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This article sets out to broaden our understanding of the significance of authenticity, locality and language for the development of a do-it-yourself (DIY) rap music career by taking male rap artists in Austria as an example. Drawing on interviews carried out in 2014–2015 with two groups of rap artists from different social and cultural backgrounds who embarked on their rap music careers in the early 1990s and the early 2000s, we analyse their rap lyrics and the social and economic contexts in which these individuals became rappers. We examine how the artists articulate claims to authenticity by appropriating African-American rap styles, meanings and idioms and blending them with local languages and references to local cultures and national politics. We also examine the rappers’ relationship to the music industry and the use of informal channels for the production, performance and consumption of rap and hip hop in general. The article suggests that the DIY careers of these rap artists depend on both the rappers’ use of music to articulate claims to authenticity and their ability to form (trans-)local networks for sharing skills, knowledge and other resources, as well as on Austria’s cultural policy and the changes in the music industry that have taken place in recent years.

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This article explores the retrospective cultural consecration of popular music in Austria. Examining two recent documentary projects, one focusing on Austropop, a Viennese popular music phenomenon of the early 1970s, and the other on the punk-inspired music scene of Linz in Upper Austria from late 1970s, the article shows how both projects seek to invent an Austrian popular music heritage and advance claims for national or regional cultural identity based on the discourse of rock heritage. 'Weltberühmt in Österreich. 50 Jahre Austropop' (World Famous in Austria. 50 Years of Austropop) deploys the 'Sound of Music' image of Austria in the construction of Austropop as an essential part of national cultural heritage and hence, national identity for the post-war generation. 'Es muss was geben' (There must be something) asserts the identity of the punk-inspired musicians of Linz as 'Steel City kids' and yet claims that this music scene contributed significantly to the transformation of Linz from an industrial town dominated by state-owned steel works to a 'cultural city'. My analysis suggests how the claims of rock heritage are, after all, consistent with the cultural ideology of the post-war republic and how they reflect broader contradictions in Austrian society.