Is Non-black Participation in Hip Hop Problematic?

In Brooklyn, in the 1970s, a man known as DJ Kool Herc put some jazz instrumentals to a beat and created a living music that we today call hip hop. But you would be kidding yourself if you thought the story started there. Years before hip hop, jazz, tap, soul, or any black American contribution to music and dance was the most powerful event in black American history, whose reverberations are seen even today. Through minstrel shows and public lynching, slavery set the tone for the cultural hierarchy of American blacks as well as their contributions to American art and made it clear that white America was in control of the representation of black America. Fast forward 250 years, and you’ll see the same power dynamic playing a role in hip hop. The oft-uneven cultural exchange occurring between Asian and black Angelenos within the space of hip hop dance is indicative hip hop’s complicated relationship with black culture and the US race-based social structure.

“Your problem is you’re too stiff. Think about it like as if you were black. You have to act like you’re an asshole and you don’t care, and just say fuck it all.”

That was advice I got from a fellow beginning hip hop dancer in a majority Asian American USC dance group I participated in. His comments took me aback and forced me in that moment to investigate the relationship between race and hip hop. Where I took the aloof and aggressive persona of hip hop artists to be an act, he took it at face value. That I’ve seen before. But to see him embrace such a derogatory view of black people and still continue to participate in hip hop dance was truly puzzling to me. How can someone love the culture and hate the people? First, they must divorce the culture from the people. To him and many others, hip hop is not black culture. Although it has spread further than its roots in the black community, I think that given the context of black culture in America, it is problematic to separate hip hop from its roots.

Admittedly, it’s true that presently hip hop both as a music and a dance cannot entirely be considered a purely black cultural custom because they have been shaped by white influence, but this itself resonates the unfair treatment of black art by white power systems. As Ronald L. Jackson outlines in a chapter in his book, Scripting the Black Masculine Body entitled “Origins of Black Body Politics”, the American populace who weren’t slave owners had no contact or perspective on black people other than those propelled by slave owners, through minstrel shows and lynching. He then goes on to discuss about how the white ruling class of America today still retains some ownership of the representation of black people by pure money power (Jackson). So how does hip hop fit into this? Hip hop is inarguably and invariably known to be from black culture in Brooklyn. Despite this, Omar Burgess, in his article “True Colors: Race, and the Misnomer of Hip Hop as ‘Black Music’”, argues that hip hop itself is not black culture. He mentions how the struggle against an oppressor in hip hop is generalized to the point that it relates equally to other oppressed groups as it does to black people alone, as well as how participation of white emcees such as Eminem, who rarely broach the topic of race relations show that “in a very real sense, Hip Hop is not ‘black music’ anymore than basketball is a ‘black sport’”(Burgess). Yes, in both hip hop and basketball are both mostly participated in by black people, and yes, they are generally attractive to all races. Although these points are correct, comparing basketball and hip hop in this way does not account for the histories of basketball and hip hop. Where hip hop was invented black culture, basketball was invented white culture, which was then shared with blacks, and repurposed to be a “black sport”. Basketball was also mentioned in “Origins of Black Body Politics”. Jackson connected basketball to the stereotypical idea that “Blacks were imagined to be inherently more skilled athletes” (Jackson 29). Basketball seems to have become a convenient way to illustrate and theoretically affirm this stereotype of black inherent athletic proclivity. I bring that up to say this: hip hop and basketball are two sides of the same coin. White power systems rearranged culture so that the white invention of basketball was repurposed as a black sport to serve the white ruling power, and the black invention of hip hop was repurposed as amulticultural experience to serve the white ruling power.

How does multiiculturalness in hip hop serve the white ruling power? As Nazgol Ghandnoosh puts it, “a non-racialized understanding of back cultural forms can disconnect whites from ‘the African American experiential context that created them’”. Non-black participants in hip hop are aware of the radical racial politics of hip hop, yet often only superficially represent these political views, normally in a non-racialized manner (Rodriquez 654–655). Encouraging more non-black participants in hip hop neutralizes and diverts the political fight that the black originators of hip hop intended for hip hop (Burgess), therefore preserving white hegemony because non-black participators do not have an experiential understanding of anti-black racial inequalities.

In Los Angeles, hip hop dance is dominated by Asian Americans. LA’s most prevalent dance groups, the Jabbawockeez and the Kinjaz are predominantly Asian American men. At universities around California (including USC and UCLA), hip hop groups are backed by Asian cultural clubs (Tebor). I concede that this does not touch the freestyle dance culture, which is still arguably more contained in black culture. Although this seems like an oversight, the internet’s record on LA hip hop is still more generally Asian American than black because the choreographed dance videos the Jabbawockeez and Kinjaz are known for are intended to be shared over the internet, whereas freestyle dances are generally enjoyed in the moment.

Asian American culture has also been called out for a pattern in Asian American performers in movies and TV. An editorial by Muqing Zhang entitled “Performing Blackness Won’t Fill Our Asian-American Culture Deficit” explores the how playing blackness in performance is more effective than being authentically Asian American, and how that indicates a cultural void of identity for the Asian American. “This cultural emptiness is what makes us look to the cloak of Black American cool, to swaddle ourselves in a rich culture that feels American, but not White.” Research also shows that white participants are attracted to blackness due to its relation to coolness (Ghandnoosh, Rodriquez 648–649), also citing a lack of white culture as the culprit (Rodriquez 646). It seems that multicultural hip hop participation is normally used in a modern setting as a way to escape the whiteness of the rest of US. In LA, hip hop is one of the only cultural objects that doesn’t fit into some surfer bum or Hollywood star type of white aesthetic.

