Welcome the Incoming Wave of White Rappers
Published April 22, 2003
Since Eminem dropped his first record with Dr. Dre the mainstrem media has tried to dissect his importance and legitimacy, and the place White rappers have in hip-hop. The NY Daily News did the best job I've read so far as they reported on the incoming wave of White emcees. It's so on point I have to quote Jim Farber word for word:
On last year's "Eminem Show" album, the world's most popular rapper rhymed a snide prediction: "A concept that works/20 million other white rappers emerge."
He may be off a bit in his math, but Eminem's forecast of a white rap invasion seems to be coming true.Thirteen years after the thawing of Vanilla Ice, and three years after Eminem himself became the most famous rapper in hip-hop history, a new wave of caucasian emcees is swelling.
True, there have long been isolated pockets of palefaced rappers - from the Beastie Boys and Third Base to Bubba Sparxxx and Haystak. But the next few months will see the largest wave to date, including Stagga Lee, Poverty, K-Mo, DF Dub and the first white female rapper, Sarai (promoted by her label as "Feminem").
At the same time, other white rappers are busy trying to land solo deals, including the Italian MC JoJo Pellegrino (who has been aligned with the respected rap management company Violator), Kain (an associate of Puff Daddy), and the Jewish rapper Reuven Ben Menachem (a one-time collaborator with the Wu-Tang Clan).
The most obvious impetus for all this is the nearly boundless success of Eminem. "If a label can sell even half of what he has with one of these artists, they're going to do more than okay," understates Mike Saunders, program director of the New York hip-hop station Power 105.
But Poverty (né Tom Ferris), 23, believes Eminem's success has made it harder for caucasian rhymers. "If you're white and you rap, people see you as just another Emimen, no matter what you do," he says.
As The Source's music editor Jerry Barrow puts it, "Eminem has set the record so high in terms of sales and skills, it's unfortunate for any of these other guys."
On other other hand, Vibe music editor Erik Parker thinks non-black rappers have an advantage, since "it's still different enough. But they would have to be really exceptional to be taken seriously."
In general, observers feel there's no longer the level of suspicion toward white rappers who came in the wake of Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark (who has since turned to serious acting under his real name, Mark Wahlberg). Their less-than-credible work in the early '90s hampered the efforts of white artists for years. Even now, you have a movie like "Malibu's Most Wanted" (opening tomorrow), which counts on the audience's belief in white hip-hoppers as hacks for its laughs.
page 1 | 2
- Welcome the Incoming Wave of White Rappers
- Published: April 22, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Writer: Madison
- Madison's BC Writer page
- Madison's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
andy, apparently you haven't been around in the last ten years. white people have been all over hip-hop for as long as i can remember. and i agree that it may be HARDER for a white guy to get white hip hop fans (excluding little white girls who think eminem's "cute," which, believe me, they're out there) because white people who are into hip hop don't want to seem like they jump on the first white guy that comes around. i know plenty of white guys who didn't like eminem for the longest time. i still know a few who say he sound's too much like vanilla ice (which is an unfair comparison, anyway you slice it). but, seeing as hip-hop has apparently run out of ideas, i'm hoping white people WILL take it over, then blacks will have to come up with something new and there'll be something fresh out there.
I'm talking mainstream here. I don't move in underground hip hop circles, so I don't know what goes on there, but I calls it as I sees it in mainstream music.
let me clarify, i didn't mean white rappers, i meant white people who sweat the balls off the hip hop scene, surely you've seen THEM?
People can think what they want of White rappers. If you have talent it shouldn't matter. Now I'm not a main stream rapper, I don't even have a record label, but I got respect for my battles against the Black rhymers. Eminem has definetly paved the raod for us, no matter how long white rappers have been around.
Here's a question for anybody wants to answer it. White men have been imitating black music and folkways at least since Blackface minstrelsy, which was once the biggest popular entertainment in the USA, from about 1820 to 1860, but maybe it never really died out. I think its a form of rebellion, of engaging in Black music to proclaim a form of manhood not available to kids who come from staid and bland white backgrounds. Its a rite of passage to Manhood to put on the black mask, even when the mask is only worn metaphorically. Somebody handle that.
I'm in agreeance. When Vanilla Ice was flexin' on "Ninja Rap", I felt the pent up rage and anxiety of my parental oppressors, and their relentless attempts to get me to eat my peas. I rebelled by kicking my wood shop teacher in the balls.
If you don't like peas, make pea soup - no, the imitation has never ended but it has little to do with manhood, may or may not have anything to do with rebellion, and has always had a lot to do with Americans digging black music in all its funky freshness.
