One theoretical approach that has been particularly L1SCfL1l in understanding the per- formance of identity in popular culture is ‘language crossing’ as described in Rampton (1995). ‘Language crossing’ is the use of stereotypical features of a dialect belonging to a group that the user does not belong to. Cutler (1999) describes that appropriation of African—American English by a white upper-middle-class New York City teenager and his identification with popular culture genres association with hip-hop music. Following the global phenomenon of hip-hop music world-wide, described in Mitchell (2001), Pen- nycook (2003) argues that the appropriation of forms of speech from other groups repre- sents an important area of research about the development of World Englishes and global media. Similarly, Lee (2005) examines various types of crossing in Korean and Japanese pop music to describe the creative force of English within those popular cultures.