That reference kind of caught my attention as I was reading Yousman's article. It was just a passing reference, but the sentence still stuck:
"...a White male fan's emulation of an artist like DMX, or the White rapper Eminem's parroting of Black gangsta rappers...bears much in common with earlier blackface performances...(Yousman 2004: 380)".
It made me think. Is this craze for Black culture and hiphop just another White supremacist tactic to subtly take over once again? I have to say that out of all our readings of this week, Yousman's made me the most paranoid.
But he makes some good points, especially about how 'Blackophilia', as he terms it, does not actually stimulate or create political or social reform. Instead, it has the effect of leaving change dead in the water. Rather that mobilizing the majority to action, the hiphop culture has merely make the stereotypical image of Black culture popular. That is, lower-class, dubiously-employed, violent, aggressive and hypersexualized.
Which brings me to another point. It's obvious that many reference to Black culture (and to a large extent, a lot of grounds for 'blackophobia') are based on this idea of wild and rampant sexuality. Whether it be the easy 'hoes' or misgoynist, shirtless self-named criminals, we are certainly not bombarded with a conservative image of Black sexuality. '
This concept of modern blackface, along with not-so-subtle reminders of Black sexuality can easily lead to the conclusion that as the dominant culture we Whites (yes, I include myself!) feel threatened by people we thought we could fit into a snug little box.
Personally, I think this discomfort could be a good thing, as long as it leads to the recognition of a need for change and not some hyper-masculine need to "whip it out and measure it".
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ReplyDeleteI found the reading interesting myself. However, I never thought about Eminem as a blackface performer. I feel this is because he is different from many rappers. Some of the music he writes about is about his life, and what he went through. I always thought he used his rapping skills to get his message across about his perception of "life".
ReplyDeleteI would understand that he could be a blackface performer if he sung about other black people, and what they go through. He would use this to create this idea that he can relate to what black people go through in society.
I always thought of Eminem as an independent rapper, who stood out from other rappers, because of some of the strong powerful lyrics.
What I find to be funny about that statement is that rap music would definitely not be as popular if it was only blacks that listened to it. When I went to a Wiz Khalifa concert last summer that also featured rappers A$AP Rocky, B.o.B., and Trinidad James, from what I saw I'd say that at least 85% of the crowd was white. While I was there people were singing along with all the songs regardless of the lyrics, however insulting, violent, or chauvinist they were.
ReplyDeleteI think that you are totally right that whites do feel uncomfortable about certain aspects of black and rap culture but despite that whites are a big part of the rap fan base. Rap is a mainstream form of music now and part of being mainstream is having a certain appeal to whites. Jazz, blues, and rock n' roll were all initially played by black people, but it wasn't until whites began to play and pay attention to the music that they became popular.
The idea of “blackophelia” is I think only partially accurate because many times the whites who listen to the music cannot relate to it and only like it because they just think it’s cool. The record company's behind the rap artists themselves don't care about social change they care about making money. To make money they need to sell the music, the merch, and concert tickets. They will pick out the songs that are meant to sell the best and really downplay other songs that may have moving messages but are not as controversial. You don’t need to completely understand something to like it and I think that also diminishes the messages of social change. It’s like “Oh well he’s rapping about it, and I listen to him so it’s like I’m supporting the cause.” That’s just slack-tivism, and they are that way because the issues many times don’t affect them. Why should a suburban white kid from a nuclear family care about the black struggle?
Eminem as a rapper talks about the struggle of being white in the rap game. He acknowledged that from the beginning he felt discriminated against because of the color of his skin, but he found his audience and blew up. I don’t think his success was based on his skin color I think he is just that good of a rapper, and good musicians (and a lot of bad ones) who make the right moves tend to get famous. He is a rapper who has made his own distinct sound and helped bring rap into the mainstream culture.
I just don't understand society's need to define genres of music by the race of it's primary listeners. Why can't Eminem just be a white rapper? Why does he have to be imitating black "gangsta" rappers? While I'm certainly not well versed in his discography, my understanding is that he writes his own music about his own life. He's from a Detroit, as are many Black rappers, so are they original when they write songs about hardship but Eminem is emulating them when he does it?
ReplyDeletePunk music is predominately known as "white" music, yet listeners and music critics alike aren't bashing black artists for trying to be white. Take the band Radke for example. They're three black men from Missouri who are quickly gaining notoriety within the punk community.
And what's the difference between Beyonce and Lady Gaga. They're each their own person who create their own music (more or less). You don't hear people saying Lady Gaga is trying to be black or Beyonce is trying to be white. I think we just have this obsession with classification, and we can't stand when there is an anomaly.