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Hip-Hop: What's the Real?

© Steve Juon

Point One: It's easy to feel like "the perp" in hip-hop sometimes, and I'm not just talking about being white. Hip-Hop culture itself can be pretty uptight about what are acceptable modes of dress, walk, and talk no matter WHAT skin you're in. It's the very reason Stuart Scott sounds strange spitting slang. I have to admit, he may be genuinely down with hip-hop from day one and honestly trying to share his love with us, but because he doesn't fit the hip-hop "status quo" for dress walk and talk he tends to come across as being somehow phony or wrong.

Point Two: The only way people learn to accept diversity is by being forced to deal with it. So what if you're not status quo anyway? Unless you're a visible presence in hip-hop culture, the stereotypes of WHAT hip-hop is and WHO hip-hop is will continue. This goes way beyond black and white. I'm talking about Asian, European, Australian, African, Latin American LOVE for hip-hop. I talk to cats from Zimbabwe and Australia on e-mail who have as much passion for the music and culture as any hardrock on 125th in New York. It's what's INSIDE you that matters.

Point Three: I'll agree that you would have to be blinder than a bat to not see how much many rappers vehemently profess to hate whitey and all things white. I guess the reason that doesn't bother me is because the white people in charge of this country have spent 450+ some years hating black people and all things black. Wouldn't you be a little pissed off? I know I can't relate to that kind of racism or discrimination, because I've never been through it and probably never will. That doesn't mean I shouldn't "try" to understand it anyway, or hope to make a difference in the world so it doesn't "continue" to keep happening

What I'm saying is that if instead of worrying about who the intended "racial" audience of hip-hop is, I think about who the larger "listening" audience was and I key in on the things any rapper should do right regardless of who's listening: good lyrics, good flow, good breath control, good style, overall technique. That's something ANYBODY can come to appreciate and quantify no matter WHO they are. If you don't believe me, ask the non-rap loving heads that I've turned on to GangStarr, Ras Kass, Goodie Mob, or KRS-One. If you expose intelligent people to intelligent music, they get it. They really do!

Bottom line, I love hip-hop and I have for fifteen years running, and even if the whole world stood in line waiting to WHOOP MY ASS

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