This Companion offers the first systematic analysis of the representation of the body in literature. It historicizes embodiment by charting our evolving understanding of the body from the Middle Ages to the present day, while leading scholars chart a variety of theoretical understandings of the body.

Introduction: the interdisciplinary world of hip-hop studies Justin A. Williams; Part I. Elements: 1. MC origins: rap and spoken word poetry Alice Price-Styles; 2. Hip-hop dance Imani K. Johnson; 3. Hip-hop visual arts Ivor Miller; 4. DJs and turntabilism Kjetil Falkenberg Hansen; 5. The fifth element: knowledge Travis Gosa; 6. Hip-hop and religion: from the mosque to the church Christina Zanfagna; 7. Hip-hop theater and performance Nicole Hodges Persley; Part II. Methods and Concepts: 8. Lyrics and flow in rap music Oliver Kautny; 9. The musical analysis of hip-hop Kyle Adams; 10. The glass: hip-hop production Chris Tabron; 11. Hip-hop and racial identification: an (auto)ethnographic perspective Anthony Kwame Harrison; 12. Thirty years of rapsploitation: hip-hop culture in American cinema Geoff Harkness; 13. Barbz and kings: explorations of gender and sexuality in hip-hop Regina Bradley; 14. Hip-hop and politics Chris Deis; 15. Intertextuality, sampling, and copyright Justin A. Williams; Part III. Case Studies: 16. Nerdcore hip-hop Amanda Sewell; 17. Framing gender, race, and hip-hop in Boyz in the Hood, Do the Right Thing and Slam Adam Haupt; 18. Japanese hip-hop: alternative stories Noriko Manabe; 19. Council estate of mind: the British rap tradition and London's hip-hop scene Richard Bramwell; 20. Cuban hip-hop Sujatha Fernandes; 21. Senegalese hip-hop Ali Coleen Neff; 22. Off the grid: instrumental hip-hop and experimentalism after the golden age Mike D'Errico; 23. Stylized Turkish German as the resistance vernacular of German hip-hop Brenna Byrd; 24. 'Bringin' '88 back': historicizing rap music's greatest year Loren Kajikawa; 25. 'Where ya at?': Hip-hop's political locations in the Obama era Michael Jeffries.