“Nation against the system”: nationalist rap as the voice of marginalized classes and losers from the neoliberal transformation in Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the phenomenon of nationalist rap in Poland. According to the authors, the seemingly independent rap uses a more radical version of the discourse of the right-wing establishment that refers to nationalism, Islamophobia, and opposition to migrants. As there is no left-wing cultural narrative in the public space, nationalist rap has become a voice of those who have not benefited from the process of neoliberal transformation in Eastern Europe and a musical setting for the far right. From this perspective, nationalist rap is an identity response to class marginalization.