22/05/2026
Groningen on the map as European capital of hip-hop 🎧 🎤
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Groningen has had a lively hip-hop scene for many years, but nowadays it stretches as far as the academic world. Steven Gilbers (), Assistant Professor of English Linguistics, specializing in hip-hop and African-American English, is researching the linguistic aspects of rap. He helped to compile an exhibition about hip-hop in the Groninger Museum, and arranged for an international hip-hop conference to be held in the city.
Gilbers hopes that the exhibition and the conference will put Groningen firmly on the international map as a city of hip-hop, and the UG as a global centre for hip-hop studies. ‘If it were up to me, we’d set up a Minor or a Master’s degree programme focusing entirely on hip-hop in all its facets. I think that there is both demand and opportunity for developing it, as long as the time, money, and space are made available. The Faculty and the University must not be allowed to stagnate, and a field like hip-hop studies can bring fresh momentum that will appeal to a new, and very welcome, audience.’
📸 Siese Veenstra