It is impossible to deny the long lasting and poetic lyrical brilliance that the white rapper has bequeathed upon his black compatriots. Witness the following:
"Break Stuff"
Its just one of those days
When you don't wanna wake up
Everything is fucked
Everybody sux
You don't really know why
But want justify
Rippin' someone's head off
No human contact
And if you interact
Your life is on contract
Your best bet is to stay away motherfucker
It's just one of those days!!
[chorus]
Its all about the he says she says bullshit
I think you better quit
Lettin' shit slip
Or you'll be leavin with a fat lip
Its all about the he says she says bullshit
I think you better quit talkin that shit
(Punk, so come and get it)
Its just one of those days
Feelin' like a freight train
First one to complain
Leaves with a blood stain
Damn right I'm a maniac
You better watch your back
Cuz I'm fuckin' up your program
And if your stuck up
You just lucked up
Next in line to get fucked up
Your best bet is to stay away motherfucker
Its just one of those days!!
[chorus]
I feel like shit
My suggestion is to keep your distance cuz right now im dangerous
We've all felt like shit
And been treated like shit
All those motherfuckers that want to step up
I hope you know I pack a chain saw
I'll skin your ass raw
And if my day keeps goin' this way I just might break somethin' tonight...
I hope you know I pack a chain saw
I'll skin your ass raw
And if my day keeps goin' this way I just might break somethin' tonight...
I hope you know I pack a chain saw
I'll skin your ass raw
And if my day keeps goin' this way I just might break your fuckin' face tonight!!
Give me somethin' to break
How bout your fuckin' face
I hope you know I pack a chain saw, what!!...-Limp Bizkit
Don't bring the hatorade on Fred, cuz you know you're jealous he was knockin' boots with Britney, yo!
Yo veritably check it.
Oy.
I am not a huge hip-hop fan, and I don't care about anyone's skin color. If the rapper is talented, hey, the more the merrier.
I most certainly am not a fan of Eminem, for a host of reasons, but I will admit the man has skills. In fact, he was once inspirational to me and led me to slap together some rhymes a couple of years back. Yes, a parental warning is all over this, um, mofo:
THE PROUD GAY POSSE
May we have your attention please?
May we have your attention please?
Will the proud gay posse please stand up?
I repeat, will the proud gay posse please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here
Y'all act like ya never seen a queer person before
Jaws all on the floor like Matt, like them bashers just burst in the door
And started whupping his ass worse than before
they left him on that fence.
Didn't 'spect your words to cause that, didja? (Ahh!)
It's the return of the...
"Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding,
they just didn't say what I think they did, did they?"
And Andrew Sullivan said...
Nothing you idiots! Sullivan's dead, he's locked in Mike Petrelis' basement!
(Ha-ha!)
Amerikkkan society loves queer people: "Them fags, I'm sick of them
Look at them, marching and flouncing like they're so proud
Wanting to get married, yeah, but they're good at parties"
Yeah, gays, bis and trannies got their own list of problems to reduce
But no worse than what's going on in your churches' back rooms
Sometimes, I wanna get on TV and just let loose, but can't
But it's cool for Jerry Falwell to spew his hate-juice
"Love the sinner, hate the sin. Love the sinner, hate the sin."
Whatever, but how we love ain't no sin.
And that's the message that we deliver to gay, bi, and het kids
We expect them not to know what homophobia is
Of course they do--they're calling each other faggot
By the time they hit fourth grade
They learn their values from their parents, don't they?
Some grow up to be the bar-crashers
And the goddamn gay bashers
Who cut other people open like cantaloupes.
But if you can make our love a crime and lie about us all the time
Then there's no reason that a "man" named Eminem can't crap out his rhyme.
But if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote
Queers, be mighty like the rose, sing the chorus and it goes
CHORUS:
We're the gay posse, yes we're the gay posse
We got style and flair and cook like Emeril Lagasse
So won't the proud gay posse please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up.
I said, we're the gay posse, yes we're the gay posse
We got style and flair and cook like Emeril Lagasse
So won't the proud gay posse please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up.
Doctor Laura S. gotta talk down the gays to sell her show
And you approve? "Fuck her and fuck you too!"
You think I give a damn about her bullshit?
So-called family-values creeps can't even stomach me let alone stand me
"But gays, what if they're right? Will you go ex-gay?"
Why? So you guys can turn us into John Paulks?
Yeah, so you can put us to work to spew your crap for you?
Shit, John and us better switch chairs
So I can sit next to the radio and hear Laura's rant
And hear her damn us while hiding her nasty nude pictures
You little bitch, put us on, we'll give you truth:
"I am what I am--at least we didn't have to be converted."
