#rap discourse

[king-lena]

[emotionalmoss]

white people will tell you rap is too scary or violent and then go listen to Mister Aquatic and the Scuba Knife Gang and their hit album Killing People with Scuba Knives with the hit song I'm Chewing Up Human Body Parts (Oops!) I'm In The Ocean

[radykalny-feminizm]

This discourse is fucking ridiculous. Oh, so I'm not allowed to dislike lyrics that are filled with hate towards women and sex-based slurs? Which is the case with the majority of rap songs? Because if I don't like it, it means that I'm a privileged, dumb racist? Well, fuck you. I'm not gonna respect the kind of "art" that normalizes calling women bitches, whores and hoes.

People not liking rap are fully justfied because most rap songs really are shockingly violent, hateful and overall socially harmful. Not wanting to be exposed to such things doesn't make you abnormal. On the contrary, it means that you're a healthy person.

[goondah]

If this rap discourse has done one thing its remind me how white this website is. I have also seen a concerning amount of "I am not racist BUT..."

So, my beloved white mutuals, white followers and any other white tumblr user who sees this, this is a call to action. If you would consider yourself not racist but have found that these posts about rap make you feel angry, disgusted or threatened i suggest you ask yourself the following questions:

Have i actually adressed any of my existing racial biases or preconceptions?

How aware am I of the history of different racial groups in my community and how this impacts the political situation today? (this applies to non USAmericans too)

How do i feel when i see a stranger of a different race to me in public? How does that compare to a stranger of the same race to me?

How often do i interact with non-white people? How many of my friends or important figures in my life aren't white?

How often do i engage with art created by people of a different race to me?

Am i actually not racist or do i just think i'm not because i don't call people racial slurs?

It is a well understood concept that a man who does not harass random women (and therefore would not consider himself a misogynist) can still perpetuate misogyny by having patriarchal values and ideas. It seems that many of you have not also applied this logic to race.

This post is not meant as a callout to anyone specific, i just want to challenge what seems to be a blind spot for many tumblr users and hopefully encourage some introspection.

(white people are welcome and encouraged to reblog this post)

[n0ahn0ah]

and yea rod wave.. we got a bone to pick

if i ever see you it’s on sight!

[aradiabot612]

the humble white will wood title blogger would like to inform you of their opinions of rap as a genre

[whataboutmysanity]

I’ve somehow hit the discourse of “I’m white and I know what rap is about 🤓” side of things and it’s reminding me of a guy i knew in high school reciting the importance of Fuck The Police to me as if I’ve never heard it before. Then he proceeded to play Tyler the Creator’s Flower Boy in full (the album had just dropped at the time) and go track by track on all the lyrical meanings and I felt like I was trapped in a Genius video.

My point is, trying to pull the “I’m not racist, I UNDERSTAND your struggles” is off putting imo cuz to white people can only understand to a certain degree. I’ve known white people who are these raving mad rap fans and then the second I start bringing up current black issues all I hear is “well, it’s just always been that way. What am I supposed to do about it?”

FUCKING GIVE A SHIT ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE AND NOT JUST WHEN THEY DROP AN ALBUM!!! LISTEN TO THE BLACK PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE TALK ABOUT THEIR STRUGGLES AND STOP USING THE VAST UMBRELLA OF RAP AS A LENS TO SEE ALL BLACK PEOPLE THROUGH!!!

The fact that we’re still at a point where even the “good guy” white folk think that because they heard a couple tracks and watched the This Is America music video once they’re the most perfect ally when that’s just not true.

[imjustsoscaredallthetime]

Fellas is it unreasonable to expect people to listen to music like normal human beings? Or should enjoying a particular genre of music cause people to undergo a complete personality change and start relating to cultures and experiences they've never actually engaged with outside of a playlist?