However, some sociologists propose Asian American participation in hip hop to not only be an effect of a cultural also be a function of adding a third race to the US’s colorist hierarchy. Asian Americans either “whiten” or “brown”, either assimilating with white culture and becoming white-passing, or with non-white culture and becoming part of the collective black (McTaggart). Those who act black would then presumably be those who are culturally “browning”, right? Not exclusively. Asian rapper Dumbfoundead grew up in black culture, an example of a “browned” Asian American. In an interview discussing hip hop, black culture, and the Asian American role in both, he discusses some other Asian American performers who emulate black culture, saying “They’re like young kids, fresh out college and have the fervor of, ‘Oh, I want to be part of something. All of a sudden I’m an ally.’ And they didn’t grow up with any Black friends and all of a sudden they’re a part of this conversation…” (Chrisholm). He locates these people as “whitened” Asian Americans who still perform blackness in their art form. Whether “whitened” or “browned”, Asian Americans are allowed to take from black culture, because of the precedent already set by white people doing just the same.

We acknowledge that this happens, but now what is our reaction? If we allow Asian Americans to participate in and perform as black culture and vernacular dance and language without proper assimilation into black culture, it should be no surprise when they hold on to pervasive views like my beginning hip hop clubmate. The coupling of faith in stereotypes and lack of racial understanding of culture can lead to cultural dominance (Ghandnoosh). So, any reasonable person who understands the history of white oppression and black stereotype should agree, the continuation of non-blacks dominating hip hop and black culture is problematic.

Colorblindness is getting us nowhere when it comes to meaningful understanding and cultural exchange between black America and non-black America, because in America we are not all treated as equal, and every day we see evidence. The names of the victims are worn out, but they still come to mind. George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are household names in America, and I hope that their stories inspire everyone to scrutinize whether law and order are administered fairly. And at the same time, we should acknowledge inequalities in cultural production and ownership of media and representation, because representations engender the same prejudices that motivate police to unfairly treat black people (Jackson).

But this problem is three-fold, and mandates change on all three cultural fronts. White power structures control the cultural hierarchy in America (Jackson). If white culture continues to subscribe to ideologies that refute racial and cultural inequalities in America, such as colorblind ideology, they will perpetuate the white supremist hierarchy in America (Rodriquez). This does of course serve their best interest but operates purely by oppressing the “other”. So, the “other” must reclaim their identities and financial sovereignty since non-white groups in America are dependent on the economic structure of the US, which is generally controlled by white people. Where Asian Americans need to fill most pressingly a void in their identity, as “Asian American” is a rather new cultural grouping. This is the same cultural void Zhang mentioned. Until Asian American culture can unify in their shared identity, and create and promote their own art forms, they will continue to borrow from either of the two other identities in America (by “whitening” or “browning”).

Black culture, on the other hand, have an identity, but one that has been forced on them by a history of media dominance. Perhaps it is best to focus instead on their financial sovereignty. Of course, white financial leverage has had a heavy influence on the trajectory of hip hop, and through it, black culture in the eyes of non-black America (not to say that it didn’t have reverberations inside the black culture; see Questlove’s article series How Hip Hop Failed Black America). If black entertainment and media was owned by black interests, then it would be a more accurate view of black culture. All across the board. Including if black Angelinos were in control of the popular LA hip hop dance scene. If we as Americans want black culture to thrive, we have to invest in it. If we want black hip hop to thrive, we need to give black business the means to own black hip hop.

Works Cited

Bates, Timothy. “Unequal Qccess: Financial Institution Lending to Black-and White-Owned Small Business Start-Ups.” Journal of Urban Affairs, vol. 19, no. 4, 1997. pp. 487–495, doi:10.1111/j.1467–9906.1997.tb00508.x

Bonds, Michael. “Looking Beyond the Numbers: The Struggles of Black Businesses to Survive: A Qualitative Approach.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 37, no. 5, May 2007, pp. 581–601, doi:10.1177/0021934705280306.

Burgess, Omar. “True Colors: Race, And The Misnomer Of Hip Hop As “Black Music”.” HipHopDX. 02 June 2020. Web. 27 Oct. 2020.

Chisholm, N. Jamiyla. “Rapper Dumbfoundead Talks Cultural Appropriation and More.” Colorlines. 07 May 2020. Web. 27 Oct. 2020.

Ghandnoosh, Nazgol. “‘Cross-Cultural’ Practices: Interpreting Non-African-American Participation in Hip-Hop Dance.” Ethnic and racial studies 33.9 (2010): 1580–99. Web.

Jackson, Ronald L. “Origin Of Black Body Politics.” Scripting the Black Masculine Body: Identity, Discourse, and Racial Politics in Popular Media. Albany: State U of New York, 2006. 9–47. Print.

McTaggart, Ninochka Marie. Don’T Believe the Hype: Gender and Interracial Relations between Asian Americans and Blacks in Hip-Hop. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2017. Web.

Rodriquez, Jason. “Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip-Hop.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol. 35, no. 6, Dec. 2006, pp. 645–668, doi:10.1177/0891241606286997.

Zhang, Muqing M. “Performing Blackness Won’t Fill Our Asian-American Culture Deficit [OP-ED].” Colorlines. 21 Dec. 2019. Web. 27 Oct. 2020.