Sampling India: examining cultural appropriation, intercultural exchange, and the Othering of Indian music in hip-hop and reggaeton

Since Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), scholars have continued to expound upon Said’s binary analysis of ‘Orient and Occident’. In popular music studies, India is primarily explored through its influence on psychedelic rock (Lavezzoli, 2007; Bakrania, 2013), or the impact of bhangra in shaping diasporic South Asian identities (Sharma, 1996; Dudrah, 2002). However, the role of digital sampling in the Othering of Indian culture is relatively undertheorized.
In order to provide a fresh perspective, this thesis examines the sonic Othering of Indian music in hip-hop and reggaeton, with a key focus on cultural appropriation discourse and Orientalism in a globalised age. These genres make for an ideal study not only due to a proclivity for sampling and interpolations (the reuse of portions of existing musical works), but also the increased interest of American producers in Indian sounds through the 2000s.
In addition to drawing from academic theory, music industry journalism, copyright law, and original interviews, this thesis comprises case studies examining 2000s hip-hop and reggaeton works through concepts of cultural exchange, exploitation, dominance, and transculturation. My goal in this process is to explore the scope for cultural appropriation whilst acknowledging the possibility for both exploitation and exchange, thereby driving the debate forward.
Through these studies, I observe both overt and inferred forms of appropriation. Moreover, certain works exhibit a paradoxical duality, demonstrating elements of appropriation and exchange through hybridised identities. These findings enhance our understanding of not only the scope for intercultural exchange amongst postcolonial cultures, but also the role of sampling and interpolations in lending or denying subordinated cultures agency.
Additionally, I identify new mediums of appropriation such as ‘brownfishing’ (the South Asian equivalent of blackfishing) as well as resistance (such as versioning and signifying politics by Indian artists), and examine the role of self-exoticisation in reclaiming sonic agency.