I know, I know. I’ve been away forever again, and the reason why is life (it be like that sometimes). But coming back to writing, this is one topic I’ve been thinking about and wanted to speak on for a while.
What it means to be black or perceived as black has always been so narrow, and unimaginable to the fact that a whole group of people are characterised into the smallest box, which is something I will touch on later in this post.
Slavery, oppression, racism etc. It has played a massive part in this, and I cannot deny the years of damage being subjugated to these conditions can do to us as people, but this post is more so about our community as black people. I think there’s a lot of accountability to be taken in today’s day and age, as that’s how we’re going to fix most of our problems, instead of always blaming the oppressor and not doing anything ourselves.
During the 90s in which Hip-Hop was coming more into the forefront of music, gangsta rap was the dominant style in the genre, which reflected the violent and dangerous lifestyle of the inner cities. Again, as pointed out earlier, these artists were a product of their environment. As the United States rapidly industrialised, immigrants began flooding in, moving into “affordable housing,” also known as the projects. It was initially developed as “segregated public housing” in 1933 to tackle the housing crisis in America. To tackle this, the American government primarily provided housing for whites, denying black people mortgages, which was known as redlining.
These large-scale buildings were mostly built on the outskirts of the city. They were unsafe, unsanitary, inadequately funded, and isolated their occupants away, which became a magnet for crime not to mention the overcrowding when the immigrants started coming in.
I say this to suggest (which is more of a hypothesis) that what is deemed as “black” visually has stemmed from the “circumstance of black people.” Baggy clothes could probably be attained, even down to items such as hoodies, which were convenient and cheap. In contrast, white people could probably afford tailor-made stuff or clothes that were more true to the size of the person.
Again, growing up in an area where resources are scarce, education is low, and crime is high, you would expect those people to talk and carry themselves in a certain way. I could go back and forth on the differences, but you probably get the point.
This brings me to the beautiful 2024 (I joke, it’s still terrible) and how we still uphold these same narratives within ourselves. It upsets me because how many years have we not seen enough to realise?
Going back to Hip-Hop and where it was birthed, it almost perpetuated what black is in today’s era based on the circumstances described above. You’ve heard black people say “You speak white” just because another black person speaks properly or tell another man they’re gay because they wear skinny jeans, and it’s just like HAVE WE NOT SEEN ENOUGH SINCE THEN TO UNDERSTAND NOW!?!?
So, I would like to thank Will Smith, aka The Fresh Prince, the winner of the first Grammy award for a Hip-Hop artist who was deemed corny because he did swear in his songs and wasn’t gangsta rap.
I want to thank Kanye West (Ye now) who had trouble getting a record deal initially because “Record executives had trouble reconciling West’s appearance and demeanour with their expectations of what a rapper should be” (which as I have explained, we know what that is code for).
Especially during those times being “different” was almost a curse. Still, those people (especially Kanye West) have given confidence in more black people to be more expressive of themselves within Hip-Hop, with Lil Uzi, with eccentric hairstyles and imagery, in addition to the punk/emo influences in his music. We have Tyler, The Creator, who has always been experimental with his music (and controversial), exploring themes not traditionally heard in Hip-Hop, which extends to his fashion too. We also have Playboi Carti, with an almost gothic style that matches his mysterious nature, and his unique sound is what captivates a huge audience.
There are so many more names I could reel off (those are just the biggest of the new generation right now), but it’s beautiful to see how the genre is increasingly redefining what being black can be and what it looks like. And Hip-Hop plays and has played a massive part in that narrative.
I’m so happy that more and more black artists are feeling comfortable enough to express who they truly are in Hip-Hop because not only are they bringing down this stereotype that has been hovering above our heads, but they are also feeding us different music within the genre. Because there is so much copy-and-paste, I can’t even enjoy today’s music in the way I should be doing.
I’ve learnt that you can’t help those who don’t want to be helped. And you can’t make someone listen who doesn’t want to. It’s not our job to make ourselves more digestible or to dilute ourselves for other people/races for being who we are, so I’ll end with this question…
Why do we do it to ourselves?
So so so good
Me sorry for late response! I haven’t been on my site for a while, but mucho graciass! Doing the research was also a lott of fun and interesting too!