A long-debated topic
Over the last decade, hip-hop and R&B gradually became the “pop” music of America, driving sales and dominating mass music media. If you look at a Billboard chart from 5 years ago or even 3 years ago, majority of the artists in the top 20 for the singles chart were either hip-hop and/or R&B acts. The influence didn’t stop with music as hip-hop had commercial appeal; it was used to sell everything from soft-drinks to cell phones. All over the world, people are feeling hip-hop as there are Asian and European sub-cultures immersed in hip-hop ethos. Being that hip-hop and R&B are genres dominated by African-American artists, this is historically the first time so-called “black music” has dominated pop-culture since Motown and doo-wop groups in the 60’s. Some African-American philosophers, societal commentators and music commentators have deemed this mainstream appeal as kind of a “cool” thing. It’s great for us that black music took over the world, right?
Maybe not. Our music and media, for better or worse, is representative of who we are as culture to the world. If a non-black individual wanted to learn about African-American pop culture through OUR music, what would they learn? What would they see? Well…if they were to look at the example set by MAINSTREAM hip-hop (NOT all hip-hop), they would see an example that reinforces the stereotypes they’ve been taught all their lives about African-Americans. They would see a portrait of self-degradation, self-exploitation and materialism. They would learn nothing of substance. They would see that what we strive and live for is the club, sex, money, liquor and a hard beat. Is that who WE really are? Is that who YOU are? Is that what YOU strive for in life? At this level of impact and influence on pop culture, this was our chance to show who we are and what we’re made of. This was our chance to provide a portrait of sophistication, refinement, intelligence, strength and power. This was our chance to for once define ourselves, instead of an outsider telling us who we are. And yet, we’ve wasted it. We’re not even close to how we represented ourselves during the Motown era.
Maybe not. Our music and media, for better or worse, is representative of who we are as culture to the world. If a non-black individual wanted to learn about African-American pop culture through OUR music, what would they learn? What would they see? Well…if they were to look at the example set by MAINSTREAM hip-hop (NOT all hip-hop), they would see an example that reinforces the stereotypes they’ve been taught all their lives about African-Americans. They would see a portrait of self-degradation, self-exploitation and materialism. They would learn nothing of substance. They would see that what we strive and live for is the club, sex, money, liquor and a hard beat. Is that who WE really are? Is that who YOU are? Is that what YOU strive for in life? At this level of impact and influence on pop culture, this was our chance to show who we are and what we’re made of. This was our chance to provide a portrait of sophistication, refinement, intelligence, strength and power. This was our chance to for once define ourselves, instead of an outsider telling us who we are. And yet, we’ve wasted it. We’re not even close to how we represented ourselves during the Motown era.
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