The Piu Piu Comet
This article looks at an emerging movement composed of a group of people (musicians, fans, journalists and promoters) that proposes a new form of collective imaginary thanks to the use of social media (Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram), sharing and dissemination media (Bandcamp, Mediafire and Dropbox), and other multi-purpose platforms (Mixcloud, SoundCloud, YouTube and Vimeo). The Piu Piu movement, based in Montreal, represents one regional wave of electronic post-rap music, namely a new form of instrumental hip hop, belonging to a world « beat » scene. We explore the nationalist discourse, as well as the idea of nation often associated with hip hop. We argue that this nationalist discourse does not fit with the collective imaginaries created by people who identify with Piu Piu. One of the factors that encourage a reconfiguration of the Piu Piu imaginary collective is the members’ appropriation of new media and of its associated codes. With one click of a mouse, they model, re-model, and dismantle their networks to create new identity chains.