When Karen Slides into Your DMs

Abstract This chapter uses my experiences as both a Dubsmasher and a teacher to unpack the role that language plays in identity formation. Specifically, it analyzes outsiders’ perceptions of Renegades in tandem with the linguistic and theatrical ways that Renegades push against the dominant narrative. The argument is that the relationship between language, race, and power influences how Dubsmashers such as my students construct their identities through music as well as how others criticize those same identity formations. I again use my classroom as a case study, here focusing on what I refer to as “a tale of four messages,” or a one-hour period in January 2020 in which I posted a Dub of my students and me dancing to “COOKIE SHOP” by ZaeHD & CEO and then immediately received four messages—one hypercritical message from a White follower and three supportive messages from Black followers. This case study offers a point of departure to unpack the ways that White outsiders attempt to police language and, by extension, the cultures of my students and other Renegades.