“When the Girls getting into Hip-Hop Music” Indonesian Youth and Hip-Hop Music Consumption in the Internet Age

This paper explores Indonesian young girls’ conception of musical taste related to the context of musical consumption in the internet age, in particular how they use the internet in which they interact with, in order to access and listen to Hip-Hop music, and how they construct their own narratives as well. Further, it explores the role of the internet in mediating the relationship between them and Hip-Hop music nowadays. Results of the research show that in the internet age, mostly subjects of this research are able to redefine their musical tastes, not merely following conventional definition of genre based on technologies they use. The hierarchy of musical taste including the choice of intra genre in Hip-Hop Music is getting blurred in the internet age. It gives opportunity and space for subjects to do exploration more on multiple songs of Hip-Hop, to engage deeply with artists and songs that they like, and also to expand their knowledge related to Hip-Hop. The profound engagement with internet contributes to reshaping subjects’ taste on music especially how they conceive and perceive Hip-Hop music in which has been undergoing stereotyping in dominant culture for decades. The new engagement breaks down social taboos and helping subjects in reformatting their identities in the midst of technological changing rapidly.