When you put the question of race in
hip hop it suddenly becomes politicized (resistance, representation of inner
city life). But its also art because your expressing your voice.
TODAY'S TOPIC: race, and race relations
in hip hop culture
Those involved with Black music history are often struck by the egregious turns of public relations
whereby Paul Whiteman got crowned the king of swing in the 1920’s, Benny
Goodman (he became the king when black jazz musicians were not allowed to play
for the white audience) anointed the king of jazz in the 1930’s, Elvis Presley
popped up as the king of rock and roll in 50’s, and Eric Clapton awarded the
tile of the worlds greatest guitar players in 60’s.
Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture (New York: Broadway Books, 2003) was the base of our lecture this week. The collection of essays are written by Greg Tate, who has garnered a reputation-and eventually was dubbed by The Source magazine – as a “Godfather of hip-hop journalism.”
Much of his most-popular writings were published during his stint as a
staff writer with New York City’s Village Voice between 1987 and 2003.
Everything but the Burden incorporates voices from music, popular culture, the literary world,
and the media speaking about how from Brooklyn to the Badlands white
people are co-opting black styles of music, dance, dress, and slang. In
this collection, the essayists examine how whites seem to be taking on,
as editor Greg Tate’s mother used to tell him, “everything but the
burden”–from fetishizing black athletes to spinning the ghetto lifestyle
into a glamorous commodity.
"White kids from the ’burbs are throwing up gang signs. The 2001 Grammy
winner for best rap artist was as white as rice. And blond-haired
sorority sisters are sporting FUBU gear. What is going on in American
culture that’s giving our nation a racial-identity crisis?" -Book Review by Kobobooks.com
No comments:
Post a Comment