(Via: The Rap Up)...And we ask you once again: Who owns hip-hop?
Tom Breihan, known for his Status Ain't Hood hip-hop column for the Village Voice, is the target of a strange, kind-of-a-put-down-but-not-really comic strip, found here.
The main point seems to be that dorky kids listen to hip-hop these days, and there's something weird about that.
He's right in that a tall white guy with a beard would probably stick out as an extra in Chingy's newest video about strip clubs or hoes or many of his other various enlightening topics. He's also right in noting that Breihan's a pretty terrific writer.
Though he falls back on the "I'm just sayin'..." cop-out, the strip seems to want to make the point that it's weird that dorky-looking white guys write about hip-hop these days. It's not really news that white people listen to hip-hop, but is it weird to think that white people are also writing about it?
We're honestly not sure. Let us know below.
this article raises a good point, but like everyone else trying to discuss race and music right now, misses the mark with the ensuing analysis.instead of just pointing out these race issues, why arent people talking about how it got that way? yes, the majority of (and the most prominent) hip hop writers right now are white, but nobody seems to point out that it wasnt exactly popular to be black and intelligent throughout most of the 90's, especially with regard to criticism of the arts (hence a minimal number of influential black music critics in the 00's). i also blame sources like mtv and bet for polarizing genres in the way they did.im all for discussing the role race in music. at this point, it is inescapable and necessary. but at the same time i am against the further racialization of music, which is largely responsible due to the lack of open discussion to begin with.