Before rappers had multimillion-dollar endorsement deals with shoe manufacturers and makeup companies, information technology was commonplace to see even the most mainstream emcees speak out on controversial issues. In the wake of Hip Hop's commercial blast from the late xc'southward through the early aughts, and the subsequent commercial drought nosotros're witnessing at present, most mainstream emcees on major labels sidestep annihilation remotely controversial.

Moments such as Lupe Fiasco calling President Obama " the biggest terrorist " or Kanye West quipping, "George Bush doesn't intendance nearly black people" are now generally the exception and non the rule. In an effort to create dialogue on problems many of the most popular and commercially successful emcees are afraid to bear upon, HipHopDX is launching a "Taboo Series" of editorials. Whether readers agree or disagree with the opinions brought along, our hope is to play a pocket-sized part in returning the level of discourse in Hip Hop dorsum to the days when mainstream, major label, commercially viable artists weren't agape to tackle uncomfortable and thought-provoking subjects.

From September 5 through September 7, HipHopDX will post these Taboo Series editorials daily, addressing topics the tiptop mainstream rappers no longer talk about. Do you concur with the choices? Do you agree that such subjects have get taboo for Superlative xl emcees? Weigh in, starting today

Truthful Colors: Race, And The Misnomer Of Hip Hop As "Black Music"

For me, listening to Hip Hop music during my formative years was, at least in part, an entry bespeak to blackness civilization at big. On the almost bones level, N.Due west.A. articulated both the fear and anger I felt as a child when I regularly saw members of the Long Beach and Los Angeles Law Departments harass the men in my family unit.

And while groups like 10-Clan and Arrested Evolution tapped into aspects of Pan-Africanism and Blackness Nationalism inside of me that I didn't even know existed, they were besides parts of many musical influences—some of which had nothing to practise with race at all. Undoubtedly, nostalgia tints my "The Wonder Years"-style memories of Hip Hop's so-called "Gilt Era." But, my subjective and anecdotal stroll downwardly memory lane aside, I tin't assistance simply feeling that mainstream Hip Hop used to exist a grade of blackness music, and it no longer is anymore. I'grand honestly not sure what to exercise with that stance. Before you read any further, I should point out that I'm non lament that Hip Hop isn't strictly black music. Much similar the other contributions to this Taboo Series, I just desire to offer an stance on a field of study that many artists seem to have been dancing around for the better role of the last decade. It boils down to a few elementary questions. Is Hip Hop black music? Should we intendance if the music or culture is or is not a facet of black culture?

Respond, React

This editorial was spawned by one of the less glamorous duties associated with being an editor. In June, I attended a console on black music's impact on advertising and popular civilization. The panel featured David Imprint, UCLA Associate Professor Scot D. Brown, HipHopDX.com founder/publisher Sharath Cherian, Singleton Entertainment CEO Ernest Singleton and Johnnie Walker, President of the National Association of Blackness Female Executives in Music and Entertainment. As with any console discussion, there was an ebb and catamenia of dialogue. And since I work for a Hip Hop site, Banner's comments stood out rather prominently.

"I did an advertisement for Gatorade; I did the 'Evolve' commercial," Banner offered. "When they heard the song, they actually idea that was an old Gospel song that Gatorade had stolen. It was funny, because for the most function, everyone that worked on that song was under 35. People said, 'I didn't know David Banner could do something similar that.' And yous know why? Considering we don't buy information technology! Everybody talks nigh the music being degraded, only it's because we don't buy it. A friend of mine that works at Sony Records was talking about Adele. And some people were saying, 'Well that's just a white woman singing black folks' music.' Yeah, but white folks are buying it. If we bought Anthony Hamilton…if we bought Erykah Badu the style that nosotros're supposed to, then it wouldn't be no problems. Advertisers follow money. The 1 thing that I learned from Universal Records—and I actually think information technology was a approval—excuse me, but I'm but gonna say information technology how I experience information technology. White people are non emotional. Whether it's how many listeners you have, how many views you have or how much money you make, they will do it. If we can couple that with talent, so nosotros could prove our people."

As you can imagine, Banner got quite the reaction with those comments. In an attempt to provide them within the proper context, a video of all of David Banner's thoughts from the console discussion is posted below. His remarks about the Gatorade commercial begin at the 6:45 mark. I'm not touching the whole "white people are not emotional" part of the word. But I will say, to Imprint's credit, he has never shied abroad from the issue of race as it regards Hip Hop. Never. And if you tin remove the generic "white people practice this," only "black people practise that" attribute of the give-and-take, you touch on a topic that many artists are either ignorant of or just patently afraid to discuss.

