Is Hip-Hop reserved for African-Americans?

Miley Cyrus, famous American singer-songwriter, had denounced hip-hop for its superficial and vulgar lyrics. She later apologised for calling hip-hop “lewd,” acknowledging her words were “racially insensitive.” This incident has seen an uplift in the rising anxieties of black hip-hop artists who are afraid to be smudged out of the cultural phenomenon they created, someday.

Hip-hop is a cultural movement that emerged in South Bronx, NY by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans around the 1970s. It stood as a protest against the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or the WASPs who were the upper-class, white, American Protestants, usually of British descent. WASP elites dominated American society, culture, and politics for most of the history of the United States, by maintaining a monopoly through intermarriage, inheritance, and nepotism. The blacks articulated their daily experiences of poverty, racism, segregation, stereotype, neglect and lynchings thorough means of hip-hop: music, breakdance, b-boying. From the outset, rap music has conveyed the pleasures and problems of black urban life in contemporary America.

Hip-hop can be summarized as an art form for performers like Nicky Minaj, Michael Jackson and Eminem as perceived from the hip-hop clothing line FUBU (i.e., For Us By Us). Famous hip-hop writer Tricia Rose argues that hip-hop is strictly a BLACK cultural expression that prioritizes black voices from the margins.

Participation of diverse entertainers in hip-hop culture is often criticized due to instances when hip-hop is CO-OPTED and its significant history and culture demeaned. This includes the PETTY portrayal of hip-hop lyrics as being aggresive, vulgar or violent.

The disregard of the origin of hip-hop and its use by non-coloured groups is CULTURAL APPROPRIATION at its finest. When one culturally appropriates, they overlook the historical significance of the original culture and hand-pick stuff from the culture for their selfish uses, without offering necessary credit. Such an example is the day-to-day use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) words and phrases like bae, sis, on fleek or lit whose origins actually lie as old as triangular slavery, and not just in the internet culture as we naïvely assume. Such appropriations used so nonchalantly HURTS the sentiments of the blacks, most of whom deeply revere hip-hop.

“Just because there’s been successful white rappers,” Macklemore had said, “you CANNOT disregard where this culture came from and our place in it as white people.” So next time, when you listen to rap, take the time to consider the underlying meaning of the lyrics. So much of it has such interesting poetic phrases with unique cadences. According to Cambridge University researchers, hip-hop can even treat neurological illnesses and improve overall brain function. Hence, take your time to realize that when someone does a power move or freezes during a breakdance, they put pressure on their physique and much too strain in the jumps and spins which portrays their love and respect for their dance and culture and the urge to express to us the underlying message.