Racial Appropriation In Hip Hop - 714 Words

Matthew Post AFAS 371 December 4, 2016 Racial Appropriations Since the birth of hip hop and its culture, white people have been making appropriating its ideas and imitating its culture. Appropriation happens when one culture or race takes or â€Å"borrows† the art, music, or literature of another culture or race. In the case of hip hop, it is often that the white culture steals from the blacks. Racial appropriation is a very clear theme throughout 8 Mile, a movie in which a white protagonist struggles to gain recognition amongst his predominantly black peers. Racial and cultural appropriation has become increasingly significant in society within the past 30 years. â€Å"The idea of â€Å"cultural appropriation† has recently entered mainstream†¦show more content†¦While he does everything he can to overcome this barrier, he makes his rapping about how he is white. Having a white character as the main protagonist changes the message of the movies greatly. Rather than the hip hop movie being about a simple rapper trying t o make his way out of the projects, in 8 Mile the protagonist has to prove to the audiences that he has the credibility to be a rapper since he is white. B-Rabbit appropriates black culture by stating that in order to be a rapper he has to fit in with the black poverty, rather than typical white middle class families. â€Å"His final rap acknowledges everything that could disqualify him, but he wins the rap battle by first admitting these aspects and then critiquing his opponent. He implies Papa Doc is disqualified as having a legitimate voice despite being Black. The reasons? Papa Doc comes from a stable home and has attended a private school. He dismisses Papa Doc, excluding blackness as significant. He instead asserts his own poverty and class position, resetting the standards to dismiss race. B-Rabbit situates himself as a more authentic practitioner of hip hop, not simply because of his skill, but because also of his poverty and other concerns† (Sanchez 49). Cultural and racial appropriation in hip hop has significantly influenced modern society in not just one way, but numerous ways. It has an overwhelming presence not only in media, but in news, and daily life as well. 8 MileShow MoreRelatedThe New Black Of Music1280 Words   |  6 Pagesimportant due to the recent social media points about cultural appropriation of minority cultures by white artist in pop and hip-hop records. The fear for hip-hop and rap is what happened to past genres that have black roots like, country, rock, and soul music –, which are all now predominantly white. There are hip hop artist like Harlem native female rapper, Azaelia Banks, who believes that there is no place for white artist in hip hop. 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