Hip Hop'due south Audience By The Numbers

"White people might buy 80 per centum of hip-hop records today, but I don't remember they're as big a percentage of the tastemaking oversupply. If y'all go an secret record that's really cool and innovative, the initial audience might be 40 percent white. There's also a diverse group of black people who are function of that audience, including black people who are not from the same background every bit the obvious ghetto one. The key is that all of these unlike groups brand upwards the core tastemaking crowd." –Russell Simmons, Life And Def

There's a commonly held belief that despite creating the majority of Hip Hop music, blackness people don't purchase much Hip Hop these days. This theory is floated effectually so much that the Wall Street Journal investigated information technology back in 2005. And that's where things go murky. In 2004, an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "seventy pct of the paying (and downloading) Hip Hop audience is white kids living in the suburbs." The statistic was attributed to SoundScan, fifty-fifty though SoundScan can't and doesn't track music buyers' races. Similar articles take been plant in Advertising Age, Forbes and Vibe. If yous follow the trail of information, you air current up at a visitor named Marketing Research Incorporated. Carl Bialik of WSJ.com explained his findings in further detail.

"Conventional wisdom, for once, turns out to be mostly right—with the caveat that there's a lot we don't know about race and Rap sales," wrote Bialik. "Each year, MRI researchers go into about 25,000 homes nationwide and talk to residents for an hour about their media habits…Amid the questions MRI asks is whether the respondent purchased pre-recorded Rap sound tapes and compact discs in the last 12 months. MRI sent me the results for 1995, 1999 and 2001, for both adults 18 to 34 and for all adults. For both groups, the percentage of contempo Rap buyers who are white was about 70% to 75% for all three years."

A vii-year-erstwhile study of three years worth of data is a small and easily manipulated sample size, simply it still leaves an interesting dynamic. Any style you slice information technology, Rap and Hip Hop is predominately performed by black males. As of Monday, September 3, 49 of the meridian fifty songs on Billboard magazine's R&B/Hip Hop nautical chart are performed and or written past people that would by and large be considered every bit black or African-American. Robin Thicke is the only non-blackness performer, and he'south non a rapper. If y'all put stock into the MRI data, yous're left juggling the fact that Hip Hop is generally performed past black people selling product to an audience of generally white people between the ages of xviii and 34.

Co-opted Culture Or Diverse Global Growth?

"And all this post-racism is killing me / I heard some hipsters saying nigga real liberally / I know some of your best friends is niggas / Nigga please / I know this gentrification is killing me / But I ain't gone pretend like I own't got no white friends / I mean information technology is what it is I guess / And if you ask me what I'm is / I say I'm blessed…" –Denmark Vessey, "Quit Smoking."

In a vacuum, those two statistics shouldn't matter. And while I find them interesting, the betoken of this piece isn't to simply throw some onetime, limited data at readers. How do we business relationship for illegal downloads, considering that's how a large portion of listeners get their music these days? When presented with MRI'south 100-plus folio questionnaire, what box do participants of multiple ethnicities check? I'chiliad more interested in what artists aren't saying when they trip the light fantastic toe effectually Hip Hop's racial dichotomy. Take Eminem, for example. He's a white creative person in the predominately blackness field of Hip Hop. Yet he is the acknowledged creative person in any genre betwixt the years 2000 through 2010. Bated from an occasional reference and the cocky-deprecating talk of his teenage poverty and social ineptitude, he rarely talks about race.

If the MRI statistics concur up—and, by no ways am I saying they do—we're left with many questions. Is the current incarnation of mainstream Hip Hop a co-opted grade blackness music or is information technology organically diverse enough to attract all races? That'southward a trick question, because it's probably both.

Oppression, Progress And More Questions

"All the fresh styles always offset off every bit a good, picayune, hood thing. Look at Blues, Rock, Jazz, Rap…non fifty-fifty talking almost music—everything else besides. By the time it reach Hollywood, it'due south over. Merely it's absurd. We just keep information technology going and make new shit." –Andre 3000, "Hollywood Divorce."

