What the heck? That sounded racist to me. I’m black and I say music has no color. Who cares if he likes mostly white musicians? The music is important, not the color of the musicans. And the word rockism is a dumbass word. Its music, people have different likes of music, dislikes of music and have the right to express them. I use to listen to Hip-hop/rap. Now I don’t like it. My taste in music have changed. Now I mostly like old rock and blues. I hate it when people make shit bigger than it seems. Oh he doesn’t like rap so hes a racist. Oh he doesn’t like Disco so hes a homophobic. Shut the fuck up with the judgment, and see that people are not going to like the same shit as you. And race doesn’t even exist, move forward from the 19 century. The true defiention of rockism is an opinion about music that doesn’t match up with mine.

Jenny Lewis is white. Just not male. Mars Volta on the other hand is very diverse, though admittedly an acquired taste.

at the moment, i like to mix in a bit of immortal technique in with the usual burzum and angelspit, but when i was 11-13, i hated rap because:

a) it was what the meat-head ‘gangstas’ who mocked my clothes, hated ‘homos’ and wanted to beat up ‘bloods’ (despite living in central auckland, new zealand, not south-central LA, i went to a ‘crip’ school) listened to.

b) the only rap i’d been exposed to was top 40 bullshit.

c) i preffered metal’s more theatrical style and subject matter                                    

d) as a middleclass, bisexual white/asian girl, i didn’t identify with the lowerclass, heterosexual black men who made rap – it wasn’t music made for, by or about people like me (the same could be said about most metal, but 13 was a very angry age for me, i loved the aggression and the drumming too much to care about the rest).

now, i enjoy rap for the sound and the opportunity to hear the perspectives of people who come from a radically different background to me, but i still don’t feel as emotionally invested in rap and the culture surrounding it as i do with many of the other genres i listen to. the rappers i like sound intelligent, articulate and passionate, but the pasty norwegian satanists sound the way i feel.

critisizing your son’s taste in music will probably make him hate rap more, especially as he approaches the teen years. many people (especially young ones) see the  music they listen to as representing who they are – their values and beliefs – in a symbolic, coded form that isn’t necessarily easy for outsiders to ‘read’. telling him to change his taste in music will probably make him pretty defensive, especially if he thinks you’re accusing him of being racist. try finding musicians from other genres who project a strong   black identity: bob marley, bad  brains and saul williams come to mind.                                                                                                                                                                         

a)it was what the meat-headed ‘gangstas’ who mocked my clothes, talked about beating up ‘bloods’ (dispite being in central auckland, not south-central LA, i went to a ‘crip’ school) and hated ‘homos’ listened to.

b)the only rap i’d been exposed to was top 40 bullshit (i hate most top 40 music, rap, rock and pop).c)it lacked the drama and theatricality of metal (hair-sweat and vikings..mmm…)d)as a middleclass, bisexual white/asian girl, i didn’t identify with the mostly lowerclass, heterosexual black men who make rap – it wasn’t music made for me or about me or by people like me (the same could be said of a great deal of metal, but 13 was a very angry age for me, i loved the aggression and  the drumming too much to care).

1. I don’t like electronic music, and most rap tends to be on the electronic side

2. I prefer singing

3. I like guitars

I don’t understand why these preferences makes racist. True, I’m white, and most rock musicians tend to be white, and I’ll admit this is at least partially due to privilege. But I never really see any black people auditioning for rock bands, because they’d rather be apart of rap groups, there’s nothing really wrong with this but it certainly isn’t the rock group’s fault that no black person really wanted to audition.

Also, I know a lot of rockers who enjoy other forms of black music. I personally like a lot of blues and funk.

So maybe I’m just misunderstanding this, which happens a lot, still I thought I may as well get my opinion across.

By developing lesson plans on Arab American and Arab hip hop for students, I developed a much greater appreciation of hip hop in general, and what a revolutionary force (yes, even gangsta rap) it has been for young people throughout the world, and how they have adopted it as the medium to express opposition to injustice, war, corruption, American imperialism, racism, misogyny, etc. (I have since introduced myself to rappers in Africa and Asia, and rappers of color in Europe. Too. fucking. awesome.).

Perhaps if your son has an interest in a particular part of the world (ex. – thinks mummies are “cool”), you could intro him to some of these amazing artists. Great music AND great lyrics. And all of these artists will state up front their American influences (Tupac is especially influential), will sample them (and their own indigenous music) in their rap, and some have performed with American artists, or count them as friends. Amazing, amazing stuff.

For everyone who doesn’t particularly like American hip hop (those who don’t for non-racist reasons), don’t write it off until you have explored the international roots it has spawned among the youth all over the world. Their concerns were always there, but hip hop gave them the musical tools to express it in new and powerful ways. So yes, hip hop IS music and it is universal, and it sucks that so many white people don’t get it, or don’t want to get it, because of their own racist baggage, and that people like Asher are exploiting this baggage for $$$.