Are white people who say "I don't like hip hop" yet listen to it when white people make it really saying "i don't like black people"?

Rather, it's that such listeners are only meaningfully exposed to (and thus turned on to) hip hop which the indie/alternative structure as a whole has decided to endorse. It was, I think, impossible to have a passing interest in alt. rock throughout the 90s without coming across much praise of the Beastie Boys as trailblazers, but it would be comparatively easy to effectively ignore the existence of 2Pac etc. This insofar as, for many listeners, mainstream radio play is treated as little more than background noise, but the recommendations of friends, college radio DJs and certain magazines count for a great deal.

There seems to be a rebuttable presumption enforced by this structure of endorsement that whiteness is a prima facie sign of good values and innovation. This can be overcome both ways - ie. white people can be kicked out and black people can be invited in, but they have to make an extra special effort on both sides. Bubba Sparxxx is not part of the club because all of his associations are distasteful (a fat hick who talks about sex as crudely as any black gangsta rapper!) but Michael Franti is because he has good old fashioned uni leftist politics, flirts with rock/soul/etc. and uses live instruments (The Roots and Andre 3000 have been issued guest passes for similar reasons).

It also comes from the perceived position of the person - why it's okay for someone to like Ben Folds' cover of Bitches Ain't Shit because it's perceived to be "ironic" while NWA would never be given that kind of credit.

and re those subtextual issues, i trust that some of these white "i can't relate to black rappers" dudes are solidly middle-class and are totally immune to what life experiences underlie the above subjects for jigga and fiddy.

Haha genetically programmed to like Metallica.

Yeah but if it wasn't just you but every seemingly tasteful rock fan they knew who was repping for black hip hop you can bet they'd strain harder to hear the value in the music. Having a friend play you stuff isn't enough in this regard - there needs to be an entire culture of validation such that the hip hop-skeptic feels under pressure to question their own position.

The changes in the coverage policy of Pitchfork is a good example of this process occurring on a wider scale - it's not like the quality of street hip hop has changed dramatically in the last five years, rather it's the critical environment which has changed to the extent that media organs who had previously consciously ignored this music no longer feel quite so comfortable doing so.

xxxxxpost

Probably. Beck and the Beastie Boys don't really get played on hip-hop radio stations.

if so, why haven't they?

Because they suck?

and again, WHY don't they get played on hip hop stations?

Obv. the exact same thing happens wrt to black hip hop stations and media organs gravitating towards black artists.

The existence of friends who don't follow trends doesn't challenge the overall "trickle down" effect of this structural taste-making, any more than (to use an entirely random example) the existence of non-racist white people contradicts a trend of racial prejudice/privilege as a whole.

xpost they were EXAMPLES. but yes I can give you an example: Will Smith!

Tim, everything you've said has been OTM but I have to question this part:

Obv. the exact same thing happens wrt to black hip hop stations and media organs gravitating towards black artists.

Does the black media really practice the same prejudices in reverse? AFAIK, the Beasties in their prime, Vanilla Ice, and Eminem were equally embraced by the hip-hop audience and media. And in cases where there hasn't been a crossover there is usually a pretty obvious reason sonically. Do any Beck or Prefuse 73 tracks really fit into the narrow framework of mainstream hip-hop radio or club playlists?

Personally, I wish it was more "self-derogatory".

*raises*

Not quite. I think Tim's point, which I agree with, is that rock audiences tend to only like hip hop that is endorsed and approved by mainstream rock critics, general MTV rotation, college radio, etc. So it's not down to personal taste in the sense that people are hearing everything and making aesthetic choices on a case by case basis. The consensus trickles down from the personal taste of a small group of critics, editors, or programming directors. It's not so farfetched to think this might involve some degree of institutionalized racism.

why did white people find it easy to appreciate, say, Public Enemy but not so much Kool G Rap?

Public Enemy fit a narrative that the rockcentric gatekeepers bought into: political content, a revolutionary image, innovative production, etc.

xpost they were EXAMPLES. but yes I can give you an example: Will Smith!

What about Will Smith? I thought "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime" were hits with black and white audiences but maybe not.

I can't speak for the station and its listeners, but I will say that when I compare and contrast the emotional ambiance of "My Name Is" and (for instance) Dre's "Nuthin' But a G Thang," one of them reminded me of the Stones, Dylan, the Velvets, the Stooges, Rocket From the Tombs, the Electric Eels, the Sex Pistols, the Contortions, and Guns N' Roses, whereas the other did not remind me of any of those bands.

That said, I know of a long-time Stooges fan (me) who greatly prefers most hip-hop to most rock that's been released since, oh, Hexenduction Hour, and who tends to go to almost any music other than "rock" for what he once got from rock. But I think my point here is that people listen to what speaks to them.

The consensus trickles down from the personal taste of a small group of critics, editors, or programming directors. It's not so farfetched to think this might involve some degree of institutionalized racism.

(putting aside that i don't really buy this "gatekeeper" theory)
but wait, i thought it didn't have anything to do with racism?

Public Enemy fit a narrative that the rockcentric gatekeepers bought into: political content, a revolutionary image, innovative production, etc.

you could just as easily argue that PE fit into and contained more readily recognizable aspects of white aesthetics and values.

LL Kool J. (Started on the same label, too, with a similar tendency towards rock sounds.)

But you're right, there aren't a lot of them.

-- oops (don'temailmenicelad...), June 28th, 2005.

Really? I still remember the whole Professor Griff fiasco, among others...I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'd be interested in which aesthetics and values you're referencing.

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. Good call.

Thanks for making me burst out laughing & nearly choke on my dinner.

I think Tim's point, which I agree with, is that rock audiences tend to only like hip hop that is endorsed and approved by mainstream rock critics, general MTV rotation, college radio, etc.

Doesn't MTV play a fair amount of hip hop and rap these days? I don't watch much of it (no TV :( ) but I feel like when I do flip through the channels at my friend's house, I see a lot more rap videos being shown on it than there were even 5 or 6 years ago.

Maybe think of the Stones et al. as reminding me of Eminem, and work backwards (the Stones also remind me of bits of Public Enemy and Kool Moe Dee and Spoonie Gee).

Anyway, there's a double effect going on: if you're a republican voter and a republican politician tells you to care about something, you're more likely to at least think twice before disagreeing. On the other hand, if you're a republican politician and a republican voter tells you to care about something, you're also more likely to at least think twice before disagreeing.

So there are two levels of identification: specific case-by-case values/positions (which we might consider to be roughly analogous to styles and values in music) and the sense of identification with a communitarian discourse around values, which allows you to say "I'm a republican/democrat/indie fan/rap fan" etc. Each mutually reinforce but can also manipulate and mutate the other.

Obviously not all pro-choice republicans are going to become pro-lifers just because they are republican. In the same way not all people who like/dislike hip hop are going to do so purely on the basis of the dictates of the musical discourse in which they primairly move. In both cases there are multiple factors to be taken into account, as well as space to make a personal decision based on what can be very complex personal beliefs and ethical/aesthetic values etc. At the same time, if I was a republican who was undecided on this issue, wouldn't I be likely to give strong weight to the arguments of my pro-life republican friends, who seem to be in accordance with many of my other values?

Thing is, I kinda doubt Rocket From the Tombs, the Electric Eels, or the Contortions ever got played much on Detroit rock stations! (Or even the Sex Pistols, when I was living there.) (And I had no idea that "My Name Is" did either, until now.) (But I DO understand how Eminem partakes in a punk aesthetic -- like, wishing violence upon his Mom and stuff - that most rappers never would.)