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Meagan Bens

Doctor McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric

24 November 2015

Rap Music and White Supremacy

Stumbling across my sister’s room last summer, I found her and her friends jumping up

and down on her bed while screaming the lyrics to Fetty Wap's song “679.” Recently at a party, I

saw white college students yelling and dancing to the lyrics to A$AP Rocky’s “F**kin’ Prob-

lems.” Between the two groups, there is not a significant difference because neither understand a

majority of the words coming out of their mouths. Despite the disconnect between white

teenagers’ reality and black rappers’ reality, rap music invades radios, speakers, and headphones

across the country. The music that blares from house parties today has evolved from a culture

that started on the East coast decades ago.

Rap music’s roots started in South Bronx during a time of economic downfall and politi-

cal conservatism and became inner city black and Latino communities’ form of expression (Re-

bollo-Gil and Moras). By the late 1980s, groups such as Run-DMC and Chuck D used their mas-

culine representations to promote socio-political empowerment. Continuing the music’s develop-

ment, N.W.A. and Public Enemy became the prominent groups, both being controversial and vi-

olent. N.W.A. proved to have a lasting impact on the music’s culture, defining a new sub-genre

regarded as “gangster rap.” The controversial album, Straight Outta Compton, included lyrics re-

ferring to drugs, sex, and violence. The new hardcore rap frightened white America and those

living outside the ghetto and even led to the F.B.I. sending a letter of discontent concerning the

song “Fuck tha Police.” The government was not pleased with the song creating an anti-police

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sentiment while pointing out the continual tension between young, urban African Americans and

law enforcement. With the explosion in publicity, the masses consumed gangster rap, the music

telling the stories of the streets.

With gangster rap’s increasing popularity, the stereotypical urban black male is seen as “a

heartless criminal, fulfilling his own destructive prophecy . . .” (Jeffries 78). The commercial-

ized, monoculture black image that consumes media can be harmful to society, evident in current

news and events. In 2012, a seventeen year old black boy, Trayvon Martin, walking with candy,

iced tea, and his hood up would not see the light of tomorrow after being shot by George Zim-

merman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida. Although Zimmerman’s 911 call did

not suggest anything about race, one has to question whether the outcome would have been simi-

lar if the boy was white (Pittman). A couple years later, America would be confronted with an-

other controversy. Another young, unarmed black male, Michael Brown, would be shot and

killed by a former police officer, Darren Wilson, in St. Louis, Missouri. With an unclear descrip-

tion of events leading up to Brown’s death, Wilson would not be charged of a crime. A report re-

leased in March 2015 revealed Ferguson was a place where “officers stopped and handcuffed

people without probable cause, hurled racial slurs . . . and treated anyone as suspicious merely

for questioning police tactics” (Buchanan et al.). Up until this day, there are issues concerning

racial profiling and police treatment. The over-masculinized, aggressive, pimping black stereo-

type consumes television and rap music, invading minds and causing harmful generalizations.

With all the racial issues, the incessant blaring of African American stereotypes from speakers is

a considerable cause. Contrary to popular belief, “rap music circulates through white-controlled

corporations” (Kajikawa 139). White people’s continual fascination with gangster rap has led

their impact in the industry to increase. With the desire to exert power, whites continue to pur-

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chase and consume black culture, specifically rap music. Under white control, black stereotypes

dominate a majority of the lyrics, eliciting a deeper wound on American society. The fallacy of

“post racial” America can be examined through one outlet, rap music, an industry that ultimately

proves the persistence of white supremacy.

Although caucasians enjoy rap music, the stereotypes are based on the ones they fear in

the streets. According to rap, the black male is a social outlaw everyone despises. His social and

moral control is nonexistent, he is a threat towards everyone because he only acts to serve him-

self (White 65). He is a product of the ghetto, a man abandoned by others. He wears oversized

pants, obnoxious gold chains, brand-named sneakers, and any athletic gear while out in public.

Perhaps he wears a red or blue bandana to show his gang affiliation with the Bloods or Crips.

During the rise of gangster rap, appropriation of black culture was visible. Whether through fash-

ion, music, or behavior, black culture was assimilated into mainstream culture. The black male

was dangerous, yet marketable. With N.W.A.’s rising success from the underground, white ado-

lescents were captivated by the stories of violence, shootouts, and altercations with authority, a

world many caucasians were unfamiliar with. For white males coming to terms with their iden-

tity, the black male presented in rap is the ultimate image of masculinity (White 23). The new

masculine desire was the man people feared on television. Whites who identified with the hip

hop culture rejected middle class whiteness to be associated with the dangerous environment

they viewed as exciting. For many, the world viewed through rap music videos was an escape

from the comfortable, stable, middle class daily life. The use of black culture for enjoyment is

not a contemporary concept, considering the practice of minstrelsy in the 19th century, where

black actors or white people in blackface performed skits or musical acts (White 19). Both min-

strelsy and rap music stresses whites affirming their power over blacks. At the surface level, be-

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ing black was the ultimate level of coolness, a way for whites to distinguish themselves from the

majority. As hip hop culture was increasingly assimilated into popular culture, the hip hop indus-

try became a profitable business. The industry today has not lost its prevalence in society, con-

sidering “70% of the consumers of Hip Hop culture and music are white and the majority of cor-

porate backing of the Hip Hop industry is from white-owned corporations” (Rebollo-Gil and

Moras). As a continuation of America’s history, whites continue to use the black body and cul-

ture to profit and benefit themselves.

