Ethnicity in music

“Could you play me some of your black music, please?”

“That’s white music, I don’t mess with it.”

Music is too often categorized under race labels, genres are associated with particular audiences as if the colour of one’s skin determines their taste in art. The way people talk you would think that Hip Hop itself is full of melanin, that Country Western is directly descended from the Nordic settlers; segregation within music builds barriers around audiences before they even listen to what is at hand, restricting people from discovering the different sounds that define us as a people. Although music is used to document and express the various hardships that individual cultural groups undergo, it still conveys universal emotions. Music is a living, breathing entity lacking in ethnicity while fully retaining culture; music serves to educate and aid in self discovery, divulging between notes the secrets of life.

How many times has a rapper been placed on a pedestal to be judged differently solely for being white in a genre dominated by the ethnic minorities majorities? Does the caucasian community not deserve an equal footing in music? If not, will it be granted affirmative action in future? As the first to be taken seriously on a mass scale Eminem has become the archetype for the white rapper, with any emerging white rappers often being compared to him as a rite of passage and being written off if they are too far off the established mark. Similarly rock, a genre dominated by white men, is popularly seen to be no place for the ethnic minority; Jimi Hendrix has become the the archetype for the guitar toting black man, any ethnic minority breaking into rock is likely to stand in his shadow. The idea of black and white music creates a chasm between people which is seldom explored, in 1986 Run DMC bridged the chasm when they collaborated with Aerosmith to cover their song 'Walk this way' and created something both audiences somewhat enjoyed; since then crossovers such as 'Walk this way' have become rarer than unicorns which has  kept the race issue in music truly alive.

Run DMC ft. Aerosmith- Walk this way

Of course subject matter and context are important factors in determining whether an audience will listen to music, for instance, it's unlikely a middle aged white man living in suburbia would have much interest in listening to Public Enemy's calls for rejection of this established social structure and social uprising or NWA's angry blasts at 'White America'; Society likes to avoid controversy, especially when it's race-focused. The nature of the society we live in means the majority of the public is culturally sensitive and so politically correct that white people generally tend to avoid music in which the word "ni**a" is used and it turns out that Hip Hop tends to squander it. One must bear in mind that music is meant to be heard the way it was recorded for a reason, the shock and reality of the lyrics received as they are must be received and one must not be intimidated by them lyrics for fear of social backlash. Hip Hop keeps such a loyal black audience because a lot of black people feel they must align with the machine that rocketed black people into the charts and into money.

It's not to say that people aren't entitled to their own preferences in the music they listen to, by all means they should have the freedom to reject any genre they please, rather it is the shunning of music for social reasons that is being condemned. Do not allow the pigment in your skin to restrict you in what music can teach you, branch out and allow yourself to enjoy what society has to offer.