This article originally appeared in print journal May/June 1999.
Ever since Elvis Presley helped transform rhythm and blues into rock ‘n’ roll during the racially segregated 1950s, adults have worried about white kids listening to black music.
But it’s only been in the 1990s that America has seen white youths engage in a wholesale embrace of black music and culture, a trend that’s explored through lengthy articles in the music magazine Spin (November 1998) and in the Feb. 8 issue of Time, the national newsweekly.
Most cultural historians believe rap music debuted in 1979 when the Sugarhill Gang released their hit “Rapper’s Delight.” Since then, rap—which is also often called hip-hop—has evolved and matured, becoming a powerful form of pop poetry that explores the African-American urban experience. Or, as one rapper put it, the genre is like the “black CNN.”
Along the way, trios like Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys have popularized rap among white kids, while edgy gangsta rappers like Snoop Doggy Dog, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube have terrified white parents with their hair-raising songs about sex and violence.
And in spite of outcries from watchdog groups and government crackdowns on lyrical content, rap rules these days.
In 1988, rap outsold country, which had previously been America’s best-selling musical genre. In 1999, hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill won critical raves and five Grammies for her lyrical, often biblically-inspired album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
And now more than 70% of rap albums are reportedly purchased by whites. With so many white kids listening to rap, it should be no surprise that white recording artists—especially some alternative rockers—are utilizing rap stylings in their work. This influence can be seen most clearly in the music of Korn and Limp Bizkit, bands that teamed up with rapper Ice Cube for last year’s satirically titled “Family Values” tour. (Limp Bizkit singer/rapper Fred Durst speaks warmly about ignoring the racial conventions of his upbringing in the segregated south to visit the “black part of town,” behavior that earned him the title, Nigger Lover, an epithet he says he cherished.)
But it’s more than music that envelops the trend that Spin writer Charles Aaron calls “a Caucasian invasion.” Through the way teens speak, the dances they do, and the way they wear their pants big and baggy, “millions of kids are defining themselves through nonwhite culture,” states the article, which is entitled “White Kids & Hip Hop: What the White Boy Means When He Says Yo.” Aaron also argues that hip-hop “is the crucial cultural influence for Generation X and beyond.” (And it’s a trend that hasn’t been lost on advertisers like Nike and Sprite or designers like Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger.)
Black artists such as Jimi Hendrix have long been popular among white listeners, but observers say there’s never been a phenomenon like today’s widespread infatuation with and adoption of black culture among young, suburban whites.
“Hip-hop represents a realignment of America’s cultural aesthetics,” writes Time‘s Christopher John Farley. Or as Spin put it, “Like losing your virginity or blaming your parents, hip-hop, for today’s average kid, black or white, is just another part of growing up.”
Recent articles have offered up numerous theories about rap’s growing appeal and influence. Here are some of the more plausible:
Meaningful music
Born amid the trials and tribulations of America’s inner city, rap is seen as more authentic than the music created by white artists like Hanson (who, like many other popular artists, have used turntable-scratching DJs in songs like “MMMBop”).
Both new recording artists like Beck and old-timers like Paul Stookey (of ‘60s folk group Peter, Paul & Mary) have argued that rap is this generation’s version of folk music, complete with its urgent tone and scathing social critiques.
Search for identity
Some things never change: Young people are intensely concerned about questions of identity and belonging. But today, many teens who think about these issues spend more time listening to their stereos than they do talking to their parents. And even if parents did spend more time with their kids, it’s not certain the kids would want to grow up and be like their folks.
Promise of reconciliation
Thirty-six years after Martin Luther King, Jr’s riveting “I Have a Dream” speech, white kids and black kids are actually hanging out together. Sometimes that’s by choice, and other times it’s a result of efforts to integrate schools or the growing racial complexity of American society. But regardless—and even though occasional acts of racial violence stir up old ghosts of racial hate—ours is becoming an increasingly color-blind society. And youths are at the forefront of this movement.
“The kids are rebelling against a society that says they shouldn’t have anything to do with black people,” says Fab 5 Freddy, former host of former MTV staple, “Yo! MTV Raps.” “So they’re like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna get down with the illest niggas I can find!'”
And what does all this mean for the church, an institution that—even in our post-Promise Keepers era—remains one of the most racially segregated subcultures in the country?
The answer is as unambiguous as black and white: While many young people have put racial integration and reconciliation at the top of their agendas, most American churches have kept it as an also-ran topic. Then, when kids who come from integrated schools or the technicolor diversity of the street enter the doors of the average American church, they’re walking into a subculture in which racial barriers remain high and the word “diversity” itself carries controversial connotations.
Many pop culture trends are superficial or meaningless. But white kids’ wholesale embrace of black music may symbolize something much deeper. Rap has helped millions of suburbanites develop a passion for social justice. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., they have a dream of a truly color-blind society, and many of them are working toward this goal.
It will be fascinating to see how the church responds. Hopefully more and more churches (and parachurch organizations) will take this movement seriously and do whatever is necessary to reflect God’s heart for the equality of all people.
As it is with many groundbreaking movements, youths are the ones who get the ball rolling. Perhaps youth workers can help push.
Other Source:
“Rap” All Music Guide (Miller Freeman Books, 1997)
