultural incorporation, propelling the genre to a wider audience and global prominence. For partly different reasons and with a slightly different trajectory, both the post-socialist regional rap scene more broadly and the Hungarian scene more narrowly indicate specific epochal changes and sub-directions. A notable lesson in this context is that the Polish scene, along with Slovak and Serbian rap scenes, has embraced a broader spectrum of society while also relatively narrowing down thematically. Furthermore, concerning Hungarian particularities, it is noticeable that Hungarian rap emerges in a highly differentiated social field, where various habituses and valuesystems intersect. This distinctiveness is evident in the numerous genre variations and their diverse thematic preferences. The role of consumer culture in this social and genre stratification is, therefore, a key factor in our research.