Hip-hop was born of racial consciousness. You can’t divide hip-hop from the social and political circumstances from which it came. There may be new occupants in this house called hip-hop. Most of the people who built this house of hip-hop would say, everybody is welcome in this house, but the people who built it were people of color…
Hip-hop was born of racial consciousness. You can’t divide hip-hop from the social and political circumstances from which it came. There may be new occupants in this house called hip-hop. Most of the people who built this house of hip-hop would say, everybody is welcome in this house, but the people who built it were people of color… you go into somebody’s house, then you gotta respect that. If you don’t have that [racial] humility, you won’t have the foundation that provides.
I’m not sure that Eminem and Asher Roth occupy a healthy space in the “house of hip-hop,” as Dan Charnas calls it in Jay Smooth’s latest video.
Eminem’s new album, rehashing his ‘Slim Shady’ persona, is another narcissistic ode to hyper-violence shot through with a strong dose of misogyny (he calls Mariah Carey a ‘cunt’). Roth’s debut “Asleep in the Bread Aisle” is a celebration of the apathetic college slacker lifestyle. He recently joked about Don Imus’ racist tirade against the Rutgers women’s basketball team before performing there, then made some asinine comments criticizing “black rappers.” I think both of their albums suck, frankly.
Charnas is right. White folks need to have, at the very least, some humility before they claim space in hip-hop. Creative talent ought to be a requirement too. Unfortunately, a lot of people are talking about Eminem and Asher Roth, who arguably aren’t showing much of either right now, as if they’re the only white emcees in the game. Here are a few white (male) rappers I’ve been listening to (and broadcasting on KVRX) for a while – each producing positive, quality hip-hop. I’m from the West Coast, which I guess explains the bias to that part of the country in this selection.
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Brother Ali
Brother Ali is probably the best known out of this bunch. He’s an albino, nearly blind Muslim born and raised in the Midwest. His critically-acclaimed 2007 album, “The Undisputed Truth,” is an in-your-face mix of political and personal declarations about life in America. It reached #69 on the Billboard charts. Here’s “Uncle Sam Goddamn.”
Toby
Toby, with Tunji (who is black), make up the Los Angeles group Inverse. I caught an interview with them on KUBE 93’s Sound Session earlier this year and was struck by how down-to-earth they both were. Their latest EP (download!) has a deep, rich sound, with the two of them showing love for L.A. and the Cali sun. Here’s “Spark My Soul” featuring Substantial.
R.A. Scion
They might talk slow in the Southern heartlands, but R.A. Scion, who grew up in Kentucky, has the fastest and densest flow here. I honestly can’t follow him half the time, so I visit his blog to read through his complex and profound lyrics. With DJ Sabzi he forms ‘Common Market.” Here’s their latest song, “Tobacco and Snow Covered Roads,” produced seemingly on a whim during an especially snowy day this past winter in Seattle. He’s a far easier to follow on this track than usual.
Grynch
Grynch quotes Langston Hughes In the first line of the first song I ever heard from him. So I knew immediately this 23-year-old rapper, also from Seattle, was on point. Apparently Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ hooked him on hip-hop at age 10 and he released his first album during his senior year in high school. Here’s the song I mentioned, called “I’m A Dreamer” featuring Geologic and Thig Natural, off his recent ‘Something More’ EP (download!).
Braille
“Helping people understand the things they can’t see” is his motto. Portland-based Braille spits what’s on his mind and you can tell he really means ever word he says. His latest project involves raising money to donate 30,000 copies of his latest record to at-risk and incarcerated youth. “That Feeling,” which describes his ever-changing but always strong relationship with hip-hop, is below.
Move.meant
These guys are also from Los Angeles. Don’t know much about ‘em except that they met in college and make smooth, accessible music. Here’s “Higher (Breathe).”
Made it this far? Here’s a mix to download of the tracks listed above.
Addendum
I want to mention that I hesitated to publish this post at all. Jay Smooth interviewed a white guy for his thoughts about Asher Roth, now I’ve published a list of white guys as an alternative to Roth, Eminem and their ilk. What started as a conversation about whiteness in hip-hop is now… a conversation by white guys about other white guys in hip-hop, at least on this part of the Internet. The voices of people of color should to be central here and they’re not.
