The article traces the intellectual lineage from hip hop studies to Bourdieu’s cultural sociology on the basis of a comparison between American and German research. With regards to socio-historical and theoretical considerations, it is shown that German hip hop studies have a more multifaceted usage of Bourdieusian concepts than American studies and how this is expressed through dealings with topics such as authenticity, gender or class. The text closes with an outlook on a few fundamental challenges on Bourdieusian concepts and terminologies in the age of a growing digital hip hop culture.