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March 27, 2005

Comments

R. Alex

I commented on my blog that the only recent rappers I seem to like are the very few white ones. I don't think that's wholly insignificant (nor, obviously, do I believe it's because I hate non-whites). I'm curious if it's that they play white rappers to the white demographic (the lack of the word "nigga" in Eminem's stuff makes it more comfortable and that's likely not an accident). I also wonder if the White Male Democrat or female Republican phenomenon is at work. The phenomenon goes: if a Dem is white and male or a Republican female, they are considered moderate until proven otherwise simply by virtue of their race and gender. Are the whites referred to in the article automatically considered more "crossover" because of their race? Do record execs decide to make them so because of it? Wouldn't surprise me.

On the whole I think the author actually has a point.

Adrianne Truett

It may be the case with you. I don't know what anyone looks like except for Eminem, and even him I couldn't pick out of a lineup unless he were the only white guy. And I can't hear the lyrics in rap or most hip-hop etc. I just notice something has a different sound, with no idea of the words or the appearance of the singer/rapper. Of course, that may all be illusion, and it may in fact not be different at all, and somehow some magic vibes are being transmitted to make me subconsciously aware of what the voice on the radio looks like... but that does sound far-fetched!

(And I don't know how it is for other people. People who know the race of everyone before they choose what to play may well have a bias based on the race of the people!)

R. Alex

My former roommate could give lectures on the difference between "east coast" and "west coast" rap and that might account for the "grate" factor (west coast, which includes Eminem, is more rythmic from what I understand, while east coast is more "hard core"... though I'm probably overgeneralizing). Eminem got me on his second CD, which was produced by the masterful Dr. Dre (who is extremely talented in pulling in just the right sound). Since Dre has taken on new projects, I don't care much for Eminem amymore. But I can't get in to his more recent projects and they are black, so I don't know.

I didn't mean to imply anything about you since you said pretty straight-forwardly that you didn't know Eminem was white. I thought Insane Clown Posse was black when I started to like their music. I think the record execs might take race into account when it comes to deciding where to go with a certain artist, either picking up white rappers and so on with more general appeal or taking a "blank slate" act and pulling him in a more poppish direction.

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