By Maya Pope-Chappell


Music to me is a cultural expression of struggle, celebration, and experience. However, sometimes these cultural expressions are lost in the name of appropriation, entertainment and spectacle. Hip hop began as a reflection of the Black urban experience and acted as an outlet for urban youth plagued by breakdowns in society including education, jobs, and housing. Today, as hip hop becomes more commercialized, the essence of hip hop is being lost in a one-dimensional realm of ass and titties, ice grills, rims, and the all mighty dolla.

As a result, we get sensationalized accounts of a hood reality where Blackness is created and performed- where Black culture is packaged, remixed, and sold on the shelves of your local music store, fashion outlet, and Cineplex. This phenomenon is what drove me to want to write a series of columns on race, culture, and gender, and how these dynamics are played out in music, particularly hip hop. My new column, Bluenotes, will be dedicated to exploring these themes and presenting a new kind of cultural criticism in America.

This column in particular is based on a new show on VH1 called "The White Rapper Show," hosted by MC Search, where 10 white rappers were chosen to compete against one another for $100,000. The contestants are put to the test on their lyrics and flow, knowledge of hip hop culture, and their ideas about race. As the "About the Series" section on the VH1 website states, this Ego Trip production "will go where no man has gone before…to find rap's next great white hopes," and pick up where "the undisputed KING of Rap," Eminem left off to become a leader in hip hop.

Wait a minute…when was Eminem crowned the "KING of RAP?" What about Nas, Jay Z, or several other great MCs. Yes Eminem is talented, but positioning him as the KING of rap imposes a sense of entitlement to an art form which he did not create. And why is there a need to find the next great white hope of hip hop? Do whites feel threatened by Black MCs and the power of hip hop as they did Jack Johnson, his fists of steel and his appetite for white women?

This show is so ridiculous and over the top, that I just sit back and think "Why is this shit on TV? Is this what entertains American youth?" One of the episodes was based on a challenge which included a recording competition. The white "rappers" were split into two teams and the winner was determined by how well strippers at a New York club danced to each team's song. Another recent episode was themed "thugism," where the white rappers were given a "thug" style makeover. Dressed in baggy pants and oversize tee's, the white rappers then had to complete the "thug challenge" obstacle course, which included tasks such as catching a case, pushing weight, and boosting a bike, then riding it back to "The White House."

I wish I was joking!

This show is a representation of all that is wrong with the expansion and commercialization of hip hop, where approximations of Blackness are performed and attention is given to sensationalized acts of an alleged ghetto reality. The show also serves as a prototype of white youth culture that uses rap as a voyeuristic tour of Black culture. "The White Rapper Show" is not about their skills as MCs (frankly none of them are great MCs anyways) or the reality of becoming the next great white rapper, but it's a facade used to perpetuate racial ideas and stereotypes of Black people that are demeaning, disrespectful, and disgusting.

Hip hop in its commercialized form is no longer a cultural expression, but an expression of power, fame, and money. This quest to find the next great white hope is a doomed voyage where hip hop got wrecked and ethics, originality, purpose, and meaning were just a few of the items lost at sea.

Maya Pope-Chappell is a contributing writer and columnist for Whatchusay. Write her at mj_pc@yahoo.com.