User:TomUSA/Race in hip hop

Although hip hop is a primarily music oriented culture, the political significance of race sometimes comes into play, with accusations of cultural appropriation against non-Black—typically white and Asian—performers, and charges of racism and self-stereotyping against black performers.

Overview

By the United States 2000 Census, three quarters of the United States' population is white, while one eighth is black. However, most mainstream rappers in the United States are black. Some believe this discrepancy is a good thing; popular rapper Kanye West has said: "I hate music where white people are trying to sound black. The white music I like is white". Other artists reject such distinctions and argue that it's absurd to racially segregate music four decades after the civil rights movement.

Some prominent mainstream Caucasian MCs include: Marky Mark, Snow, Eminem, Everlast of House Of Pain and of La Coka Nostra, Paul Wall. Some prominent hardcore underground Hip-Hop Caucasian MCs include: Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks and of Army of the Pharaohs, Mad Child of Swollen Members, Ill Bill of Non Phixion and of La Coka Nostra, Slaine of Special Teamz and of La Coka Nostra, R.A. The Rugged Man, 7L & Esoteric of Army of the Pharaohs, Apathy of Army of the Pharaohs.

The following Caucasian MCs are mainly prominent with the "white alternative Hip-Hop" scene: Slug of Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Sage Francis, Cage, Brother Ali, El-P of Company Flow. The following are prominent Caucasian Hip-Hop producers: DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, The Alchemist, Ant of Atmosphere, Scott Storch, Marco Polo, Jake One, and DJ Revolution of the The Wake Up Show.

Discussion

While they have been successful, artists such as the Beastie Boys, a rap group that is predominately Caucasian Jewish teenagers, were sometimes labeled as sub-categories of hip hop music, such as alternative. White hip hop artists have advanced the genre of rap by bringing in a larger and more diverse audience and recognition for rap as a musical genre, however they have had much less of an effect on the overall musical trajectory of the rap scene than their counterparts. The Beastie Boys managed to sell millions of records while maintaining the respect of the hip hop community.

Another notable mention is the classic Hip-Hop group from the late 1980s and early 1990s 3rd Bass, composed of two white Jewish MCs, MC Serch and Pete Nice and their DJ, African-American DJ Richie Rich. The group had two critically-acclaimed albums, 1989's The Cactus Album and 1991's Derelicts of Dialect, both on the Def Jam label and both reaching gold in record sales.

Wealth and class have always been significant issues in hip hop, a culture which was developed mainly among the lower and lower-middle class blacks of inner-city New York. Any view of money that can be seen in real life can also be seen in the lyrics of rap—just as there are rappers who often brag about their extravagant wealth or more specifically their "rags to riches" stories, there are political militants who decry materialism. Although most of hip hop's famous and influential rappers have come from inner-city ghettos, hip hop has always represented a variety of economic backgrounds. For example, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, Rakim, Black Sheep, and Kanye West were middle-class when they began rapping.

Race issues often intersect with class issues. Rapper Vanilla Ice was born in Dallas, Texas, but raised in South Florida. After gaining success on the underground scene, the rapper signed to major label SBK Records, who manufactured a false background in promotional materials, including a biography written by his manager, Tommy Quon, and attributed to Vanilla Ice, claiming that the rapper was born in the inner-city of Miami, Florida. Van Winkle has since regretted the book's publication, stating "I went overseas, I came back and people were asking me these weird questions and I couldn't understand them and then they said, 'well, your story is not matching with your bio,' and I said 'What bio?' and they pulled one out and I read it and I said, 'Who wrote this? Where'd you get this from?' And I had to hire these investigators to find out where the fuck this came from and nobody would really fess up to it [..] but the damage was already done. I was already labeled like a liar [...] I grew up in Dallas, I never denied that, I've never lied". - - House of Pain, an Irish-American crew from New York, were assertive about their ethnicity, including footage of a St. Patrick's Day parade in the music video for their first hit single Jump Around and name-dropping prominent Irish Americans in their lyrics. They also incorporated time signatures associated with traditional Irish folk music such as jigs and reels into their songs—a major deviation from mainstream hip hop where virtually every song is done in 4/4 time.

The most recent mainstream exception to the skin color trend in mainstream rap is Eminem, who is of mainly Scottish descent, and who grew up in the city of Warren, MI near Detroit. In his song "White America", Eminem attributes his selling success to his being more easily digestible by a white audience, because he "looks like them." - - Other prominent American rappers of primarily European descent include Sage Francis, Paul Wall, Mike Shinoda (who is half Japanese), El-Producto, Aesop Rock, Pitbull, Everlast (who is of Irish decent) and many others. Race, class, and ethnicity remain prominent themes in hip hop music in general, regardless of race. Despite the fact that the majority of American rap artists in the mainstream are black, some statistics indicate that most hip hop record purchasers are white, reflecting demographics and economics. According to musicologist Arthur Kempton, "Today 70 percent of hip-hop is bought by white kids".

Boots Riley has criticized these figures, pointing out that they only count SoundScan sales, which exclude the mom-and-pop record stores located in majority black and Latino neighborhoods that major music chains tend to avoid, and thus dramatically underrepresents the number of sales made in such communities According to political rapper Zion of Zion I, socially conscious hip hop in particular has a majority white audience: "...so many black people don't want to hear it. They want that thug shit." In addition to Zion, several other underground rappers such as Boots Riley of The Coup, report nearly all white audiences.

Musicologist Arthur Kempton argues that "Today 70 percent of hip-hop is bought by white kids". Russel Simmons has said that this percentage is upward towards 80%. However, there are no demographic studies with consistent results to support these claims and some, such as author Bakari Kitwana, believe that these numbers are used politically in order to, for example, play down the buying power of young African-Americans.

See also

• ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show
• Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes