The Success of Rap
The Success of RapThe Success of Rap:
Possible Only With African American and Caucasian Involvement.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of rap and hip-hop is created by African Americans, the success of this extremely popular type of music is directly linked to the involvement of white people in the industry. As ironic as it is, rap music is fueled by white consumers, and in all reality relies on them to sustain its profitability continue to expand. Where would rappers today be without seventy percent of their record sales, bought by white people? Those who at one point were rebelling against white people (the government, corporate America) through protest rap can give thanks directly to those �oppressors� (white people) in general for their success in the music industry. Furthermore, the cooperation between the beat makers and the rap star producers has allowed big record companies to benefit from this booming section of the recording industry.
Support by those you oppose. This can be seen as the basic summary of white consumption of rap and hip-hop, which really began to skyrocket with the group Public Enemy. An explanation for this great Caucasian support of early rap is rebellion. The buying of rap by white people, specifically teenagers, was and is seen as rebelling against parental figures and mainstream society (rap is becoming more mainstream so maybe this aspect doesn�t hold true so much anymore). While being completely rebellious through buying and listening to rap, many probably did not realize that much of the music is anti-white. A friend of mine recently told me during a conversation we had about Public Enemy that, �yeah, I was a huge PE fan, I listened to them all the time; but I cut down when I realized that they used extremely anti-white lyrics!� This early protest rap did not contain much support of white America, but was supported by their teenage offspring. This rap seen through the eyes of white America back then can be seen (not necessarily accurately) in a spoof on protest rap in Howard Stern�s movie �Private Parts.� Stern says, posing as a black weatherman, �kill, kill, kill, the white man.� This rap was more or less eaten up by those rebellious white teenagers to a certain extent, which tried to identify or feel sympathy for the rappers and rebel. Did they know that they were buying anti-white music (in such cases as Public Enemy)? That didn�t matter, more importantly: did they care that it was anti-white? No, they were excited about being rebellious and consequently listened and supported the music.
Specifically regarding the monetary aspect of making and selling rap, white people made rappers rich. As seen in a study briefly summarized in a book by Tricia Rose, blacks share albums and make copies of them instead of buying individual ones at the store. It is thought that black people have a higher �pass-along rate� of music and other mediums . It has been estimated...
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