Spring Break
Simply Put: Hip-Hop Good Music
Greg Pivarnite
Issue date: 11/9/05 Section: Commentary
Bakari Kitwana, formerly of Source magazine, came to the African American Cultural Center a couple of weeks ago to speak about his new book "Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America." Kitwana's book tries to analyze the reasons why the white youth today likes hip hop music. Kitwana is not the only person to have delved into this issue.
Today in America, there is still a stigma between white and black people. People tend to accentuate the differences instead of the similarities. Instead of trying to use social and cultural explanations to try and understand why white people like myself listen to hip hop, I would like to offer an explanation that is so simple that it may not have even been presented anywhere, anytime until now - hip hop is good music.
This idea that an explanation needs to be given as to why white youth listen to rap music probably comes from the need for the older generation of white people to understand why their children would listen to such "hideous" music. Music that is full of violent and sexually explicit lyrics is "unacceptable." How is this different from the acid-trip-induced albums of the Grateful Dead? Sex and violence is appreciated by every American, regardless of the art form in which it is presented.
Every generation has their own genre of music that emerges as from some unexpected source. The previous generation had rock 'n' roll. The only reason this same discussion didn't take place with their music is because that generation of white people stole it from a style that was essentially black to begin with and called it their own. There was no chance for black-only expression to scare white America.
The aspect of hip hop that scares white America is that it can't be separated from black culture. It seems to be the last thing that blacks as a people can hold onto as their own. Most of the artists speak of issues that are important and pertinent to black culture. Rappers take pride in being authentic because record companies may be able to change a person, but they can't change where they came from. Hip hop has historically, from its roots, been music for a disenfranchised youth. It just happened that youth happened to be black.
Today in America, there is still a stigma between white and black people. People tend to accentuate the differences instead of the similarities. Instead of trying to use social and cultural explanations to try and understand why white people like myself listen to hip hop, I would like to offer an explanation that is so simple that it may not have even been presented anywhere, anytime until now - hip hop is good music.
This idea that an explanation needs to be given as to why white youth listen to rap music probably comes from the need for the older generation of white people to understand why their children would listen to such "hideous" music. Music that is full of violent and sexually explicit lyrics is "unacceptable." How is this different from the acid-trip-induced albums of the Grateful Dead? Sex and violence is appreciated by every American, regardless of the art form in which it is presented.
Every generation has their own genre of music that emerges as from some unexpected source. The previous generation had rock 'n' roll. The only reason this same discussion didn't take place with their music is because that generation of white people stole it from a style that was essentially black to begin with and called it their own. There was no chance for black-only expression to scare white America.
The aspect of hip hop that scares white America is that it can't be separated from black culture. It seems to be the last thing that blacks as a people can hold onto as their own. Most of the artists speak of issues that are important and pertinent to black culture. Rappers take pride in being authentic because record companies may be able to change a person, but they can't change where they came from. Hip hop has historically, from its roots, been music for a disenfranchised youth. It just happened that youth happened to be black.