So I’m not saying you should listen to the guys listed above instead of Roth and Eminem. Listen to whoever you want, and if you like good hip-hop, odds are those artists will be people of color. I don’t think the house of hip-hop needs white people at all, in fact it would probably be better off without us. POC built the house and they’re keeping it strong, despite what Nas said a few years ago.
On the other hand, the reality is there are probably more white consumers of hip-hop now than ever before. I’m one of them. And I feel like it’s important for me and Jay Smooth and anyone else to say to other (white) folks, “If white people are going to be a part of hip-hop at all, they ought to be humble about it and play a positive role.” I think the guys above are generally doing that, so they deserve the spotlight more than Em and Roth – but not necessarily more than anyone else.
For those of you reading this who live outside of Los Angeles you should note that for the past few days folks have been on edge because of increasing racial tension between Blacks and Mexicans. Over the past month there have been a few brawls at local high schools including a huge one at Jefferson High School involving more than 200 people.
I caught up with LA rapper Kam not to long ago who spoke on the seriousness of this situation. He noted that he spends a lot of time working to heal any rifts which he says starts from the racial segregation and ‘divide and conquer’ techniques used in the California prisons. He noted that this tactic has now spilled out onto the streets and is starting to impact everyday folks buy into these rumors of conflict.
The other thing that is being looked at and causing more than a few to speculate, is that this latest rise in tension between Black and Brown may actually be connected to the highly contentious mayoral campaign that is in full swing here in LA. What’s happened is that in the last election Latino mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa saw his chances to become LA’s first Latino mayor in more than a hundred years, derailed when prominent Black leaders including Congresswoman Maxine Waters and former LA Laker/businessman Magic Johnson threw their weight and influence behind James Hahn.
Musicians can sometimes be too quick to box themselves into categories. Sometimes that’s a record label’s doing, other times it’s just mental laziness. But if you’re not trying to conform to industry standards and are lucky enough to be on a local label that understands you, why not have fun and smash all the boxes you can?
LONG BEACH – A tentative trial date was scheduled Thursday for a Long Beach rapper charged with sexually assaulting and holding a woman against her will.
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“I wanted to use my voice to make sure people were engaged,” said rapper David Banner, who testified in 2007 House hearings on media representation of African-Americans. Banner, a BET hip-hop award winner, pitched in with the Hip Hop Caucus’ Respect My Vote campaign and will continue to be engaged, he said.
“The Hip Hop Caucus does an incredible job of connecting young people in urban communities with the political and legislative process,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who chairs both the CBC and the HHC’s advisory panel.
The recent debate over the condition of Black talk radio reveals several factors. Among them, the niche format is suffering a crisis of talent, content, business model, demographics, and political sagacity.
We caught up with Oakland rappers Trinidad and Franchize from Silence the Violence to get their take on whats going on at the Oscar Grant Trial.. many artists have been showing up at the oakland courthouse to let their presence be felt and their opinions heard. As Trinidad pointed out-artists are the soundtrack of the movement
Monday at 8:30 AM the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant III on January 1 hearings.
Judge Clay tried to keep Rains in line by stating that his courtroom would be a “forum of law” and the motion was quickly dismissed. The prosecution was then allowed to begin calling witnesses to present their case for why Mehserle should be charged with murder. The prosecution called four witnesses: two eyewitnesses from the BART platform who had taken video footage of the murder and the events surrounding it and also the forensic pathologist who examined Oscar’s body and the video expert from the county DA’s office. The first eyewitness to take the stand was Karina Vargas who was on the BART train on January 1 recounting that BART Officer Tony Pirone forced his way onto the train car in front of her and yelled “You get the f**k off the car” to several young men who were doing nothing that warranted them being removed from the train. Her testimony went on to emphasize that the young men who were with Oscar that night as well as Oscar himself were completely cooperative with the officers and that the reason she had begun filming was that it appeared that the officers were being violent towards the young men for no reason.
Vicky Long was called to testify third and she has been a video technician for the Alameda County DA’s office dealing with video evidence in cases for over 28 years. She validated the way the video evidence was preserved and viewed and authenticated it as not having been tampered with or altered in any way by her office. She also showed the court how she was able to view footage frame by frame to allow for close examination of what was happening in the form of still images.
Willie D of the groundbreaking Houston group The Geto Boys remains incarcerated of federal fraud charges.
Monday afternoon (May 18), 21-year-old rapper Dolla