I should spam out transcripts over the 'Net and show the whole world
The truth Laura subverted.
We're sick of you tired-ass homophobes
You want to just destroy us, so we're standing up to annoy you
And there are millions of us much like you
Who pray just like you; who go to work and war and school just like you
Who might dress like you; walk, talk and act like you
And 'cause you don't like how we love, then we're not as good as you?
Oh no!
Repeat chorus
We're like a head trip to listen to cuz I'm only giving you
Things you joke about with your 'phobe friends in your living room
The only difference is I got the balls to say truth
In front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugar coated at all
You think you got authority because of your majority and your "superiority"
But we know what oughtta be better than 90 percent of you bigots out there
Don't you wonder why our kids turn out just as well-adjusted as yours?
It's funny, cuz at the rate the world's going, when you're cold and dead
Your kids will do the just thing, when they're at the head
Of society and want to make up for the intolerant lives you've led.
And we're certain that your way of thinking isn't working.
'Cause every single person knows a gay person lurking
He could be working at Burger King spittin' on your onion rings
Or in the House or Senate, quietly voting, passing fair, just things
Like smashing DoMA and getting ENDA set up
So, come on, proud gay posse, please stand up!
And put one of those fingers on each hand up!
And be proud to be outta the norm and outta the closet
And one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?
Repeat chorus
Repeat chorus
Ha ha
Guess there's a proud gay posse in all of us
Fuck it, let's all stand up
Eminem parody © Natalie Davis, 5-04-2000
How do folks stand on welcoming the incoming wave of queer rappers, folks like Miss Money, Caushun (aka Homo Thug), the Deep Dickollective, Hanifah Walidah, and others?
When it comes to hip-hoppers of any hue or orientation, even Fred Durst, let's welcome 'em all. Don't be hatin'.
Natalie, I love it when you cold bug out and get ill.
I feel ya all the way from B-more.
Listen to my stuff, I'm a white rapper and my lyrics are real and I've got flow. Kick your opinion.
www.djlow.com
lol this is retarded. im white and i live in the bronx, i rap for fun but when me and my boys (which are all black) go to freestyle in studios in upper harlem and washington weights nobody goes "oh this kids white and he beat a black guy respect" no you people make no sense its not how it goes down. most these white rappers is from the south or like maine ridiclous places not from city hoods. and eminems voice is annoying. i aint tryin to get wit no label tho its just for fun, i dun see da point of exploitin myself as a white rapper from the bronx to make money. like mobb deep said get yo hustle on. peace. yeah fuck u white rappers tryin to get on the scene try comin from a real hood and stop fuckin bein gay get off the rap scene wit ur bullshit. yeah 1
sarai sucks im a better white rapper then her..her lyrics suxz and nobody likes dat bitch
Fuck "Feminem"
I got da Getto GanGsta album and no one can beat WTH. Were da best white rappers eva be4 and now..holla
I RAP- I AM WHITE - I AM SHIT HOT - END OF...Eminem is good. Anyone true does not need to wait for an eminem to show them the way....same goes for anything....
Yo I got my own rizyme for this hea thread. goes a little someting like dis..
The Real Fat Ass
yo yo...check the mic
turn up the beats yo...
hello? hello? I need more beats.
ahh there it is...
yo it's the real fat ass
and I got class
up and down go my rolls
makin the ladies pay the tolls
to travel down my love lane
screamin insane
cause it's all about the hoes, shows, and you knows...
oh wait back to the fact
you cross my path yo ass is cracked(who's aint?!)
cause I'm the real Fat Ass.
all these chumps up in hea.
whities tryin to flow hea.
what with their baseball caps all turned around.
their style...they look like a creamy clown.
boys and girls get it through your damn head.
you aint from the streets when yo momma drives a benz.
so back off my back
if you can
cause the real fat ass is man of all man.
yo see that's how to do it you *9(#*$&##)b$**(*# with all your *#((#*$ when you *%*%*%*#)#
When the hell are people gonna start listening to the skills of hip hop music and not worry about what they look like? who the hell cares? Anyone that is in it for the music and for the love of hip hop already has the starting of "skills"
"It's harder to prove your credibility," Poverty says. "When you're in the rap game, people check out where you're from and what you've been through."
Why do we need to know where they're from? And it would be nice if some of them had "been through" some basic music lessons. But I guess it gives them more "cred" if they've been shot at. Good grief.
Sincerely,
An Old Fart
Are you serious? Did this dude say that Jojo Pellegrino is new to the game? You have to be lying to yourself, Jojo is old school as they come. He is the realest.
