2009-04-21

Is Hating Rap Racist?

Okay, so obviously saying that you hate all music made by black people is racist. Using a stereotype like "all black people are simple and carefree, and I prefer dark and complex music" is racist. Fine. Hating black culture in general is likewise racist by current definitions, although it does not include any of the traits traditionally associated with "races". But what about hating a genre of music, or a cluster of style traits in music, that are strongly associated with a particular ethnic group? In short: are people who vehemently hate hip-hop and rap actually racists?

Ignoring the obvious issues about the social construction of taste, I think I'd side with most people here and say no. But where's the limit, how far can you go? Can you relentlessly mock the imagery associated with the music? To take an example from another part of the world: can you honestly claim to hate manele fans (as many Romanians do) and then claim that you do not hate gypsies? And what would make that different from hating a distinct non-ethnic cultural group like "all muslims"?

I ask because of the general response in the Eurovision community to this:

Gipsy.cz - Aven Romale (Eurovision 2009 Czech entry)


I think it's probably less enjoyable than the stuff I've written about before from gipsy, having as a youtube commenter deftly noted quite a bit of Queen in it, which is not really my cup of tea. But it's quite funny, the video is gorgeous, and I like the Roma pride message. Literally everyone else in the Eurovision world seems to hate it though. In the Swedish national television preview shows, it got zeros from all five panel members and it was completely laughed out as ridiculous. Likewise, respected website Schlagerprofilerna gave it all zeros. So did Scandinavia's biggest newspaper. It's right at the bottom of the ESC Today charts.

Would it even be possible to heap this much hate on a song that was black pride or gay pride? Can someone who's better versed in the intricacies of structural racism inform me?

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