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Meagan Bens
Doctor McLaughlin
Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric
24 November 2015
Rap Music and White Supremacy
Stumbling across my sisters room last summer, I found her and her friends jumping up
and down on her bed while screaming the lyrics to Fetty Wap's song 679. Recently at a party, I
saw white college students yelling and dancing to the lyrics to A$AP Rockys F**kin
Problems. Between the two groups, there is not a significant difference because neither
understand a majority of the words coming out of their mouths. Despite the disconnect between
white teenagers reality and black rappers reality, rap music invades radios, speakers, and
headphones across the country. The music that blares from house parties today has evolved from
a culture that started on the East coast decades ago.
Rap musics roots started in South Bronx during a time of economic downfall and
political conservatism and became inner city black and Latino communities form of expression
(Rebollo-Gil and Moras). By the late 1980s, groups such as Run-DMC and Chuck D used their
masculine representations to promote socio-political empowerment. Continuing the musics
development, N.W.A. and Public Enemy became the prominent groups, both being controversial
and violent. N.W.A. proved to have a lasting impact on the musics culture, defining a new subgenre regarded as gangster rap. The controversial album, Straight Outta Compton, included
lyrics referring to drugs, sex, and violence. The new hardcore rap frightened white America and

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those living outside the ghetto and even led to the F.B.I. sending a letter of discontent concerning
the song Fuck tha Police. The government was not pleased with the song creating an antipolice sentiment while pointing out the continual tension between young, urban African
Americans and law enforcement. With the explosion in publicity, the masses consumed gangster
rap, the music telling the stories of the streets.
With gangster raps increasing popularity, the stereotypical urban black male is seen as a
heartless criminal, fulfilling his own destructive prophecy . . . (Jeffries 78). The
commercialized, monoculture black image that consumes media can be harmful to society,
evident in current news and events. In 2012, a seventeen year old black boy, Trayvon Martin,
walking with candy, iced tea, and his hood up would not see the light of tomorrow after being
shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida. Although
Zimmermans 911 call did not suggest anything about race, one has to question whether the
outcome would have been similar if the boy was white (Pittman). A couple years later, America
would be confronted with another controversy. Another young, unarmed black male, Michael
Brown, would be shot and killed by a former police officer, Darren Wilson, in St. Louis,
Missouri. With an unclear description of events leading up to Browns death, Wilson would not
be charged of a crime. A report released in March 2015 revealed Ferguson was a place where
officers stopped and handcuffed people without probable cause, hurled racial slurs . . . and
treated anyone as suspicious merely for questioning police tactics (Buchanan et al.). Up until
this day, there are issues concerning racial profiling and police treatment. The over-masculinized,
aggressive, pimping black stereotype consumes television and rap music, invading minds and
causing harmful generalizations. With all the racial issues, the incessant blaring of African

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American stereotypes from speakers is a considerable cause. Contrary to popular belief, rap
music circulates through white-controlled corporations (Kajikawa 139). White peoples
continual fascination with gangster rap has led their impact in the industry to increase. With the
desire to exert power, whites continue to purchase and consume black culture, specifically rap
music. Under white control, black stereotypes dominate a majority of the lyrics, eliciting a
deeper wound on American society. The fallacy of post racial America can be examined
through one outlet, rap music, an industry that ultimately proves the persistence of white
supremacy.
Although caucasians enjoy rap music, the stereotypes are based on the ones they fear in
the streets. According to rap, the black male is a social outlaw everyone despises. His social and
moral control is nonexistent, he is a threat towards everyone because he only acts to serve
himself (White 65). He is a product of the ghetto, a man abandoned by others. He wears
oversized pants, obnoxious gold chains, brand-named sneakers, and any athletic gear while out in
public. Perhaps he wears a red or blue bandana to show his gang affiliation with the Bloods or
Crips. During the rise of gangster rap, appropriation of black culture was visible. Whether
through fashion, music, or behavior, black culture was assimilated into mainstream culture. The
black male was dangerous, yet marketable. With N.W.A.s rising success from the underground,
white adolescents were captivated by the stories of violence, shootouts, and altercations with
authority, a world many caucasians were unfamiliar with. For white males coming to terms with
their identity, the black male presented in rap is the ultimate image of masculinity (White 23).
The new masculine desire was the man people feared on television. Whites who identified with
the hip hop culture rejected middle class whiteness to be associated with the dangerous
environment they viewed as exciting. For many, the world viewed through rap music videos was

