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n its more extreme forms enacts a Dionysian subversion of boundaries, entering a realm of anarchy, lawlessness, and chaos. Rap is thus at once a formidable form of musical expression, a subcultural means of opposition, a cultural idiom of counterhegemonic anger and rebellion, and an indicator that existing societies are structured according to a system of differences between dominant and subordinate classes, groups, races, and genders. Exploding false homogenization and humanisms, rap music is thus an anthem of postmodern marginality and conflict, a vivid articulation of the extent to which difference and opposition are structuring principles of contemporary society, and a reminder of the growing differences between the haves and the have nots. It is the thorn on the rose of media culture which pricks its audiences into awareness of the shadowside and underclass of American society. It is a frequently embarrassing reminder that all is not well in the home of the brave and the land of the free. Rap vividly reminds us that the red, white, and blue of the flag are not yet signifiers of a multicultural society where the colors of the rainbow complement each other and harmonize rather then clash. Yet rap can further a destructive type of identity politics, promoting a binary opposition between white and black, cops and gangsters, men and women, straight and gay, that stigmatizes one of the terms of the binary. However, with its heavy emphasis on color, rap music calls attention to the importance of racial difference and focuses attention on whiteness as well as blackness. Rap thus troubles and problematizes the system of racial difference whereby blackness is marginalized, silenced, and excluded from the cultural dialogue and whiteness is assumed as the norm and the normal. Rap can force white audiences to reflect on their own racial construction, on the ways that whites oppress blacks, on the ways that their own subject positions are constructed in opposition to an Other who is often presented in a negative light. Rap is thus a significant part of the postmodern adventure that forces an increasingly multicultural and multiracial society to become aware of its differences and to learn to live with otherness and dissimilarity. Endnotes 1. As we note below, hip hop is a broader cultural matrix that includes dance, performance, visual art, style, fashion, and a mode of life; rap is the form of musical idiom that articulates the ethos of hip hop culture. On the relationship between hip hop and rap and for various accounts of their historical genesis and significance, see Toop 1984; George 1988 and 1998; Gilroy 1991 and 1994; Dyson 1993 and 1996; Rose 1994; Lipsitz 1994; and Kellner 1995. This study was carried out as part our forthcoming The Postmodern Adventure, which follows Best and Kellner 1991 and 1997. (back) 2. Tupac recorded songs anticipating his death, including "Death Around the Corner" and "If I Die 2nite", which we discuss below; Biggie Smalls also cut two records entitled "Ready to Die" and "Life after Death" before his execution, which were released after his death. (back) 3. Two recent testimonies to the potency and popularity of rap are found in Newsweek article (February 8, 1999: 52-66) which documents rap's global popularity, claiming that it is to the present era what Benny Goodman was to the swing era and the Beatles to the 1960s; the article notes that rap music sold 81 million CDs in 1998, compared with the eve