How Is Cultural Stereotypes In Hip Hop Culture

White Rappers: Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Acceptance?

Introduction

In September 2005, a North Carolina based rap trio called Little Brother released an album titled “The Minstrel Show”. The album was described as critique of what the hip-hop industry has turned into and the capitalization on the art form that was once used for socially conscious discourse. The title referred to the popularized theater form from the 19th century that consisted of white men dressed in blackface enacting racial stereotypes. Most of the performers were middle-class white men who were threatened by industrialization and sharing the workplace with the Black lower class. These performances were meant to enforce clear social boundaries between the two social

In the song, a specific line, “Performing in blackface tonight/ It 's my n-gga, Joe Scudda/ Coming up a bit later in the show” brought an important question to mind, which became the center of my research: Do White hip hop artists perform a modern day minstrel act? Do these performances of Blackness highlight the differences of Whiteness? After all, the rap trio had been intentional about the use of conscious lyrics that was encourage an audience to critique hip-hop culture. In this paper, I argue that White hip-hop artists, specifically rappers, appropriate the hip-hop culture in various ways that could be construed as a mockery or a satirical performance of blackness. White Hip-Hop artists have been able to commodify and mimic the black oral tradition of hip-hop while maintaining their

In 1917, Jazz gained popularity when “Original Dixieland Jazz Band”, a group of white musicians released the first jazz record, but this was not the first time Jazz had been heard. Buddy Bolen, a New Orleans African-American man had started the first jazz ensemble in 1895. Perry Hall describes Jazz as a synthesis of “African-derived rhythmic, tonal, and improvisational senses” and Louisiana Creole tunes. (Hall 36). In the 1920’s, Paul Whiteman, a white Jazz artist, had made a million dollars in one year. He became known as the “King of Jazz”. He was popularized Jazz “more acceptable to white audiences” by pairing vocals with “symphonic jazz. (Hall