Throughout its evolution, rap has become a vehicle to promote the African American

stereotype, a stereotype which whites continue to enjoy and partake in themselves. Ever since the

introduction of hardcore rap in the 80’s and 90’s, rapper’s lives have been transformed into enter-

tainment that the white suburban youth finds to be appealing. Over the last several decades and

rap music’s growth as a multi-billion dollar industry, performers such as N.W.A., Snoop Dogg,

Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and others have risen to the celebrity status

(White 76). N.W.A. brought gangster rap to the forefront, with chaotic sirens and gunshots in

their music’s background as they addressed violence, sex, and drugs. N.W.A. was crowned “The

Most Dangerous Group.” Signaling a transition into the “gangsta-funk” era, Snoop Dogg’s songs

focused on cruising down the streets, consuming alcohol, and having a materialistic mindset

(Quinn 145). From the beginning of Tupac’s rise to fame in California, his toughness and status

as an outlaw, stemming from personal, emotional turmoil, formed his image (Quinn 176). Sur-

rounded by drug addicts and dealers, the Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls, started to create

music in Brooklyn and would participate in the East Coast versus West Coast gangster rap feud

(Quinn 185). Similar to their predecessors, Jay-Z and 50 Cent would go on to paint the pictures

of poverty, violence, and hustling. All the artists’ previously mentioned rapped about their obsta-

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cles in a socio-economical struggling area. Their personal accounts incorporated into their fast-

paced narratives would eventually lead to their rise in social status and wealth. Although the

artists have a purpose underlying their music, the general public, being white, took their culture

to enrich their own. During this time frame, whites appropriated rap music’s culture and style as

a way to act out their own racial fantasies of the ghetto black male persona. The persona whites

desired to embody was a form of social rebellion (White 104). Ignoring the messages behind the

music, white adolescents used rap music as a moral outlet. Through clothes, film, computer

games, and other hardcore rap aspects, whites took the fear historically conveyed by black males

and transferred it onto themselves, further demonizing the race (White 105). Starting as a cultur-

ally empowering movement, rap music has been manipulated to benefit whites, allowing them to

commercialize the industry, further establishing the rap “monoculture” that will further be dis-

cussed next.

As gangster rap rose to the charts, rap music became an increasingly profitable industry.

Comparable to any other major industry, rap music was modified to please its audience, which

happened to be white youth. According to Maurice, “Now that radio airplay was controlled by

record labels, the already limited power of the artist was placed into the hands of white execu-

tives with no organic links to the culture, only a focus on the bottom line. This resulted in all the

caricatures, misogynistic, materialistic and self- indulgent criminal portrayals of Hip Hop artists

to be the only ones promoted, since it had been proven by statistical methods of communication

research (Soundscan) that these portrayals were the most profitable” (96). Through the invention

of Soundscan, a music sales tracking system, white executives had access to their target audience

and merely focused on every business’ “bottom line”: money. Naturally, the objective to profit

outweighed the effort to preserve black culture. Furthermore, due to the passage of the 1996

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Telecommunications Act, “six major labels merged into four, laid off hundreds of employees,

and sharply narrowed the rage of voices” (Chang). The variety of performers in the industry were

essentially narrowed down to the image of a black male with a variation of “thuggery,” exactly

what the audience found to be appealing. This rap monoculture started with white’s cultural ap-

propriation of the hip hop culture and persists in the industry today, evident in the current top rap

artists. According to a Rolling Stones article, the rap albums included in the 45 best albums of

the first half of the year were Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Drake’s If You Are Reading

This It’s Too Late, and Rae Sremmurd’s SremmLife. Lamar’s album was based upon the continual

discussion of race and racism in America, brought to the attention after the Ferguson incident.

He also grew up in the gang and drug infested Compton, known as Dr. Dre’s protege (Weiner).

