By Shanea Hannibal
Throughout the years Hip Hop music have been labeled as a race and one race only, African Americans. It’s true that this music genre has evolved from the African Americans race but can we really justify that it’s only supported by one race only? This issue has become political engaged, almost seen as a revolutionary potential in rap and hip hop music. They couldn’t be more wrong. By reinforcing the stereotypes that long hindered blacks, and by teaching young blacks that a thuggish adversarial stance is the properly “authentic” response to a presumptively racist society, rap retards black success. The popularity of rapper Eminem has been a catalyst for the impassioned exchanges that have been a long time coming. The most visible debate centers on “The Source Magazine” and their claim that Eminem is a tool for the white power structure. But this has been a discussion that has surfaced and resurfaced ever since the Beastie Boys hit the scene back in the mid 80s. The discussion of hip hop and race emerged during Hip Hop's Golden Age/Afrocentric era, when groups like 3rd Bass the Young Black Teenagers hit the scene. The introduction of Vanilla Ice also sparked a lot of discussion around the issue of race in the early 90s. Unfortunately we never fully addressed all the issues and concerns that arose out of those earlier conversations. Now that Eminem is blowing up the spot and Hip Hop is a multi-billion dollar a year business, the discussions around race are in full swing again.
I noted that Hip Hop was at a strange crossroads where lots of white kids are passionate and identify with so much that hip hop offers. At the same time it has always been an important vehicle for Blacks and Latinos which provided a platform giving them a voice to the disenfranchised and offered a way to economically escape of harsh conditions of the ghetto. More importantly the divisive racial politics of past generations began to rear its ugliness. In other words, as hip hop started to go mainstream some of the same social, economic and even political conditions that gave rise to hip hop in its youth were reappearing. What made things so hard to swallow was that for a lot of people. Hip hop had taken on the appearance of being an inclusive unifying force that would elevate us all. There were many examples that seemed to suggest that people dressed the same, danced the same, listened to the same music, used the same slang and could even party in the same night club. Hip Hop had evolved to the point that you could go near anywhere in the world and say “Hip Hop” and people would know what you're talking about. Now that popular white artists like Eminem or even an urbanized Justin Timberlake are on the scene, corporations see a better marketing tool. They no longer have to deal with those Black and Brown faces to attract a desired audience people to a radio station or TV show. It's all about the money and keeping the corporate advertisers happy and comfortable by attracting their target audience. High paying clients who wanted to use the station to attract a hip, diverse, urban audience, (translation white audience) they would drop lots of money on the table for a station promotion and it was understood that in order for the station to attract that targeted audience that a white deejay with urban appeal would be used.
Throughout the years Hip Hop music have been labeled as a race and one race only, African Americans. It’s true that this music genre has evolved from the African Americans race but can we really justify that it’s only supported by one race only? This issue has become political engaged, almost seen as a revolutionary potential in rap and hip hop music. They couldn’t be more wrong. By reinforcing the stereotypes that long hindered blacks, and by teaching young blacks that a thuggish adversarial stance is the properly “authentic” response to a presumptively racist society, rap retards black success. The popularity of rapper Eminem has been a catalyst for the impassioned exchanges that have been a long time coming. The most visible debate centers on “The Source Magazine” and their claim that Eminem is a tool for the white power structure. But this has been a discussion that has surfaced and resurfaced ever since the Beastie Boys hit the scene back in the mid 80s. The discussion of hip hop and race emerged during Hip Hop's Golden Age/Afrocentric era, when groups like 3rd Bass the Young Black Teenagers hit the scene. The introduction of Vanilla Ice also sparked a lot of discussion around the issue of race in the early 90s. Unfortunately we never fully addressed all the issues and concerns that arose out of those earlier conversations. Now that Eminem is blowing up the spot and Hip Hop is a multi-billion dollar a year business, the discussions around race are in full swing again.
I noted that Hip Hop was at a strange crossroads where lots of white kids are passionate and identify with so much that hip hop offers. At the same time it has always been an important vehicle for Blacks and Latinos which provided a platform giving them a voice to the disenfranchised and offered a way to economically escape of harsh conditions of the ghetto. More importantly the divisive racial politics of past generations began to rear its ugliness. In other words, as hip hop started to go mainstream some of the same social, economic and even political conditions that gave rise to hip hop in its youth were reappearing. What made things so hard to swallow was that for a lot of people. Hip hop had taken on the appearance of being an inclusive unifying force that would elevate us all. There were many examples that seemed to suggest that people dressed the same, danced the same, listened to the same music, used the same slang and could even party in the same night club. Hip Hop had evolved to the point that you could go near anywhere in the world and say “Hip Hop” and people would know what you're talking about. Now that popular white artists like Eminem or even an urbanized Justin Timberlake are on the scene, corporations see a better marketing tool. They no longer have to deal with those Black and Brown faces to attract a desired audience people to a radio station or TV show. It's all about the money and keeping the corporate advertisers happy and comfortable by attracting their target audience. High paying clients who wanted to use the station to attract a hip, diverse, urban audience, (translation white audience) they would drop lots of money on the table for a station promotion and it was understood that in order for the station to attract that targeted audience that a white deejay with urban appeal would be used.
It was only when the divisive politics and practices of the music industry and big business came into play that the Hip Hop community started to experience these 'growing pains' around the issue of race. Because many of us within Hip Hop have not really studied this country's racial history above and beyond the obvious (slavery or the Jim Crow law) or been exposed to the many covert ways rascism is manifested, we didn't realize when we were being used, our images and talent being exploited or us just being victimized until we started to look up and saw an uneven playing field in a business where race does indeed matter.
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