Park et al., "Rap as a social reflection" (2026)

Minsu Park, Jaehyuk Park, Fabio Rojas, and Yong-Yeol Ahn, EPJ Data Science 15, 27 (2026)
DOI | SocArXiv

@article{park2026rap,
    author = {Minsu Park and Jaehyuk Park and Fabio Rojas and Yong-Yeol Ahn},
    title = {Rap as a social reflection: a quantitative analysis of social conditions and lyrical expressions},
    journal = {EPJ Data Science},
    volume = {15},
    pages = {27},
    doi = {10.1140/epjds/s13688-026-00630-9},
    year = {2026},
}

We analyze 26,438 U.S. rap singles released from 1990 to 2015. Themes related to violence, misogyny, materialism, and drug use fluctuate rather than increase consistently, and their prevalence correlates with corresponding national social indicators. These correlations are stronger when the indicators describe Black Americans specifically.