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an escape from the comfortable, stable, middle class daily life. The use of black culture for
enjoyment is not a contemporary concept, considering the practice of minstrelsy in the 19th
century, where black actors or white people in blackface performed skits or musical acts (White
19). Both minstrelsy and rap music stresses whites affirming their power over blacks. At the
surface level, being black was the ultimate level of coolness, a way for whites to distinguish
themselves from the majority. As hip hop culture was increasingly assimilated into popular
culture, the hip hop industry became a profitable business. The industry today has not lost its
prevalence in society, considering 70% of the consumers of Hip Hop culture and music are
white and the majority of corporate backing of the Hip Hop industry is from white-owned
corporations (Rebollo-Gil and Moras). As a continuation of Americas history, whites continue
to use the black body and culture to profit and benefit themselves.
Throughout its evolution, rap has become a vehicle to promote the African American
stereotype, a stereotype which whites continue to enjoy and partake in themselves. Ever since the
introduction of hardcore rap in the 80s and 90s, rappers lives have been transformed into
entertainment that the white suburban youth finds to be appealing. Over the last several decades
and rap musics growth as a multi-billion dollar industry, performers such as N.W.A., Snoop
Dogg, Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and others have risen to the celebrity
status (White 76). N.W.A. brought gangster rap to the forefront, with chaotic sirens and gunshots
in their musics background as they addressed violence, sex, and drugs. N.W.A. was crowned
The Most Dangerous Group. Signaling a transition into the gangsta-funk era, Snoop Doggs
songs focused on cruising down the streets, consuming alcohol, and having a materialistic
mindset (Quinn 145). From the beginning of Tupacs rise to fame in California, his toughness

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and status as an outlaw, stemming from personal, emotional turmoil, formed his image (Quinn
176). Surrounded by drug addicts and dealers, the Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie Smalls, started to
create music in Brooklyn and would participate in the East Coast versus West Coast gangster rap
feud (Quinn 185). Similar to their predecessors, Jay-Z and 50 Cent would go on to paint the
pictures of poverty, violence, and hustling. All the artists previously mentioned rapped about
their obstacles in a socio-economical struggling area. Their personal accounts incorporated into
their fast-paced narratives would eventually lead to their rise in social status and wealth.
Although the artists have a purpose underlying their music, the general public, being white, took
their culture to enrich their own. During this time frame, whites appropriated rap musics culture
and style as a way to act out their own racial fantasies of the ghetto black male persona. The
persona whites desired to embody was a form of social rebellion (White 104). Ignoring the
messages behind the music, white adolescents used rap music as a moral outlet. Through clothes,
film, computer games, and other hardcore rap aspects, whites took the fear historically conveyed
by black males and transferred it onto themselves, further demonizing the race (White 105).
Starting as a culturally empowering movement, rap music has been manipulated to benefit
whites, allowing them to commercialize the industry, further establishing the rap monoculture
that will further be discussed next.
As gangster rap rose to the charts, rap music became an increasingly profitable industry.
Comparable to any other major industry, rap music was modified to please its audience, which
happened to be white youth. According to Maurice, Now that radio airplay was controlled by
record labels, the already limited power of the artist was placed into the hands of white
executives with no organic links to the culture, only a focus on the bottom line. This resulted in

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all the caricatures, misogynistic, materialistic and self- indulgent criminal portrayals of Hip Hop
artists to be the only ones promoted, since it had been proven by statistical methods of
communication research (Soundscan) that these portrayals were the most profitable (96).
Through the invention of Soundscan, a music sales tracking system, white executives had access
to their target audience and merely focused on every business bottom line: money. Naturally,
the objective to profit outweighed the effort to preserve black culture. Furthermore, due to the
passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, six major labels merged into four, laid off
hundreds of employees, and sharply narrowed the rage of voices (Chang). The variety of
performers in the industry were essentially narrowed down to the image of a black male with a
variation of thuggery, exactly what the audience found to be appealing. This rap monoculture
started with whites cultural appropriation of the hip hop culture and persists in the industry
today, evident in the current top rap artists. According to a Rolling Stones article, the rap albums
included in the 45 best albums of the first half of the year were Kendrick Lamars To Pimp a
Butterfly, Drakes If You Are Reading This Its Too Late, and Rae Sremmurds SremmLife.
Lamars album was based upon the continual discussion of race and racism in America, brought
to the attention after the Ferguson incident. He also grew up in the gang and drug infested
Compton, known as Dr. Dres protege (Weiner). With the music centered on the struggles and
hardships in the inner city, it coincides with the music white suburbans turn to as entertainment.
Drake, known as a sweet Canadian rapper who speaks about vulnerabilities and his loyalties,
took a different direction with his album, turning to an emotionless man who hangs with
dangerous groups and attacks his enemies. Through the more aggressive lyrics and arrogant

