{"id":297,"date":"2011-11-08T00:25:50","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T05:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timrosenblatt.com\/blog\/?p=297"},"modified":"2011-11-08T00:25:50","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T05:25:50","slug":"on-being-a-white-rap-fan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timrosenblatt.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/08\/on-being-a-white-rap-fan\/","title":{"rendered":"On being a white rap fan."},"content":{"rendered":"

When singing (or in this case, rapping) along with Kanye, do we say a certain racially insensitive word or do we censor ourselves?<\/p>\n

Valid arguments were made for both sides.<\/p>\n

Saying the N-word<\/strong>
\nPro: Remaining true to Kanye\u2019s artistic vision, saying his words, each of them, exactly as he intended, even the ones that might not be so artistic.
\nCon: Inciting a full-scale race riot and\/or getting our arses kicked.<\/p>\n

Not saying the N-word<\/strong>
\nPro: Showing our support at the ugliness of the word, the hatred of a term filled with venom.
\nCon: Drawing even more attention to the word as a mostly white audience goes mute, leaving only Kanye to say it, thus inciting a full-scale race riot and\/or getting our arses kicked.<\/p>\n

We ultimately decided to self-censor, but we also faced another dilemma: what word do we say in its place? Sure, Kanye helped us with \u201cNow I ain\u2019t saying she\u2019s a golddigger, but she ain\u2019t messing with no broke, broke,\u201d but there was nothing to save us from Jesus Walks\u2019 lyrics in which restless (N-words) might snatch your necklace or jack your Lexus before being told who Kanye West is.<\/p>\n

Rap music is all about the rhythm and flow of the words, so it\u2019s not really possible to just replace the N-word with a more politically correct term \u2013 \u201cNow I ain\u2019t saying she\u2019s a golddiger, but she ain\u2019t messing with no broke African-Americans.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rap Concerts Can Pose A Problem<\/a><\/p>\n

I feel like this is a real problem for white rap fans.<\/p>\n

Eminem doesn’t drop n-bombs<\/a>. Chamillionaire also stopped cursing — and his records don’t feel like they’ve been toned down.<\/p>\n

But megastars like Kanye and Jay Z haven’t. Not to mention that even if they did, there’s a long legacy of music that we aren’t going back and re-cutting, like some rap version of George Lucas, trying to uncover the “original artistic vision”.<\/p>\n

I’ve personally started using ‘brother’ in my head since it’s the most reasonable approximation that doesn’t destroy the continuity (“Where’d you get the beauty scar, tough guy? Eating pineapple?”), ends in -er, and it’s not terrible for rhymes that require the hard ‘g’ sound. Plus, in “Golddigger”, you get a nice consonance on the ‘b’: “I ain’t sayin’ she a golddigger, but she ain’t messin with no broke brother”.<\/p>\n