Articulating political engagement and artistic recognition
By examining the social paths of four contemporary rappers, this article seeks to shed light on the tensions between the road to fame and political engagement in the professional art world. Sociological literature on artist engagement implies that the levels and types of engagement are determined by the position artists hold in their professional art world and on their level of recognition in particular. However, if this conflict between engagement and acclaim structures the paths of the artists that were studied, it is also necessary to look at the artists’ socialization. The diachronic study of individual constructs makes it possible to understand that the analysis of the actors’ political socialization proves to be crucial to understand their engagement modes. Furthermore, the specificity of rap and its irreducibility to the world of music are examined in order to understand the challenges of an evolving art world and its effects on the artists’ professional paths.