The Lo-Fi Lens: Interpretations of Memphis Rap Tape Rips in the Online Mediascape

This article interrogates the association between 1990s Memphis rap and the concept of lo-fi in journalistic discourse between 2012 and 2022. It employs Appadurai's concept of mediascape in demonstrating how digitized Memphis rap tape recordings, or tape rips, have been portrayed through a lo-fi lens in electronic media. It discusses how using lo-fi tropes as a reference point to interpret the audio quality of these recordings curates imagined worlds that ultimately result in the judgment of people and places.

Automated summary

This article examines the association between 1990s Memphis rap and the concept of lo-fi in journalistic discourse from 2012 to 2022. It explores how digitized Memphis rap tape recordings, known as tape rips, have been portrayed through a lo-fi lens in electronic media, using Appadurai's concept of mediascape. It discusses the use of lo-fi tropes to interpret the audio quality of these recordings, and how it shapes perceptions of people and places.