A comment on racism in mass media
Thursday, October 13, 2011
White Rappers on Black Entertainment Television
Lately, I haven't been able to get over the absolutely amazing awesomeness contained in this cypher. It's been a while since one of my favorite rappers of all time has rapped at the level that he is rapping at now. Eminem, has started rapping again over the past few years after battling a serious addiction (which like any other reformed addict he is still battling everyday). He's been missed by his fans and after his newest number one album Recovery, many would say that he is truly back.
The video also features another white rapper recently signed to Shady Records; Yelawolf. It's not that big of a deal that there are rappers in this world that are white, but what is amazing is that these rappers were featured on the 2011 BET Awards Show (in case you don't know, BET stands for "Black Entertinment Television) and they were even considered (by pretty much the internet) to have been part of the best cypher of the evening.
As I've been enjoying the verses on this video while simultaneously starting a blog about racism it occurred to me that Em faced a very rare case of black on white racism. The world of hip hop is predominantly black and-- as a white rapper-- Eminem has been constantly trying to prove himself as a top tier lyricist despite the color of his skin. I realized that his struggle is an example of how the racism = prejudice + power definition could work in a different situation. A situation where the tables are turned and a white man is actually the one who faces ridicule in a world dominated by blacks. Luckily for Yelawolf, Eminem has broken down a wall to allow him a chance to show the world of hip hop what he can do.
I struggled at first with finding a definition for racism, but this example showed me how this definition works and can be applied in different contexts.
If you're interested in the other cyphers
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I was secretly hoping you'd bring up Eminem in your blog, so I was pleasantly surprised when you did. You bring up an important problem with the definition of racism you learned in your Asian American studies class: racism= prejudice+power. In 2011, there are certain power structures that seem to get avoided in the usual discussion of racism. Hip-hop, which is a thriving billion dollar business that airs on national television, is dominated by blacks and some could argue is a power structure. I remember when Eminem first came out when I was a kid. He had to present himself as a comical rapper and not a serious rapper because he was worried how he'd be seen by the Black community. What is interesting is that Eminem succeeded where Vanilla Ice (the first white rapper) failed miserably. It seems that Eminem seems to share the class struggle that blacks can recognize, but Vanilla Ice came off as a suburban middle-class rapper who seemed to be mocking blacks by trying to co-opt rap. It is a complex issue. It reminds me of the struggle Dirk Nowitzki went through in the NBA, dominated by blacks. He finally validated himself winning in the recent NBA Finals. You definitely problematize the traditional definition of racism, but we shouldn't forget that blacks are incarcerated at a much higher rate than whites for the same proportional crimes. Also, the unemployment level among blacks is significantly larger than white people in this country. This is a complicated issue and you've given us food for thought.
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