I got a mail from one of the many fans of Say What? the other day and he basically wanted me touch on the topic of white rappers, etc. After a 2 hour debate with my main man Donnie Black the other night about The Source, and its rating system for the most powerful people in Hip Hop (which I recogn is fucked) we moved onto White Rappers, Latino Rappers and Black Rappers, so after that I'm thinking... yeah I'll hit that topic up this week, so here it is.

In the ever changing hip hop world it shouldn't matter what colour a individual is as long as they have skills, right?... YES... wellmaybe...

Well in a ideal world this would be true but not in our world. It is still the perception of many people that Hip Hop is for Black and Latino people (Primarily the Black and Latino rappers who say that they don't give 2 shits about there white fans). This comment cant be true anemone, rappers and record companies need to remember that 75% of all sales are coming from the 'White America' I talked about last week. (Something that I have failed to say before and many people don't know is that the USA has a population getting close to 270 million people of which about 23 Million are Black and 15 Million are under the general banner of Hispanic and Latino - Caribbeans, Southern Europeans, Central and South Americans etc, so that's a 5:1 ratio and that is generally the ratio that Rap Cds are bought in as well, one Sixth of sales are usually from Black and Latino's the rest from the 'white population')

So artist's white fans who 'they don't give two shits about' are the ones that are making them go double and triple platinum, so in my view they need to lose this perception and recognise a changing world in which they need to respect all colors and cultures. If they don't they are the ones who are racists, and ultimately damaging their bankaccounts.

While saying this I'm not condoning artists who turn their style to what the 'White pop' wants ie Puff Daddy, Jay Z. But they should be like groups like the Wu Tang Clan that simply say that they love all their fans regardless of culture, colour or gender. I don't know who long y'all been down with Hip Hop but I remember 1994 the year that Illmatic and 36 Chambers came out. These two albums both struggled to go Gold, and why, because the white population of the US was still riding the West Coast tip, not listening to the east and as a result not buying any East coast rap. During this time Dr Dre's Chronic went 6 Platinum, Doggystyle 9 Plat. and Murder Was the Case 3 Plat. If those two NY albums came out today they would go gold in a day, platinum in a week and double platinum in a month and why because the white population is buying that type of music. Its because of this that the broad title giving to Hip Hop (Rap east & west Coast, Bass Music, Trip Hop, R&B, and alternative rap) is now the best selling of ANY genre of music in the WORLD!!!!!

That said im'ma move onto the topic of Latino rappers. Everybody respects black rapper right so I'm not gonna hit on that topic, but Latino rappers are a funny bunch when it comes to people giving the respect. There are many rappers in the game who are Latino's or Hispanic, Noreaga, Big Pun, Fat Joe, Big Noyd, Cypress Hill, DJ Muggs I’ve left out some but that's aight cause I can prove my point with these cats. In the past Latino rappers have simply been seen as try hards or fake rappers, you only have to look back say 5 years and groups like Cypress Hill where dissed for calling each other niggaz and such. However with the furtherment of Latino’s like Fat Joe and Pun Latino rappers have gradually gained further acceptance amongst rap listeners and rappers. This has developed to the present point where they have total acceptance by almost all in the hip hop scene. Its taken time but it has happened. 5 Years ago Black rappers would have been directing comments like ‘I don’t give a shit about my none black fans’, however this has changed and now Latino’s are respected by rappers and alike.

This leads me onto white rappers and white fans. While presently white rappers and rap fans don’t receive much respect from the game, I feel that this will steadily change over the next say 5 years or so, as more and more white rappers emerge onto the scene. At present there are only a handful of white rappers in the game. Eminem, Remedy and MC Search are three of the best known white rappers. All three command respect from there peers, however there are still many in the game that diss them because of there color, and not because of their skills. If you look at Remedy he is one of the most complete artists going around. He is extremely tight on the boards and even tighter on paper. With artists such as Eminem and Remedy white rappers are definitely being represented a lot better than they were in the days of Vanilla Ice. If history precedes itself like it has many times before it is only a matter of time before white rappers and white rap fans are accepted within the hip hop scene by all, just as the Latino factions of the USA have been. I´ve broken down three basic things that need to occur before white rappers are accepted like there colored counterparts.

Firstly they need to come with there own style and flow, being original and fresh presenting something new to the game.
n They need to be signed by the big labels and groups to ensure that there airplay is sufficient to get noticed
n They need to loose the hard ass white boy image associated with white rap, ie Vanilla Ice which every body knows is bullshit.

If you look at these three points in the cases of both Eminem and Remedy they pass all three with flying colors, so hopefully my five year prediction will occur, maybe it will maybe it wont. It is dependant on artists and fans as a whole being acceptant of new styles and all skins colors... however there is only one thing that will tell the truth and that is time.

Peace

Finally I want to thank all those who show support for Say What? every week and send me their thoughts on the articles that I write, I really appreciate that shit, keep it coming.
Nitto