I don't understand. Is the article saying Eminem is the reason white rappers are abound? Cos that is clearly untrue. We had Vanilla Ice (Love or hate him, he was white and he was a rapper) We had Cypress Hill(and no, they are not black:) we had Beastie Boys and thousands of other European rappers. French, Italian, spanish, german, etc.
The difference in my opinion is that Eminem with Dr Dre behind him became embraced by the black people particularly cos he was Dre's boy, the white peeps were always going to love him(one of our own singing that black shit so we can take it home to mommy and not have to hide it), his kind of rap is like pop rap whether he wants to hear it or not. It has melodies, its freaking pop, get over it! Which is why it appeals to many who have never even liked rap music and he has become very successfui and popular.
His contribution to white rappers, if any, is in giving them more opportunities to get record contracts because now, record companies are ready to sign white rappers.
I don't like rap music. However, I can't help but enjoy JayZ, Dre, this new(atleast new to me) guy called Twista ( who clearly is the most gifted rapper around right now) and a handful of others. I have never been particular about Eminem though I am aware he can rap and clearly went to nursery school if nothing else.
LOL @ Duane! Copyright alert. Some of the freestyling on the thread rocks, though.
who tha fuck are you people? Hiphop is for tha streets and the lifestyle surroundein that My skin white as snow but that aint got shit to do wit nothin where im from u gotta put ur work in wit nukkas to get ur come up whether its rappin clappin hustlin or whateva besides my man from the bronx and homey that knows jojo is old as hell dont none of yall make sense Eminem is a pop as u can get he got lyrical skill and i will listen to some of his older shit but hes not hiphop hes hippop im in Jerzey and it dont matter if u white black rican jewish or what u aint gettin no respect if u some kid livin in the burbs that can rhyme a few words
there is like a million white rappers now. peep this list got bios and pics and discographies of everyone link
FUCK FAT JOE FUCK JADAKISS FUCK NAS FUCK THE GAME FUCK ALL THE NIGGAZ IF THERE NOT IN G UNIT MOTHER FUCKERS
HADG IS ONE THE BEST NIGGAZ IN THE RAP BUSNISS SO FUCK U'LL YO NIGGAZ NOW FUCK U BITCH
you talk about white rappers like you know some shit, well i'm white and spit so intensely you can't handle it. you may think that i'm a poser and mainstreamin it, but i hate eminiem and 50 cent, i hate every mother fucker in g-unit, i totally diagree with yall, they got no skill, they got an easy break and tons of hype, ya'll need to chill. focus deserved attention on some real rhyme talent, fuck the mainstream the underground keeps hip-hop in balance. also, it's not a racial thing deciding whose best, i'm white and i can crush you all with no contest. by the way, is there such a thing as freestyle typing? if not i just invented it, so you can call or write me. delight me, with with praises to your new white king. it frightening, how my rhymes come quick as lightning. now ya'll check out this other hot track i'm writing....
you guys got no idea what's on this song i've got
me and my boys headin to the workshop
puttin genius engineering into every track we got
and when rookies hear the shit that we drop they ears pop
we at the place to be charleston, wv
we got kat,shank,shogun,and motha fuckin sweet T
sippin strong coffee
while i observe those 3
fuckin rippin apart the remains of a weak emcee
we got nothin to do but drop bombs and smoke weed
but with the 4 of us thats all we need to suceed
we got like, 200 different types of microphones
damn i'm stoned, i can't believe i counted those
lets call some hoes, they'll provide erotic peepshows
yo fuck that blow, i got some shit that's real dope
this mainframe is so complex
yo there is no structure that i cannot erect
so when you see me on the street walkin around
give me a pound and ask nicely and i'll lay somethin down
Fuckin idiots? be ya own, its that simple. Look within, observe without an opinion....n er mature a little bit, ya sound like a bunch of kids talking about what might happen when you come outta the womb..WHO GIVES A FUCK!
13unny your a bitch close ya trap sarais my girl shes HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and a good rapper you just jealous you cant sing like her
stagga lees good too so is lil wyte and paul wall BUT SARAI IS SO BANGIN!!!!!
SARAI YOU ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL
I agree wit shank but th game is my fav
The colour of ones' skin is like a fucking trap,
cos when you're in the rap game it's like a handicap,
but this shit shouldn't matter, fuck where you're on the map,
Who cares about ya colour as long as you can rap.
'I'm so sick and tired this black shit this white shit': The Game,We Ain't
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/4787)
yeah it's kinda like rock and roll. Elvis was kinda the first white guy to have that kind of success in rock and roll and do it well, and that really sparked whitey's roll in rock and roll.
there may be a racist undertone to it all. not intentional, but maybe white people don't want anything to do w/ something till someone makes it a "white" artform. then all the whities want in.