"keep it real"

[Mary Bucholtz]

The following article may be of interest:

Cutler, Cecelia (2003). “Keepin’ it real”: White hip-hoppers’ discourses of 
language, race, and authenticity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 
13(2):211-233.

Mary

--On Monday, July 14, 2008 12:13 AM -0500 Bryan James Gordon 
<linguista at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> People say "keep it real" - as Mary notes, originally and still primarily
> in African American or African-American-influenced varieties of English -
> in direct reference to what Polonius would call being true to thine own
> self. It means being true to one's own nature, and in particular to one's
> role in one's community. Keeping it real is opposed to behaviours such as
> fronting, or putting up a front; and selling out, or abandoning one's
> community in order to achieve the "American dream". It is also opposed to
> living an exorbitant or overly showy lifestyle.
>
> It is used, as Jason says, in saying goodbye as well, in the same way
> that "take care" is used - as an admonition to actually follow through in
> keeping it real.
>
> It can also be used to connote standing up for oneself or being willing
> to go to extraordinary measures to protect oneself or one's friends and
> loved ones. In this sense, "keeping it real" is opposed to cowardice or
> silent acceptance of things.
>
> Someone who has much better experience than I do with this term would
> make a much better source. I guess, having been exposed to this phrase my
> whole life it never occurred to me there would be people who don't know
> what it means or where it comes from. But it doesn't come from me, so
> don't cite me.
>
> - Bryan James Gordon
>
>
> 2008/7/13 Siegel, Jason F. <siegeljf at indiana.edu>:
>
> I also have the impression that it is often used like "take care" or "see
> you around" as just something that people say when they are saying
> good-bye.
>
> --Jason
>
> --
> Jason F. Siegel
> Ph.D. Student, Linguistics & French Linguistics
> Department of French & Italian
> Ballantine Hall 642
> 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue
> Indiana University
> Bloomington, IN 47405-7103
> USA
> siegeljf at indiana.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>:
>
>
> At 10:04 PM -0700 7/12/08, Mary Bucholtz wrote:
>
> It's an African American English expression that's widely used in
> hip hop culture. From there it's spread to a large number of speech
> communities around the world.
>
> Mary
>
>
> In support of this, another poster on ADS-L, Ben Zimmer of Oxford
> University Press, notes:
>
> FWIW, "Keep It Real" is the title of a track on John Lee and Gerry
> Brown's 1975 Blue Note album "Mango Sunrise".
>
> http://www.worldsoul.com/JOHN_LEE_&_GERRY_BROWN__1390_html
>
>
>
>
> --On Friday, July 11, 2008 2:23 PM +0100 Sarah Colvin
> <sarah.colvin at ED.AC.UK> wrote:
>
>
>
> Can anybody give me a reference or advise me re. the history, use, and
> meaning of the phrase "keep it real"?
> Thanks,
> Sarah Colvin
>
> Professor Sarah Colvin
> University of Edinburgh
> David Hume Tower
> George Square
> Edinburgh EH8 9JX
> Tel. ++ 131 650 3630
> email: sarah.colvin at ed.ac.uk
>
>
>
> --
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
>
>
>
>
> **************************************************
> Mary Bucholtz, Professor
> Department of Linguistics
> 3607 South Hall
> University of California
> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3100
> phone: (805) 893-5415
> fax: (805) 893-7769
> http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/bucholtz/
> **************************************************
>
>
>
>
>



**************************************************
Mary Bucholtz, Professor
Department of Linguistics
3607 South Hall
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3100
phone: (805) 893-5415
fax: (805) 893-7769
http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/bucholtz/
**************************************************