With the music centered on the struggles and hardships in the inner city, it coincides with the

music white suburbans turn to as entertainment. Drake, known as a sweet Canadian rapper who

speaks about vulnerabilities and his loyalties, took a different direction with his album, turning to

an emotionless man who hangs with dangerous groups and attacks his enemies. Through the

more aggressive lyrics and arrogant rants, Drake exhibits the thuggish qualities white youth ad-

mire. The two brothers who make up Rae Sremmurd were raised in the projects in Mississippi

and were then homeless until they rose to stardom ("Rae Sremmurd Bio"). Their songs consist of

their rough past and making it out alive and now living large, exactly what white rap music con-

sumers crave to listen to. Rap music has become increasingly homogenized, evident in the popu-

lar artists today and the audience’s demand. Even though signed artists are under more restric-

tions within corporations, even unsigned artists produce the same music. In Beyond Beats and

Rhymes, Bryon Hurt’s documentary critiquing hip hop music, Hurt had unsigned rappers audition

for him. According to Hurt “their clichéd battle rhymes are predictably bloody, sexist, and

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homophobic” (Chang). The rappers all responded to Hurt saying it was the only rap that got

record deals. Whether the corporations are controlled by whites or blacks, the predominantly

white consumers have established expectations that corporations and therefore artists will be

forced to conform to in order to stay in business.

Through the consumption of gangster rap music, whites are ultimately exerting power

over black culture. All the images white youth consume revolve around black violence, aggres-

sion, misogyny, all images “conservative politicians and far-right White Supremacists invoke to

justify regressive social policies or violent ‘reprisals’” (Yousman 379). Whether they are cogni-

tive of their actions or not, white adolescents who listen to gangster rap directly and indirectly

emphasize black stereotypes, via cultural appropriation and influencing corporations that control

the production of rap music. The generalizations made about black Americans affect their daily

lives, evident in the media today and the natural tendency to equate violence with blackness.

Whether listening to the music to escape their daily lives, using it as a moral outlet, or trying to

come to terms with their identities, white consumers are embracing the distorted images of

blackness that white owned industries control, while simultaneously rejecting or ignoring any so-

cial movement policies that challenge the concepts of white privilege (Yousman 382). In short,

whites are exploiting black culture through mere enjoyment while blacks are the ones who con-

tinue to suffer. Even when people listen to the music just to rebel against parents or other author-

ities, African Americans are still facing the consequences. The constant consumption of music

that supports oppression and domination of African Americans stresses the persistence of white

supremacy in society. Although one may argue that consumption of the music and appreciation

of it may lead to a decrease in prejudice to individual blacks, the overall structures of institu-

tional racism have not changed: unequal education, employment, criminal sentencing, and so on

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(Yousman 387). Also with the ability to admire gangster rap, whites can easily drop their interest

in it and its consequences. For example, whites can assimilate black culture into their lives, but

when it comes to a job interview, they can easily drop the culture for their advantage. Blacks, on

the other hand, do not have the option to erase these predispositions and consequences, they have

to live with them forever. Once again, whites are able to assimilate other cultures into their lives

solely for pleasure, highlighting the continual existence of white domination.

Although rap music started as an empowering form of expression, it has evolved into an

another industry under white authority. Due to white adolescents’ fascination with “blackness,”

the industry has been designed to satisfy their desires. Ultimately, the African-American identity

has morphed into a resource for white pleasure. While whites enjoy the source of entertainment,

they create a false representation of African Americans, alluding to the idea that there is little dif-

ference between those who rap on stage and average black citizens. The personas constructed

through the music have detrimental effects on society, evident in media. Whether conscious of

the consequences or not, singing along to 2Chainz may increase one’s street credibility, but it es-

sentially contributes to the further exploitation of back culture and emphasizes the continual

presence of white supremacy.

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Works Cited

Buchanan, Larry, Ford Fessenden, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Haeyoun Park, Alicia Parlapiano, Archie

Tse, Tim Wallace, Derek Watkins and Karen Yourish."What Happened in Ferguson?”

The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Chang, Jeff. "Fight the Power." Mother Jones 32.6 (2007): 67-94. Academic Search Premier.

Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Jeffries, Michael P. Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: U of

Chicago, 2011. Print.

Johnson, Maurice, "A Historical Analysis: The Evolution Of Commercial Rap Music" (2011).

Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations. Paper 3486. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Kajikawa, Loren. Sounding Race in Rap Songs. Oakland: U of California, 2015. Print.

Pittman, Ashton. "Justice Denied: Is Trayvon Martin Post-Racial America's Emmett Till?"

NationofChange. Nation of Change, 20 July 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Quinn, Eithne. Nuthin' but a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap. New York

City: Columbia UP, 2005. Print.

"Rae Sremmurd Bio." MTV Artists. MTV, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Rebollo-Gil, Guillermo, and Amanda Moras. "Black Women and Black Men in Hip Hop

Music: Misogyny, Violence and the Negotiation of (White-Owned) Space." Journal of

Popular Culture 45.1 (2012): 118-32. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Weiner, Jonah. "Kendrick Lamar, New Kid on the Block." Rolling Stone. Wenner Media, 27

Feb.

2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

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White, Miles. African American Music in Global Perspective : From Jim Crow to Jay-Z : Race,

Rap, and the Performance of Masculinity. Champaign, IL, USA: University of Illinois

Press, 2011. Print.

Yousman, Bill. "Blackophilia and Blackophobia: White Youth, the Consumption of Rap Music,

and White Supremacy.” Communication Theory 13.4 (2003): 366-91. Wiley Online Li-

brary. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.