white rap

[windshieldbug]

White wrap

[ThomasDodd]

White wrap

I hope that's faux fur.

Wouldn't want to offend. Or get doused in blood.

[funkcicle]

Knowing where you live (geographically-culturally) and having a bit of an insight to your attitudes from the tone of your question, I'll address your attitudes, rather than your typed question:

I would believe that 99% of modern-day white rappers are completely affected. I would seriously doubt that any of them behave or speak the way they do on stage to their parents or other family members offstage.

Having heard recorded candid conversations of Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole, I know that their (as two examples I chose to use for demonstration purposes) onstage speech and mannerisms were not affected. Unlike modern day black rappers, Armstrong and Cole (through their artistry, sophistication, generosity, manners, and forgiving attitudes) demonstrated to ignorant whites that, indeed, black people are infinitely more than simply "the missing link" (or your preferred fill-in-the-blank white-racist assumptions from the 1920's-1960's) easily being the mental/artistic/emotional/societal/spiritual equals (and sometimes superiors) of (as a race or as individuals) whites. In contrast, the majority of modern-day black rappers (and their affected white imitators) seem to be working to accomplish the exact opposite.

Armstrong/Cole are to Rembrandt/Picasso

as most modern black/white rap is to dorn

Good post, I guess where we disagree mostly is that, at least on the pop culture level, I see "race"(which might be another term on which we disagree semantically) as incidental to the output whereas you seem to view it as a variable in the output(please do correct me if I'm wrong). On the subject of 'modern rap' I think it all comes down to marketing, and towards the late 80s/early 90s some producers figured out that an "ignorant persona" was an effective tool for marketing this genre of music.. looking at some of the earlier rap(of which almost all of the artists were black) though, that ignorant persona simply wasn't there.

That marketing tool is pretty apparent when you look at the media 'transormation'(for lack of a better term) of those mostly black artists who were successful from the begining(when coherency and professional persona were requisite to success) and wanted to maintain their carreers through the media-controlled market shift. Will Smith is a great example of this..obviously he is very well educated and articulate, but his tenure on Fresh Prince was immediately followed by various MTV appearances(hosting, guesting, etc) in which he acted coked-out and donned the uppity-ignorant-persona..or to use your word, the "black-face". I found him very difficult to take seriously after he dropped the persona and went back to "legitimate"(for lack of another better term) media work. Worth noting though, is that the "ignorant-persona" was not present when he was actually working in the "rap" industry.

my $.02, as someone who was never a big fan of rap but did own a mix-tape or two back in the early 80s and watched his peers go through the afformentioned media transformations in the 90s.

[Kevin Hendrick]

Peace. Happy Chanukah (oops, I mean Holidays)
ASG

I like "Happy Chanukah" better, myself. And I'm not Jewish. I'm certainly not offended by being wished a Happy Chanukah.

Nor am I -- Happy Chanukah, Arnold!

May I add a "Merry Christmas" here, too?

Seems appropriate -- Merry Christmas, Ray!

[ArnoldGottlieb]

I'm with you guys on the holiday stuff, I was buying "Christmas" presents today and I heard that "holiday" stuff..............when somebody wishes me something nice I'll happily accept it. Back to rap.............Peace. ASG
p.s. Merry Christmas.........

[SplatterTone]

Is this a good time to start playing Paul Simon's Slip Slidin' Away?

[tubatooter1940]

I stand corrected on "Big Bad John"
Mary Ann, I believe a sock cymbal is two cymbals high and low mounted on a floor stand with a foot pedal. What do you guys call it?

[Mark]

I almost forgot one of the funniest songs I have ever heard, Cows with Guns. (http://www.cowswithguns.com)

The rest of the album is so-so at best, but Cows with Guns is so funny that it's worth buying the whole CD.

[T. J. Ricer]

I can't believe no one mentioned Johnny Cash on this one. . . Boy Named Sue (by Shel Silverstein) is all spoken word, One Piece at a Time is similar, but does have a chorus, same with the Ballad of Ira Hayes. If you really want to hear what sounds like early rap, check out the intro to the first track on the "Ride This Train" album where he raps Native American tribal names. . .

--T. J.

[adam0408]

What about the beastie boys? I dont see them as adopting the vocal stylings or slang of black rappers. They are undoubtedly influenced by, but not consumed by, their darker-race counterparts.

They, although I am personally not too fond of them, redefined popular music as being the first (commercially successful) white rap group combining rock and roll and rap in case you didn't know.

Perhaps in some cases you are confusing "blackisms" with "pop-culturesims" because it is often so hard to distugiush between terms and their origins. Keep in mind that there is also a lot of stuff out there that you are probably not aware of because MTV does not show it. Also, I don't mean to mock you for your age (in fact far from it) but it is very difficult for people over the age of, lets say, 30, to keep abreast of current pop culture trends and issues because they change so quickly, and people that age have different concerns like bills and responsibility.

Also, keep in mind that you are talking about musical styles. Comparing 50's "rap" with the rap of today is like comparing rock and Country. The two hold many similarities, but are very easily distinguished in most cases, thus the different labels. What you are referring to is likely to fall more under the "spoken word" genre rather than rap. When you say "put on a black face" you may just be referring to the charteristics of a genre.

Rap is termed rap because of the spoken inflections, rhythm and rhyme. These are characteristics of the genre. Although these characteristics of rap were invented by black artists, why do they have to be a race-exclusive phenomena? White artists in Jazz and blues put on a "black face" as you put it, adopting the rhythm, chord structure, and scales of black artists. Jazz and blues have expanded beyond race and now color has nothing to do with these genres. Rap is becoming more like this, but I doubt it will happen soon because of commercialism and narrow minded people.

[SplatterTone]

but it is very difficult for people over the age of, lets say, 30, to keep abreast of current pop culture trends and issues because they change so quickly

Depends on one's definition of "pop culture". I might ask how much the average rappy person knows about Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, or Michael Gulezian. Probably not much. So who's the culture dumbass with the narrow mind?

[adam0408]

but it is very difficult for people over the age of, lets say, 30, to keep abreast of current pop culture trends and issues because they change so quickly

Depends on one's definition of "pop culture". I might ask how much the average rappy person knows about Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, or Michael Gulezian. Probably not much. So who's the culture dumbass with the narrow mind?

Whoa dude, don't get your boxers in a bunch! I never said that made you or anyone a "culture dumbass" I dislike pop culture very strongly, and find most of the stuff on MTV to be utter and complete dog crap. (this is what I define as pop culture music wise) I was trying to outline the fact that maybe older folks are not seeing the whole picture when it comes to rap and hip-hop. Music television, which is probably most people in your demographic's primary exposure to popular music, is remarkably narrow and stupid, based on money and politics. So there's a lot of rap and hip hop that people are not aware of.

I was referring to music moguls when I said "commercialism and narrow minded people." Music comes down to personal preference and its really quite pointless to get all angry about it.

[SplatterTone]

My point is that the musicians I mentioned are current pop culture. It's just that some folks might be a little too narrow minded to recognize it. While you're at it, you might ask your average rappy to tell you a few things about Eric Johnson too. Let 'em display their broad, unbiased knowledge of "pop culture".