Macklemore

PROMPT: “Rap’s conscious response to the poverty and oppression of U.S. blacks is like some hideous parody of sixties black pride.”- David Foster Wallace

I honestly have no idea how to respond to this prompt. I don’t know whether or not to analyze Wallace’s words, to deem them wrong or right, impulsively rant about some vaguely related matter, or just take the easy way out and ramble about some dream I had last night. And I think that’s the point. I, as a young naïve white woman, have no idea how to feel about the way rappers present the poverty and oppression of U.S. blacks because I have absolutely no idea what should be conveyed. I can listen to Jay-Z and Kanye and Andre and Frank to my hearts content, and I often do, but, at the end of the day, who am I to say whether or not their lyrics have weight?

In terms of popular, realistic songs about poverty and oppression, there aren’t many. The last successful, semi-weighty song was “Same Love” by the very white, very clean Macklemore, and it was about accepting other sexualities. That’s the extent. This generation’s music taste is widely saturated with songs about fame and fortune and Fireball and fucking and no one who isn’t a Tumblr social justice warrior or fervent Buzzfeed viewer wants to take on the reality of racial oppression when they’re working out to Taylor Swift’s bullshit.

Our (and by ours, I’m speaking for white people because, let’s be honest, we’re pretty basic) parents and grandparents and news forums continually treat rappers like hoodlums, undeserving of their wealth and prowess as if they haphazardly stumbled upon a better life between peddling their drugs and pimps and sipping malt liquor at one of their trap houses. Maybe that’s a little harsh, but, at the very least, they aren’t regarded as intellectuals worthy of being listened to when presenting any kind of truth about the oppressive nature of growing up and being surrounded by anything that wasn’t white-picket-fence. Wait, I almost forgot. White Macklemore had a gay uncle, so I guess we’re getting somewhere.

            The problem is not that rappers don’t belong in a socially conscious discussion about poverty and oppression. I personally think they deserve a spot at the forefront (people who know what their talking about usually do). The problem is that we white people love to choose the truths we’re exposed to. We excuse our behavior by speaking about music as if it only serves to entertain us and play into our own perceptions of the idealistic world we’d like to think we live in. The “hideous parody” is not in the actions of the rappers themselves but in the utter absurdity of the white majorities response (or lack thereof).