By pointing out what I come across as rather obvious links betwixt black civilisation and Hip Hop, I'grand non saying only black people can identify with Hip Hop. Nor am I maxim that Hip Hop should be the sole cultural touchstone for agreement black civilization. Simply I would argue that during Hip Hop'southward commercial and critical peak, both the music and culture were infused with elements of black culture. You can accept something as simple as Method Man'south "Biscuits," and trace the chorus of, "Yo mama don't wear no draws / I seen her when she took 'em off…" directly to the practice of playing the dozens. I'd make the same argument for early Goodie Mob albums and their inclusion of Gospel and cultural aspects of the black church building. A listener could purchase Tical and Soul Nutrient today, and totally miss or ignore those blackness cultural references. The listening feel would however exist enjoyable. But I would debate that if you are in tune with those aspects of black culture, their mere inclusion brings the element of race into the discussion.

The other issue at hand is if Hip Hop culture in and of itself was organically diverse enough to concenter all races. For nearly of united states, the answer to that question would be an obvious yes. And then, in a very existent sense, Hip Hop is not "black music" anymore than basketball is a "black sport." The majority of Hip Hop performers are black males, but the music and civilisation appeal to people of all races. During its acme, I would argue that even mainstream Hip Hop was not necessarily black music, but oppressed people's music. The systematic racial and socio-economical oppression many black emcees addressed was one of many forms of oppression. And I experience those rhymes spoke to other marginalized and oppressed groups of all races and creeds that gravitated to the music and the culture. Add in the appeal of youthful, rebel culture, and it doesn't surprise me that Hip Hop held the distinction equally the almost commercially successful genre of music at one time. Unfortunately, now that corporate interests are involved, artists are scared to speak truth to power when addressing what are probable millions of people of all races that all the same feel oppressed and marginalized in some fashion.

I think, recognizing and speaking on that systematic oppression is an important part but non the only part of the black experience. Also, the assertion that blacks are solely responsible for Hip Hop is a slap in the face to any and every non-black pioneer and die difficult b-girl and b-male child. But now, virtually of what you see and hear is only as mainstream as State, Rock or any other genre.

Dominant elements of black culture take been a big part of Hip Hop music and culture during its entire beingness. While the MRI information is muddled, nigh would hold that the music—and by extension, those elements of black culture—take been co-opted into mainstream American popular culture. To further speak to some of Banner's points, should we celebrate the fact that subsequent generations of all races have learned to appreciate and turn a profit from those cultural elements? Or does this incite anger considering big groups of people aren't financially supporting the musical expression of civilization in its before forms? If y'all appreciate musical elements historically associated with blackness civilization, are you wrong for wanting to hear them expressed by a black person? Race will always exist one of Hip Hop's taboo topics until emcees inquire those questions in their songs and we candidly reply them equally listeners. Banner alluded to the fact that listeners make decisions with their wallets, and I would concord. Few of the mainstream emcees willing to inquire the above questions are financially rewarded for doing so.

What To Wait From Hip Hop

"Hip Hop will simply amaze y'all / Praise you / Pay you / Do whatever yous say do / But black it tin't save yous…" –Mos Def, "Hip Hop."

As I mentioned at the first, certain Hip Hop artists provided my entry point to better agreement aspects of blackness culture on a much larger scale. I applaud those artists and the emcees they inspired. Merely over 25 years after discovering those albums, I don't especially subscribe to a notion of some universal, homogenized standard for blackness. I don't get angry when mainstream Hip Hop at big no longer reinforces certain positive aspects of black civilization. Decades after my youthful naiveté has (hopefully) passed, I sought out other sources for further understanding black civilisation. Onetime professors and the likes of Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurst, Marcus Garvey or any number of other contributors accept informed my current, evolving agreement. Annihilation a Rap artist adds to that understanding is a pleasant surprise.

Blackness culture is complex, and all black people don't accept the aforementioned agenda. So if Rick Ross, 2 Chainz or whatever rapper releases music that I experience doesn't reinforce my personal values, I don't identify the responsibility of existence a standard bearer for black culture at their feet. And if I happen to be involved in some ratchet activeness on a weekend in Vegas, I'm more happy to let either of them provide the soundtrack for such activity. I call back Hip Hop can exercise a lot of things. And if you lot or an artist you like uses Hip Hop to teach and inspire others about whatsoever culture, more than power to you and them. But if you lot're expecting Hip Hop to always do and so, or yous want it to consistently reinforce your moral beliefs, yous may often end up disappointed.

Omar Burgess is a Long Beach, California native who has contributed to various magazines, newspapers and has  been an editor at HipHopDX since 2008. Follow him on Twitter @FourFingerRings.