Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries (between adolescents and their mothers as well as among peers). Still, there are limits, and what starts as playful insult sometimes crosses over into personal insult. The aggression is sometimes naked, as in Brazilian briga. Even looking at someone “the wrong way” can be a provocation in a world of macho honor. How we are looked at and how we are seen raise issues of who we are, of status and honor.
Keywords: ritual, play, dozens, rap, aggression, macho, provocation, adolescents, mothers, briga, looking