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rants, Drake exhibits the thuggish qualities white youth admire. The two brothers who make up
Rae Sremmurd were raised in the projects in Mississippi and were then homeless until they rose
to stardom ("Rae Sremmurd Bio"). Their songs consist of their rough past and making it out alive
and now living large, exactly what white rap music consumers crave to listen to. Rap music has
become increasingly homogenized, evident in the popular artists today and the audiences
demand. Even though signed artists are under more restrictions within corporations, even
unsigned artists produce the same music. In Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Bryon Hurts
documentary critiquing hip hop music, Hurt had unsigned rappers audition for him. According to
Hurt their clichd battle rhymes are predictably bloody, sexist, and homophobic (Chang). The
rappers all responded to Hurt saying it was the only rap that got record deals. Whether the
corporations are controlled by whites or blacks, the predominantly white consumers have
established expectations that corporations and therefore artists will be forced to conform to in
order to stay in business.
Through the consumption of gangster rap music, whites are ultimately exerting power
over black culture. All the images white youth consume revolve around black violence,
aggression, misogyny, all images conservative politicians and far-right White Supremacists
invoke to justify regressive social policies or violent reprisals (Yousman 379). Whether they
are cognitive of their actions or not, white adolescents who listen to gangster rap directly and
indirectly emphasize black stereotypes, via cultural appropriation and influencing corporations
that control the production of rap music. The generalizations made about black Americans affect
their daily lives, evident in the media today and the natural tendency to equate violence with
blackness. Whether listening to the music to escape their daily lives, using it as a moral outlet, or

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trying to come to terms with their identities, white consumers are embracing the distorted images
of blackness that white owned industries control, while simultaneously rejecting or ignoring any
social movement policies that challenge the concepts of white privilege (Yousman 382). In short,
whites are exploiting black culture through mere enjoyment while blacks are the ones who
continue to suffer. Even when people listen to the music just to rebel against parents or other
authorities, African Americans are still facing the consequences. The constant consumption of
music that supports oppression and domination of African Americans stresses the persistence of
white supremacy in society. Although one may argue that consumption of the music and
appreciation of it may lead to a decrease in prejudice to individual blacks, the overall structures
of institutional racism have not changed: unequal education, employment, criminal sentencing,
and so on (Yousman 387). Also with the ability to admire gangster rap, whites can easily drop
their interest in it and its consequences. For example, whites can assimilate black culture into
their lives, but when it comes to a job interview, they can easily drop the culture for their
advantage. Blacks, on the other hand, do not have the option to erase these predispositions and
consequences, they have to live with them forever. Once again, whites are able to assimilate
other cultures into their lives solely for pleasure, highlighting the continual existence of white
domination.
Although rap music started as an empowering form of expression, it has evolved into an
another industry under white authority. Due to white adolescents fascination with blackness,
the industry has been designed to satisfy their desires. Ultimately, the African-American identity
has morphed into a resource for white pleasure. While whites enjoy the source of entertainment,
they create a false representation of African Americans, alluding to the idea that there is little
difference between those who rap on stage and average black citizens. The personas constructed

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through the music have detrimental effects on society, evident in media. Whether conscious of
the consequences or not, singing along to 2Chainz may increase ones street credibility, but it
essentially contributes to the further exploitation of back culture and emphasizes the continual
presence of white supremacy.

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Works Cited
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Tse, Tim Wallace, Derek Watkins and Karen Yourish."What Happened in Ferguson? The
New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Chang, Jeff. "Fight the Power." Mother Jones 32.6 (2007): 67-94. Academic Search Premier.
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Jeffries, Michael P. Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-hop. Chicago: U of
Chicago, 2011. Print.
Johnson, Maurice, "A Historical Analysis: The Evolution Of Commercial Rap Music" (2011).
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations. Paper 3486. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Kajikawa, Loren. Sounding Race in Rap Songs. Oakland: U of California, 2015. Print.
Pittman, Ashton. "Justice Denied: Is Trayvon Martin Post-Racial America's Emmett Till?"
NationofChange. Nation of Change, 20 July 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Quinn, Eithne. Nuthin' but a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap. New York
City: Columbia UP, 2005. Print.
"Rae Sremmurd Bio." MTV Artists. MTV, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Rebollo-Gil, Guillermo, and Amanda Moras. "Black Women and Black Men in Hip Hop
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Weiner, Jonah. "Kendrick Lamar, New Kid on the Block." Rolling Stone. Wenner Media, 27 Feb.
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White, Miles. African American Music in Global Perspective : From Jim Crow to Jay-Z : Race,

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Rap, and the Performance of Masculinity. Champaign, IL, USA: University of Illinois
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